OLD ONES

PART 5

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

54: Vacationing Old Ones And Others

Shipy vacation things happen. Some other shipy things too. R for hints of sex.

55: Education From Some Old Ones

Some people never learn, like Barney Barton. NC-17 for the trio

56: Old Ones In Limbo

Philip's becoming a big boy with big boy questions, even though he and Chris are sometimes a bit odd. There's another group with a plan against Dawn, or maybe it's the same ones but they're now working together. Heavy R for an attack at the end of the story.

57: To Dream A Mighty Dream

This is Dawn's 'dream' while she's under the concussion. It's just a dream, she knows it's just a dream, but she's also aware that she's trapped in it for some reason.

58: All The Old Ones Screaming 'Oh Shit!'

Takes place during part 57. While Dawn's down, others are handling things, and not always in the best way. Not always in the most peaceful way, and that's not always by their choice. Then again, there's a bad guy out there who really believes that Stark's lines should die. R for Major injury of major underage character.

59: Coping Like A Champion Old One

Everyone seems to be coping until people with *ideas* decide they want a Stark kid of their own. Which is never a good idea. R for violence and killing bad guys.

60: Visiting Old Ones

When another Xander visits this Xander to get some help from Dawn and others, things get a bit...weird.

61: School Trips For Future Old Ones

Sometimes people just don't like Dawn. Which usually makes Dawn show her butt in many interesting, pushy ways. Especially when it's about her kids.

62: Playing Old Ones

Bikinis are a right of passage, a trial of faith, and an emotional coaster. For most every woman, even secure, confident ones.

63: Confessing Old Ones

Clint's really horrible dream vision leads to him going to a bar to hang out with the actor who played him in the movies.

64: Another Dawn, Another Xander, Another Clint

Someone nicely *gifts* the Barton family line with a blessing from another realm's Xander's family. So they have to talk about how to handle and ease it. Also, Dawn has smutty ideas for Clint's birthday. NC-17, m/f/f, f/f/f, gender switching.

54: Vacationing Old Ones And Others

Shipy vacation things happen. Some other shipy things too. R for hints of sex.

Dawn looked at the invitation sitting in her mail. She opened it. //Did you need one engraved to come see us, Dawn Summers?//

She called Clint, who said they could go to Chicago this weekend to figure out what that was about. He had forgotten with everything going on. She found a number on the back of the invitation. Not a phone number but a serial number. No clue why. She tucked it with the ring and got back to work. She had to pay for her and the girls' clothing habits somehow.

***

Clint got done answering Dawn and went back to picking out grapes. Nat wanted grapes and he was nice that way.

"Agent Barton?" a slightly quiet female voice asked from about his armpit to his left. He looked down at her. "Can I ask you a technical question?"

"If you must," he said dryly.

She walked him off. "I saw someone who looked a lot like your brother earlier. Didn't he die?" Clint nodded with a grimace. "Did they revive him?" He shook his head. "He's a zombie?" she joked. "Or did they.... oh, dear, they did the machine and dish and science stuff," she hissed. He nodded with another grimace. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I have no idea why the idiots who woke him up wanted me to handle it for them but we're working on it."

"That thing at the club, was that Dawn? One of the reports had a picture of him and I could've sworn it was him."

"It was. She was putting a tracker on him and it had a side effect of slowing him down a lot."

"Is that because of ....well, what he is?" Clint shrugged. "Okay. Um.... Why?"

"The NSA confiscated the machines from the people who used to run Barney's group. Then they got someone to wake him the fuck up," he complained quietly, glancing around then at her. "If you spot him, we need to know. The tracker isn't working as well as we hoped. That and Dawn wants to deal with it since she only seriously injured him for coming after the kids to spare me grief. The NSA has said it's my job because they think we have some sort of vendetta thing going on."

She nodded slowly. "I know there's been reports that you two have gotten a bit physical."

"I beat the hell out of him," he agreed with a smile. "He deserved it since he left me to die after trying to kill me for doing the right thing. That's how I got found by SHIELD."

"At least you got Dawn and Natasha out of it as a reward."

He smiled. "They're hell of rewards too."

"If we spot him, we'll let you know." She patted him on the arm. "You should buy organic."

"Philip won't eat organic. He'll only eat this kind and this type of grapes. Since Nat wanted them he'll probably try to share them with her."

"Awww. He's picky."

"And then some. He's got all three of our's stubbornness combined." She giggled, walking off. He went back to picking out fruit for his little weird kid. He picked up some baby cereal too. It was nearly time for that.

***

Dawn walked all three of her kids and Callia into the clothing store. Callia was grounded for sneaking Liz cookies so she'd leave her alone. Dawn smiled at the staring shop keeper. "The three little ones are growing."

"Aww, they're adorable." She smiled. "Hi, little guy."

Philip stared at her. "Big boy panties?"

"There," she said with a smile and a point. "Are you potty training?"

Dawn smiled and nodded. "He's doing okay with it."

Philip pouted at his mom. "No Uncle Tony ones!" he whined. Dawn stared at him. He pouted at Callia.

"Sorry, we'll find some," Callia sighed. She looked at the shopkeeper. "This is my punishment." She laughed but came over to help Dawn pick out things.

Philip patted the lady on the arm with a grin. "Lexi always match. Mira not picky but not girly. Mommy picky."

"Sometimes," Dawn quipped. "Be a good boy, Philip, and we'll get you something in a few minutes." Someone male walked in and she stared at Nat's trainee. "Come help. You can help Philip find boy things."

He smiled. "Sure. Your wife told to find me something tasteful and suit looking for a meeting later."

"We can do that after we get the kids. Callia and I have very good taste." She smiled at the shopkeeper. "No flowers for Mira. Her mommy gets a bit upset if she's too girly," she said quietly. "Lexi only fusses at pink and mauve shades or if she doesn't match."

"They can already tell?" she asked with a smile.

Dawn pointed at where Callia was trying to assure Lexi that the outfit she was holding did indeed match since she was fussing. "She's a Summers, they already know fashion." She and Callia shared a grin and got back to it. The girls needed almost entirely new wardrobes. "After this, we're taking all their stuff that can be handed over to the consignment shop," Dawn reminded her. "That way other parents can have cute things."

"Thankfully I'm not getting any more siblings and Maeve's bigger than both of them. She only likes blue for some reason." The trainee agent gave her an odd look. "Seriously! She threw baby tantrums until we redressed her this morning in blue. She had been in a pretty green outfit but *no*, not my baby sister. Sometimes she'll allow really dark reds to tease Daddy but otherwise it has to be blue." She rolled her eyes. "Philip, big boy undies," she reminded him. "Get a few your daddy will like." Philip grinned and got a few of them, hugging them until Dawn put them in the basket for him.

"What's funny is he runs out and does this big boy undie stripper like strut each morning," Dawn said, grinning at her niece. "He butt wiggles and smiles at his daddy and the cats before running back to let someone put pants on him." Callia burst out laughing. Dawn showed her the video of it. Philip ran out and did a pose with his butt sticking up, then slowly wiggled it back and forth then shook it a few times at the cat before heading back to his room.

Callia shook her head. "Did I....."

"No, you didn't."

She looked up. "Thanks, Goddess. Embarrassing videos would come back to haunt me when I started to date in a few years." Dawn swatted her and handed over an outfit. Mira fussed. She looked at her. "It matches and it's not girly even if it does have lace. It's very tough lace, Mira. Even boys could wear this lace." She looked at the agent.

"Yes, I could," he agreed. Mira calmed down and let them put it in there. He looked at Dawn, who shrugged.

"No clue. Mira acts like a mini Clint and Lexi's a mini me." She smiled. "There's days that Philip's like a mini Tony Stark too and sometimes I wonder why."

Callia burst out in giggles, leaning on Philip's head. "I can see Dad doing that strut at Mommy Pepper and Stepmommy Steve," she laughed into his head. "I have to tell Dad that and show him the undie strut." She hugged Philip and they got back to picking out things for the girls. "Are we buying them an outfit for each day?"

Dawn snorted. "No growth spurt for at least two months," she said happily. Callia shivered and they got a few more outfits then concentrated on Philip. He didn't like Dawn's ideas. He liked Callia's ideas on what to wear. He did dress a lot like her. Dawn sent the video to her mother, she had forgotten. They checked out, taking Callia to get her clothes. The trainee agent got to learn how to shop with a real woman. Then Dawn got him two suits that made him look fantastic. She also made someone real do his hair on him. He needed it. Dawn looked at him. "Who are you going as?"

"High classed gay finance student."

She nodded. "No affected lisp that you like. Be charming, be like Nat and charming." He nodded at that. "Use great manners, it's important. Especially table manners. Flirt lightly, no hinting at anything bigger than you'll lift your heel for a kiss tonight. Actually, don't hint. Just be your charming self. Unless it's part of the job tonight?"

"No, not really."

"Then be the velvety smooth faux fur blanket waiting to be picked up. Smell nice but not too strong. Use the brown bottle that I got you, just a tiny bit. Use great manners because it impresses them unless they're the eat with your toes type. Be charming, smart, slightly witty but a bit shy." He nodded, heading home to get ready for his assignment date. Dawn took the kids home. Callia helped her put things up, change the girls, helped Philip change underwear when he wanted to, and then they took the old stuff to the thrift store. She drove them back to Stark to drop them off.

Philip ran into the apartment, smiling at both uncles, his grandfather, and Uncle Rodney. He dropped his pants and showed off his undie strut for them with a shiteating grin. "Big boy panties," he cooed, then pulled up his pants and ran off again.

Rodney stared at the door oddly then at Tony. Tony shrugged, sipping his water. "No clue," Tony admitted.

Callia strolled in with her pile of bags. "Did he do his big boy panties strut for you guys? She grinned. "We could see you doing that when you were his age, Dad." She kissed him on the cheek and threw her clothes into her bedroom then came back to stare at Rodney. "If I succeed in making that vacuum cyclone power cell, what do I get?"

"My sincere gratitude when I pull you in for an internship one summer," he said dryly but he was smirking. "If you do it with help, they can come too."

"Great." She walked over to the safe and tapped in her code, getting her first cube out to bring over and put in front of him. "Tell me why it's going counterclockwise when we're in the northern hemisphere? I can't figure out where I went backwards. It's got a tiny power output but I figure I can ramp it up from this if I can figure out why it's got a wrong spin."

He looked at it. "I can test this." He stood up and walked off with her. "Heel, Stark. She's your spawn and you should see her crowning achievement before she's legal."

"Sure." He followed, going to help him see what she had created this time. He'd ignore the mental image of him doing something like Philip's strut in the clubs when he was in college and being a slut. He'd also ignore that Dawn had put him back in those ruffled big boy panties. Bruce could laugh or follow them, whichever he wanted. Steve was moaning and shaking his head. Philip was a bit wild for his tastes.

***

Philip found his other parents and ran in to babble at them. "Found Mira pretty things that make her look tough, even with boy lace." He stared at Natasha, who smiled and patted over his hair. He grinned. "Lexi silly and hated flowers so Mira got daisies too. Pretty dress for pictures or picnic. And I got clothes." He showed her his Hulk t-shirt with a grin.

"It's a nice shirt and I'm sure your grandfather adores that, Philip," she said.

He beamed. "Got more big boy panties!" He dropped his pants and did his strut for her.

"I can see that."

"Son, why aren't you wearing the boxers we bought you?" Clint asked from where he was shaking his head. His son was a bit weird. He had gone past 'unique' to weird.

"Wanted ruffles." He snorted and waved at him. "Boys can be pretty." He pulled back up his pants and grinned at his favorite mommy. "Right?"

"Yes, boys can be pretty," she promised. "And it's nice that they don't have your uncle on them this time." Philip grinned and ran off. "Go to the daycare and do not show them your panties, son. The girls don't need to see those."

"'Kay, Mommy!" He slammed the door behind him as he ran off.

Clint groaned and leaned forward to cup his face with his hands. "Is my son gay, Nat?"

"He has a fine appreciation for breasts so perhaps he'll only crossdress a bit." She patted him and walked over to get back to her workout against the heavy bag.

"He and I need to go fishing," Clint said, sitting up.

"He hates to fish. He doesn't like fish even in the aquarium."

"Crap!"

She smiled. "He does like weapons."

"Great, so he'll be fashionably dressed in girl's clothing while carrying great weapons like his mother does. I've got to spend some guy time with him. Teach him to like dirt."

"He adores mud. He was doing mud hand and chest treatments on the girls in the backyard the other day," she said, tweaking his irritation even more. It was fun watching Clint get that upset and stomp off in a girlish huff. "He was very good and very gentle with them. A nicely even, yet bit thick coat. He even picked out the worms and the grass bits."

Clint walked off shaking his head. He went to his other wife, pulling her up to kiss her. "Our son is a tiny bit gay."

"Our son just likes lace," she said, smiling at him. "He likes guns and bows and deer hunting too."

"I'm having images of him deer hunting with your rifle in one of your lace dresses, Dawn."

She laughed. "I doubt it. He knows you can't chase a deer through the woods in a lace dress and combat boots, they'd look silly together." She patted his cheek and took another kiss. "Some boys like to feel pretty and they're still very butch. If he wants to crossdress some day we'll make sure you can help him pick out something butch enough." Clint stared at her. Pepper came out to glare at them. "It's okay. He picked them out. Said they made him as pretty as Chris and his sisters."

"I need to spend more guy time with him. Maybe some camping with Bruce. Chris could use the same lessons." He walked off to talk to Bruce.

Dawn shrugged at Pepper. "He wanted the ruffles again."

Pepper shook her head. "Get back to work, Dawn, before Tony catches you slacking and makes fun of the dress."

Dawn looked at herself then at Pepper. "What's wrong with the dress?"

"I've seen a few female truck drivers wearing something like it," Tony said as he walked past them. "Where's Chris? Your husband wanted to spend some guy time with him?"

"He's a bit upset that he thinks Philip might end up wanting to crossdress."

"No, I think that's Chris," Tony said dryly. "Yours just likes lace."

"He picked out a few pretty lace outfits for Mira and talked her into them." She sat down. "They're both in daycare."

"Thanks." He went to get Chris. Both boys could use 'guy' lessons. Before his son had a bigger clothes budget than all his sisters combined. Because Liz was more than helping by letting the boys wear her princess costumes for dress up play time. Some day Tony was going to have to throw a lavish wedding for his son, including his son's huge, fancy, sparkly dress. Tony walked into the daycare to find his son admiring and wanting panties like Philip and walked back out to get some doctored coffee. He needed caffeine and liquor for this. Then he came back to talk to the boys about boy things, like camping and hunting. They both enjoyed it thanks to Dawn. Now he had the mental image of his poor son in a huge sparkly wedding dress with one of Dawn's rifles. Great! Yeah, he had to fix this. Today.

Pepper and Dawn shared a look and grinned, but got back to work. It was adorable of the boys.

***

Loki looked up from doing his nails, shaking his head and smiling at the burst of chaos his godson had just given him. "There are days I do like that godson that got forced on me," he said quietly. Aphrodite walked in looking confused. "Someone tweak your lines?"

"What is that burst?"

He tested it. "Philip and Chris Stark showing their father they like to be pretty." He smirked. "I didn't even have to prompt it."

She walked off holding her head. That was just so wrong to her. She'd send Cupid to help the boys. He usually looked good and very masculine. By the time Cupid had quit playing with the boys that night, Cupid was wearing very tight pants and a shirt that showed a lot of chest, and a necklace. So the boys had clearly warped him not the other way around. Thankfully, Strife would fix her son before Ares saw him. Ares was not big on softer boys.

***

Roque got the video of Philip and Chris for Xander since his phone was down. Jensen was there doing some tech update things and had caught their talk about lace on his camera phone. He watched then handed Xander the tablet he was using. "He'll be the best Queen Beret ever," he said, walking off shaking his head. Thankfully, Clay was all guy all the time. He didn't like lace or panties.

Xander watched it, grinning at his nephew. He took it to Phil, who was stuck doing paperwork on trainee missions. "Chris and Philip. Jensen took it."

He watched it, smiling at it. "We have to find them a good magazine so they don't have to borrow Dawn's and think slutty club clothes are a good idea."

"Is there a magazine for transvestites?"

"I don't know," he admitted, looking it up on his computer. "Yes, there is. There's Frock, Candy, Lady Like, and an online one." He blinked a few times. "I did not know that." He looked at Xander, who took a kiss and the addresses to give to Dawn. Or his dad. His dad would gladly aid the little chaos sources getting what they wanted.

***

Pepper looked up as her son ran in right before she logged off for the day. "Hi, Chris."

"Look, Mommy!" He waved the magazine. "Pretty boys!"

She looked and nodded, smiling at him. "They are, yes. Who gave you the magazine?" Because she wanted to beat them to death for that gift.

"Uncle Loki." He grinned. "He knows." He heard his father and Uncle Rodney, running out with a squeal to show him too. Philip had the other and was babbling at his mommy about pretty things.

Stark looked at Dawn and pointed. "Yours?"

"Unclie Loki gave it to us, Daddy!" Chris whined. "He understands!" He grinned. "He pretty too."

"I'm sure he is." He took the magazine and put it down then picked up his son to hug. "Let's go talk about grilling, son. Then we'll look at the cars?" His son kissed him on the cheek and hugged his neck while they walked off.

Rodney sipped his coffee, shaking his head. "I'll never have sons. They'd do the same thing. Girls need more than clothes so I suppose I'll be childless." He handed Dawn the other magazine.

She put them both into her desk and took Philip to pick up the girls so they could go home. There were reporters outside and Philip ran over to babble at them about ruffles and panties. "Philip, get back here," she ordered. "Quit picking on the reporters." He pouted at her. "They don't need to see your big boy undies. Not unless you're in Playgirl or something. Get back here before I tell Daddy." He ran back and got into his car seat.

"Dawn, he likes panties?"

She smiled and shut the kids into the car. "I found some show boy big boy undies that had Uncle Tony on them, but they also had butt ruffles for the boys in pageants." They smiled at her. "He figured out he *really* liked ruffles. Clint's a bit upset about that. I'm pretty sure Clint's putting up his new clothes at the moment." She got in to drive. She didn't realize Philip had stolen the magazines back until they got home and he ran off to show them to his daddy.

Clint looked up. "Xander, can you maybe get me near your dad for a minute please?" he called. Xander took him there and let Clint punch him in the face twice. "Quit giving my son girly ideas please. Thanks!" Xander brought him back home. He had to talk to his boy about manly clothes, ones with plaid and things. His son thought plaid was pretty so that was a good thing.

Xander looked at his father. "Too unsubtle, Dad." He left, still grinning.

Clint came out to get him and his son some water while they looked over his clothes. Dawn hugged him. "There's the goth guys who wear kilts." Clint stared at her, sipping his water. "Or if he gets into Japanese stuff, there's kimonos. They're wearable art."

Clint nodded. "At least they're male skirts. Though you don't wear anything under a kilt."

"Neither do some of the goth guys."

He went back to his son's room to help him put things up again. His son had found his plaid, ruffled pair and were hugging them. Clint didn't want to make his son unhappy so he put them in the back of the drawer, under all the other ruffled ones, so hopefully he'd forget about it. He walked him out and Natasha was watching the _Three Musketeers_. His son settled in to watch with her. He was 'oohing' over the clothes that had lace. And heels. Clint went to the garage to bang his head against the wall. Maybe he should talk Nat into having a second baby, a son. A son who might like to be a guy with him. Because he wasn't sure if he could hang out with his son if he was being as flirty as his mother was.

"Swords and ruffles and ponies!" his son squealed. "Mommy! Swords and ponies and ruffles!"

Clint banged his head a few more times. His son dressing like a French aristocrat would be driving him to drink. It really would.

***

Clint, Dawn, and Natasha went to Chicago alone that weekend. Beya had the kids. She was talking to Philip about kilts and Asgard clothes with Sean. If he was lucky, his son would be off ruffles and on leather when he got back. Or Sean would show that he was fascinated by the people who dress goth and take his poor son to some of them to be dressed properly. If so, Joyce could nag him. They found the right building and Dawn ran her ring under the scanner, then the invitation. The door was opened from the inside by a liveried doorman. She smiled at him. "I got sent an invitation?"

"Welcome to the Draitmeyer Institute, ma'am. Run your ring under the scanner by the elevator."

She nodded, walking in to do that. After a moment, the elevator door opened and they stepped inside. The elevator sped upward then sideways then upward again. "So the code was probably telling the elevator which level we're going to?"

"Apparently," Natasha said, looking over the elevator. SHIELD could use some of this technology. They stepped off into a large office area. Clint was looking at the views. It had nice ones but from the outside it had looked like solid walls this high up.

Dawn smiled at the man staring at them. "I didn't need the invitation but I did have things I had to handle, like my son and daughters."

"We had forgotten that you were a new mother, Miss Summers." He smiled and stood up. "We have recently found a slight...problem that we think you'd want to see." He led them to a room off his office. In it were a few covered things, something on the counter that Dawn glanced at, and a large mirror.

"You'll need to add orchid pollen soon," Dawn said with a point. "If it's been over two hours since it congealed you'll need to start over again."

The guy blinked at her. "We're trying to figure out what that is."

Dawn smirked a bit evilly at him. "A sex poison." He moaned. "It dries to the consistency of honey dust. It soaks through the skin so you get both people if they're teasing them or licking it off."

"Oh, my. You don't happen to know the formula do you?"

Dawn smiled. "Agent Coulson would be *most* upset with me if I shared."

"I'll ask him for permission." He pointed at the mirror. "We needed you to look that over to see if it's a broken portal."

Dawn stepped forward, smiling at the herself there. "Hi."

"Hi." She smiled and waved at the two hovering behind her. "Wow, you're with Natasha? That's cool," that Dawn said with a grin.

"Actually, I'm a wanton beast and they're both mine." She smiled. "You're not?"

"No, I'm seeing Phil." He walked over at her mention. "Have you met Phil in your world yet?"

"He's kind of like a big brother but we never talk these days like we used to. He helped me turn into the spectacular Stark helper I am."

"You work with the manslut?"

"Yup." She smiled. "I'm their personal assistant. You're not?"

"No, she came to SHIELD so I could protect her and then invited herself over one night," Phil told her. "Then she cleaned my apartment, helped me make dinner, and pounced."

Clint snickered, nodding. "That seems to work sometimes. She does it to us now and then too."

"So you two...." He pointed between them.

Clint pointed at both his bitches. "Mine."

"Huh. You're with Steve here."

"I adore Steve but he's with our Tony and Pepper."

"Interesting. Who is Bruce with?"

"Mom," Dawn said with a grin. "She and Steve are running SHIELD."

That Phil sighed in pleasure. "So you got out from under the threat of the spiders?"

"We haven't had spiders that I know of. We haven't seen that the ferret known as Nick Fury was doing more than trying to break us and the Avengers up so they had to lean on the team and not anyone outside it."

Phil quirked up an eyebrow. "Ferret? Really?"

Dawn smiled. "He's presently playing with Tara's twins."

"Ah. Our Tara died," that Dawn sighed, looking at Phil.

"Here, our Xander showed that he was a bit stronger than we thought and got Stark to deal with Glory while we were in protective custody of Phil in Arizona."

That Dawn smiled. "We did that after that."

Their Dawn nodded. "That makes sense. Did the Chitarui invade there?"

"No, they didn't," Phil said. "Interesting. Who am I seeing there?"

"Xander." Dawn smiled. "And it's fantastic."

That Phil blinked a few times. "Really? Interesting."

Phil appeared, staring at his self. He touched the mirror, motioning the other to do the same thing. They merged for a second and that Phil shivered at the power. Their Phil pulled back and looked at his other self's girlfriend. "She's a lot more naughty. You need to club like she does. It'll drive him nuts."

That Dawn grinned. "He promised to spank me on the heli carrier's deck if I did that. That good SHIELD agents didn't club."

"Bullshit," Clint said dryly. "We club sometimes. Dawn's a wanton tease. Nat's like an ice princess that makes everyone want to defrost her with their tongue and I get to be in the center."

Dawn stepped into the mirror, merging with her other self. That Dawn moaned as they unjoined and she stepped back. "You have kids."

"We have three holy terrors in the house," Natasha agreed. "Our son seems to be going a bit ancient style gothic at the moment." Their Phil smirked at her. She hit him on the arm. "For the transvestite magazines."

"He likes ruffles." He shrugged. "Seemed natural to me."

Clint hit him on the arm. "No, it's not." He looked at that Phil. "If the me there ever has kids, make sure that they don't get lacy show boy panties please. It's started a bad trend of my son liking lace."

That Phil nodded quickly. "I can do that." Dawn looked at him. "Not likely," he told her. She pouted. "We're too busy."

"You'll keep being too busy and who's going to be there for me when you die of it?"

"The team."

She hit him on the arm. "Not likely." She looked at Dawn. "They think I'm like a bimbo."

"They think that about me sometimes too but then I had to step into a few battles." They shared a grin. "They quit thinking I was helpless very quickly. Especially when I beat people's asses in sparring. Repeatedly." Clint nodded with a smile for her. "Including them. And Bucky."

"Barnes?" that Phil asked.

"The Winter Soldier," Natasha told him. He stiffened and nodded. "He's in cryo storage."

"And hey, you guys don't have the NSA making you clones of my brother," Clint quipped.

Dawn smiled and kissed him. "Don't worry. He woke up this morning tied to his ceiling in a way that meant he'd have to peel off the skin on his front, his full front, to get down." She smiled. "Pity he couldn't figure out how to sleep with clothes on."

"You looked at my naked brother?" Clint asked her, cracking up the other Phil.

"No. Why do I want to see his pasty, turtle-like dick? You clearly won the lotto, dear. But he probably won't like having to skin his front to get off the cheap popcorn ceiling either."

Clint shivered. "That's evil, Dawn."

She smiled. "Maybe." She looked at the other Dawn, stepping over to touch hands with her. That Dawn cackled and they shared a smirk before their Dawn went back. "So, this portal?"

"On our side it's floating in midair in a building in Queens," Phil said, looking at himself.

"Here you're on a mirror."

"We can pop it but it might cause a slight vacuum disturbance." That Dawn nodded and they popped it together. The vacuum on that side sucked in a good bit of air and part of the building but not the people because their Dawn had protected them.

That Phil looked at his Dawn. "Don't turn that flirty."

"I'm twenty-one, Phil. Not dead. A woman wants to be appreciated." She stared at him. "You don't even want to eat lunch with me."

"I've been busy."

She snorted. "I haven't." She walked off. "Let me go find someone to eat lunch with. Dawn said that she and Deadpool used to hang out and he's in this realm at the moment."

Phil's eyes narrowed as he followed his girlfriend. He really did have to clear those naughty thoughts out of her head. His Dawn was not allowed to be flirty with anyone but him. He took her back to the office to give a report on what had happened and how they had shared information. That got them a weekend off and he took Dawn home to spend time with her. Not like she would mind when he made her his lap candy again.

Their Dawn smiled at her mates. "He's so uptight. She's going to have to break him a tiny bit to make him loosen up. He doesn't even let them have sex on the couch."

Their Phil stared at her. "I remember being that uptight."

She smiled. "Tara did you good."

"So did you." He stared at her. "I have so talked to you recently."

"No, you handed me paperwork as you were hunting for Stark again."

"Oh." He hugged her. "Sorry, Dawn." He looked at Clint. "Your son likes Renaissance styles."

"My son's not going to a Ren Faire geek. Ever. He can wear normal clothes until he's a teenager."

Phil put up a viewing portal. Sean and taken him to talk to some of his new friends and Philip was admiring their shirts and asking them about the ruffles. They were all adoring the little guy and got him to a store he'd like. He squealed and ran for a shirt that was nearly his size and a kilt. So they got to see him in a ruffled white shirt, a plaid kilt, worn properly with boots and bag but nothing underneath, even though he pouted about his ruffled big boy panties, and a velvet vest that coordinated with his kilt. Then a leather cargo kilt and the same shirt. Then a velvet jacket and a leather kilt with that same shirt. They decided they liked those looks and Sean got them for him. Plus the boots he'd need.

They all cooed over him and took him to meet some others, including the goth shop owner Dawn went to all the time. She cooed over him and got him some t-shirts to go with his cargo kilt. He adored that and said they were like Daddy's with a huge grin that made them all smile back. Philip was a happy boy, even though he didn't like guy liner and he didn't want his hair to be spiky. Mommy Natasha liked to pet his head and she didn't like pokey things. They agreed that was good and Sean thanked his new friends, taking Philip for ice cream and then home. The few reporters that saw him went 'awww' as they took pictures.

Clint nearly moaned, looking at Dawn. "See what you started with those Iron Man undies?"

She kissed him on the cheek. "I like some of the goth fashions myself, Dear." She kissed Natasha. "He does look adorable."

"He does, but a bit weird even for LA. I can't imagine what his uncles will say."

"We think he's adorable," Phil assured her then went to show the others. Clay immediately forbid Jensen from having a cargo kilt but Jensen cackled and said it was to late and he looked good in his. He went to hang out with the kid. He needed more kid time and his niece was at that age where boys were too strange and made her huff off.

Clint looked at Dawn, staring at her. "Try?"

"It's for special occasions?"

"I can put up with that now and then," he said dryly. "Though, no more kilts."

"The cargo kilt is the same length as his shorts and it's pretty handy looking with all the pockets. He can store all sorts of kid things in it, including hiding snacks."

"No. No kilts."

She patted him on the cheek. "I gave Callia the picture book of all the kimonos for Liz and Chris." They left together to report on how the portal had been closed. Then they went to their hotel and Dawn snuck out to go tease in the clubs. Clint got there about the same time and Natasha followed to hang out and get low with her. It was a great weekend off for all three of them.

Even if Nat was too tired for sex by the time they got back to the hotel. Clint was so hot he nearly had her in the elevator and Natasha just let them have it for now. She'd get hers in the morning.

***

Barney Barton finally gave up trying to get free and settled in to pray for help. It worked for his little brother, maybe it'd work for him too. If Gods were real then one had to be over him too, right? Loki showed up, staring at him. "Can you help me down? I don't know what that bitch did to me but it's really irritating."

"You want me to skin you so you can get down?" he asked with a smirk. "I can do so." He pulled up his staff and did that for him before he could protest the method he'd have to use, making Barney scream. He stared at him. "By the way, I'm your nephew's godfather." He smirked evilly. "Some day soon I'll even have him in the leather vest I picked out for him." He disappeared. Barney could call an ambulance himself. He was about three feet from the phone and would have to crawl but oh well. Loki was not liking this clone. The original was much tougher than this one was. Apparently they had put in *sensitivity* when they recreated him. Though it was nice how he was distracting Dawn and her family from his and Ares' current plots and plans.

Barney made himself get up and grab the phone, dialing 911. He passed out while telling them where he was. The paramedics were slightly amused when they got there and found a note that was labeled to any future paramedics or ME's saying he had been trying a magic trick.

One of the paramedics shook his head. "Not even Chris Angel would do something that stupid." He took a picture of the mess on the ceiling for the doctors in case they needed to know.

"He's not as handsome as that guy on tv is either." They loaded him up and took him to the ER, with the note. Maybe they'd get him some nice, quiet, anti-psychotic medicine time up in the locked ward for trying that trick on himself. The doctor that came in flinched at his first sight of Barney's mangled front. The paramedic handed over the note and turned over the patient to him.

The doctor stared at him. "Well, let's see what we can do. Get someone from the burn unit down here to look at him. They'd be used to something this bad." The nurse made the call while he checked for masses of bleeding and injuries beyond the obvious. They could do skin grafts easily enough. Though he might suggest that they start some medicines for the obvious self harm this one was trying to do to himself.

***

Callia pulled out the book her aunt had given her when she got tired of her siblings bothering her. "Guys, look at this. It's pretty art as clothes." Liz snatched it and opened it, ooohing at the clothes. Chris flopped over her to lay on top of her to look at them. He patted the book and babbled at his sister.

"For girls," Liz complained.

"No, both boys and girls wear kimonos in Japan. Go ask Andrew and Jonathan to show you." They took the book with them. Callia got up to do a happy dance then got back to her tinkering. Her aunt had such great ideas.

The two middle Starks stormed into the other lab. "Pretty!" Chris said with a manic grin and a point. "Pretty us? Show us?"

Jonathan took the book, smiling at it. "Kimonos. I heard Dawn inherited some." He pulled them up onto the stools to show them pictures while Andrew looked some up online.

"Girls," Chris pouted.

"No, not just girls," Andrew said, showing him a picture of a samurai. Chris squealed and bounced, and fell off the stool but he got back up and babbled at it, pointing. "Sure, we can help you guys find some." They grinned and looked at the pretty pictures. Andrew found child sized kimonos online and almost thought about asking their father if they were allowed but Tony had made his kids toys so he'd splurge and get them these. The people were even local so they snuck the kids down there. They were expensive but Liz loved them and Chris babbled at his as they showed him how to wrap it properly. Liz kissed everyone on the cheek. Jonathan and Andrew split it then took them home. The kids ran in to show Daddy. He liked art and Mommy was in there too. Both of the Mommies liked art.

"Us!" Chris shouted as he walked into the lab, making Tony flinch.

He turned, staring at his kids. "Awww, you have kimonos. That's so cool. Did your aunt buy you those?" They babbled at him, patting their new pretty clothes. "Let's go show Mommies, guys, so you don't get messy." They ran ahead of him and he paused to hug Andrew and Jonathan. "Better than the kilt, thanks, guys." He followed them. Pepper and Steve were letting the kids babble at them and touch their pretty things. "Andrew and Jonathan got them those."

"They're adorable!" Pepper cooed, hugging them.

Steve smiled and nodded. "They are. We need to take pictures for Joyce."

"Grandma have?" Chris asked.

"No, she doesn't but she might." They grinned and let him take good pictures. The kids enjoyed it and Callia had JARVIS start up some mild anime that had characters in traditional dress for the kids. They settled in to pet each other's robes and watch that. It was super cool to them.

Tony looked then at Pepper. "Callia liked saris at that age."

"She did." She smiled. "I think it's great." Tony smiled and went back to the lab. She looked at Steve. "We were going out to dinner."

"They can wear those if we don't go anywhere too messy. The Japanese/American grill place?"

"They like tempura," she said. When that episode was done with, she got the kids cleaned up and straightened up then took them to dinner with her and Steve. Tony had tonight off the kids for some science time with Rodney, Bruce, and Callia. The kids hugged Andrew and Jonathan on the way out when they ran into them. The reporters that caught sight of them cooed and took a lot of pictures. "They liked the artistic side of the kimono. Jonathan and Andrew got them for them."

"They're beautiful in them, Pepper," one of the reporters said. "Are you guys going to the park?"

"Sushi." They smiled and got out of the way. The restaurant was only two blocks away and it'd do the kids good to walk. They babbled at the greeter when they got there, who was smiling at them. "Their 'uncles' bought them those earlier."

"They're great looking in them," he said. He showed them to a nice table and got their waitress. The cook came out to see and smiled, bowing to them. Liz bowed back and Chris waved with a smile. The cook patted them on the head and went back to make them a great dinner. The kids were going to learn how to use chopsticks tonight thanks to Pepper. They did okay even if Chris did like to stab things with his. He and Liz almost ended up 'sword' fighting with them but Steve stopped it and made them behave.

Liz cried when she dripped some soy sauce but Pepper got it cleaned up and promised to have it cleaned tonight. She calmed down and it was good. The kids inhaled dinner, using a bit of table manners. They went home, so Pepper could drop that one kimono off to be cleaned, and showed Chris how to hang up his. She came out to find Steve ordering the kids a book on native clothing around the world. They'd like that.

When Joyce forwarded a picture of Philip in his kilt, she just grinned and showed Steve. Who smiled and shook his head. At least Chris didn't want to wear a kilt. They'd help Clint win that war. She sent back one of the kids in their new kimonos. Joyce would appreciate that.

***

Dawn walked in first, smiling at her son as he ran toward her with a happy smile. "Ooooh! You look so *adorable* in your kilt!" She cuddled him. "That's so cute." He beamed and nodded. "Did you get the girls one?"

"Dresses," he said with a happy grin. Dawn carried him in there. The other two parents took him to hug and look at his sisters. Mira and Lexi had on goth dresses to nap in. Mock satin corsets, full velvet skirts, Lexi in blood red and Mira in royal purple. Both dresses were strapped but didn't have sleeves. They even had on velvet booties.

"They look really nice," Clint said, cuddling his poor, deranged little boy. "You and Sean made them very pretty." Philip wiggled and grinned, hugging him again. "We need pictures. Then we can change them." Philip pouted. "It's going to be bedtime soon and they can't sleep in those. They'll wrinkle. In a few days we'll get official pictures taken in them." Philip wiggled down to do a happy dance Sean's friends had taught him. "Are you.. Is that the Highland Fling?"

Dawn smiled. "I think it is." She took pictures to send to Pepper and Joyce then they all got changed into jammies for bedtime stories. It was Mommy Natasha's turn according to Philip so she read to them. The girls had a final bottle for the night. Philip got a few drinks and went potty before being tucked in. Then they were alone with sleeping ones. Beya was already in her little guest cottage out back. They had offered her the guest room but she wanted her own space and they said it was great. They settled in to relax. "If we're doing family pictures with them in those outfits, you two need to find something to match." Clint stared at her. She smiled. "I have something I can wear. I might have something Nat could wear but it might be a bit tight. Clint, you need a shirt to go over the leather pants in the back of your closet." He sighed but nodded. She grinned and kissed him, getting pulled into his lap. "Yes, my dear?"

"I'm glad Coulson didn't trip your trigger here," he said, kissing her again. "I'd hate to be missing you." She moaned and kissed him harder. Natasha smiled, going to turn the bed down for him. It appeared Clint wasn't all that tired since he seemed to want to do a lot of strenuous exercise. He carried Dawn in and stripped her down, then tossed her onto the bed and climbed on to tease her breasts. He could undress in a few minutes, once Dawn was making the pretty, loud noises again. Natasha got undressed so Dawn could tease her. It was a great night in the Summers-Romanoff-Barton household.

They all ignored the "Daddy, noisy, trying to sleep" from the hallway. Philip could huff off back to bed.

***

Picture day was the next day. Dawn had pulled out a gorgeous dark purple dress that had a full corset that was pointed in the front. The corset was a real one, with real steel bones and leather ties that mingled with ribbon ones to make it pretty. The skirt was tulle but slimmer than a full ballgown skirt. It was strappy like the baby's dresses were but it had a square neckline that made Dawn look stacked once the corset was tightened on her. Natasha blinked at the black and red dress Dawn had given her. Slim with a Victorian bustle in the back. The corset wasn't as traditional but it had a scoop neckline that did look impressive on her. Dawn pulled her hair up in a bun with jeweled accenting pins. Then she did Natasha's for her. Another bun, a pretty bun cage in silver. Then a silver necklace for each of them.

Clint stared, putting on his button-up shirt over his leather pants. He got their anniversary present out of his safe and brought them in, kissing each one's neck as he put the slim diamond stand around their necks. Dawn touched hers and smiled at him in the mirror. Natasha blushed a bit but smiled. "Happy anniversary. Now we've each bought some of the important jewelry." He kissed them and let them do their makeup. Dawn had a good hand with eyeliner and lipstick that made her look like she had just wet her lips with blood. Natasha's was red, desire red, and plumped her lips slightly. They went to get the kids dressed. Clint even helped his son into his kilt. He liked it and they were doing the pictures so Clint wouldn't complain *too* much.

Xander appeared, turning Natasha around to fix her corset. Then he handed Natasha the girls and did Dawn's. Clint stared. They looked good like that. Xander grinned. "I want picture copies for the wall." He disappeared, leaving the girls in lace and velvet hair bows. They barely had any hair so that worked.

Clint got everyone into the truck, now modified to have two bench seats, and drove them to the picture place. The photographer stared at them. "The kids like it," he said.

"You all look marvelous in that." He got the ladies arranged on the platform. They were on top of some matte silk in cream with some thin red stripes. The babies got put in between the mothers with Philip in the center and Clint standing behind them. He snapped a few and the girls changed the babies around to do another one. He smiled and did a few of just Clint and the kids, individual and together. Then the mothers and father got one of themselves together without the kids.

"No kissy," Philip ordered from where he was sitting with the girls. "You noisy and have late lunchies."

Dawn smiled at him. "You can have lunch once we get home, Philip." He grinned. She smiled at her mates. They grinned back. The photographer caught that one and one of her kissing each of them. She had her back to the camera but it was tender and good. Dawn picked out the package and paid for it, then they got the kids back into the truck and home. They'd have the pictures in about a week.

Everyone got redressed in swimsuits, Diana and Sean got woken up, and they went to have a picnic next to the pool. Philip was getting pretty good at doggy paddling and the girls liked to sit out of the sun to coo at everyone.

***

The single slimy photographer who had managed to catch sight of the family going to picture day was on the phone with someone to sell it when his office door got broken in. "Who are you?" he demanded.

"FBI," the guy sneered, taking the photo. He hung up the phone and shot the guy, walking out looking at the picture. His brother looked like a geek but the wives were pretty bitches. Though, he'd have to correct his nephew's skirt wearing habit. No real Barton wore a skirt, not even their mother.

Barney felt much better now that his sores were covered. He had went to a new age person locally, and found out that they didn't really like Dawn because she wasn't the soft, gentle, peaceful sort that the rest were. She nicely sped up his healing and he had given her a merciful death for it. He felt much better now that he was healing and had stolen some pain killers. He didn't see someone spot him and start to call for help but he heard his last name mentioned and looked around. He sneered at the young woman. "What? Want some of this?"

"No, you're probably carrying a whole bunch of pond scum STD's," she said bluntly. He glared. "Come closer, your brother won't have to shoot you." She maced him when he got in range. He laughed and lunged but that had given her time to pull out her taser and hit him with it. He screamed. More people called the cops. They showed up with Clint, who was in board shorts and a t-shirt. "Him, Clint?"

"Him. Are you okay?"

"I didn't let him get near me. No telling what sort of bugs he brought back with him."

He smiled. "Nice job. Want a job at SHIELD? We need people who can find out any information and have sense. You seem to be able to find all sorts of stuff we can't."

She smiled. "I prefer the bigger shark pit of paparazzi. We're meaner." She walked over to an officer to give her statement.

Clint called in that he had Barney down and was going to take him into custody. Secreva showed up with six agents and two SUV's. Clint waved them over. "We need to hire that reporter."

"We've tried in the past." Secreva looked at the moaning man. "What's wrong with his skin?"

"He apparently needed some skin grafts. Something about a magic trick that stuck him to a ceiling?" Clint smiled. Barney hit at his ankle so he kicked him on the head. "Do it again." He looked at his local boss. "Prisoner taking?"

"Yup." They hauled him up and to the SUV. Secreva came back. "There was a suspicious death of a new age practioner two days ago."

"Hmm. Some of them hate Dawn for not being the earth mother sort and instead following the Goddess' warrior side. Was she known for healing or anything? We can find out who she was."

"We know who she was. Clean kill. Single shot to the head." Clint nodded once. "Could be he did it?"

"Considering his whole front had to be skinned to get him off the ceiling early Saturday morning? Maybe," Clint agreed.

"Good. We'll make sure. Go home."

Clint nodded, heading for his car. "Glad to. We've finally got the son out of his kilt."

The reporter smiled. "A kilt?"

"He likes them and ruffled shirts," he complained. "You've seen those hero ruffled boy panties?" She smiled and nodded. "Dawn got him some to tweak us. He ended up adoring them. We're working on it." He got into the truck and headed home.

The reporter spotted something and walked over to get it. "Oh, wow, they were all goth." She smiled at the photo. She looked around; no one that the picture could've come from on the street. "Guys, there's a PI who sometimes sells photos on this block. Ransur I think." They looked and found him. He was dead. Another death they could attribute to Barney Barton. She did share the photo with her boss, who printed it online that night. It was pretty. Natasha looked like a goddess in the dress she had on. Dawn looked like a sexual demon in hers. The kids were adorable, especially Philip in his kilt and Clint in his leather pants.

It made more than one person suddenly like goth clothes.

***

A reporter cornered Joyce Monday when she was coming in to work. "What do you say to reports that your daughter's trying to outdo her wife in the sexiness department?"

Joyce stared at the young idiot for a moment. "I'd say you have no idea about anything related to any woman anywhere." He scowled. "Sometimes Dawn wants to feel flirty. It's not like there's a competition going on. Dawn and Natasha are both very sexual, sensual women in their own ways. Dawn uses hers to get some extra attention and Natasha uses hers to avoid detection usually." The reporter slumped. "You trying to make it a contest for Clint's attention that night means you're clearly not married." She walked around him. "Have a better day, son."

"Yes, ma'am." He grumbled, watching as Steve walked off the bus. "Sir, are all the family back on this coast? I know Stark likes to spend the winter in the warmer climate."

"No, everyone's still out there."

"Yet, you go to Stark towers every night and come from there every morning."

Steve smiled and nodded. "Yes, I do. Tony's figured out something so I don't have to spend a lot of time on a different coast than the rest of the family." He walked around him. "Beyond that, it's pretty much classified."

He was still pouting when Maria Hill got there. "Agent Hill, when is your divorce final?" He had to get some sort of story sometime soon or he'd be fired.

She gave him a cold look that made him back down. "There's no divorce. Never has been. Simply a separation while things were worked out." The reporter opened his mouth. "I would suggest that you're on private property." He stomped off. "Have a better day," she sneered, going up to log in. "Did anyone else get assaulted by the moron?"

"Yes," Joyce and Steve said dryly from their desks.

"I sent him fleeing for his life."

"Thank you," Steve said. "The morning meeting?"

"Not for another hour, Captain."

"Even better." He looked at the pictures Joyce had printed out, smiling at her. "You should see the family portrait." Joyce grinned at him. Maria came in to look and smiled, going back to her desk.

"Maybe it'll make the reporters leave them alone now and then," Joyce said.

"We can only hope so," Steve agreed. "I hate being stalked and you can't really hurt them or they complain."

"Or sue," Joyce said. "One tried to sue Bruce for scaring her by partially Hulking up. The judge asked what she expected when she had cornered a highly volatile man who had known anger issues that turned him large, green, and mean. Then threw out the suit." Steve smiled at that.

***

Six hours later, Joyce and Steve were in front of a few senators who wanted to go over their budget. The senators wanted to make sure nothing was going wrong that would get these two skewered and leave them with a major security agency in turmoil at the wrong moment.

"Captain Rogers, I noticed that you're not appropriating the money set aside for your driver," the lead one said.

"I don't use a driver, Senator. Why would I need one?"

"Your counterpart does."

"I'm not allowed to drive with some of the medicines I'm on to make sure the tumors don't come back," Joyce said politely. "And frankly, I pay for half of mine's salary."

"You both have that in the budget," another senator said, showing them that line.

"Yes, but we can use that in case of emergencies or overtime during emergencies," Joyce said. They nodded at that wisdom. "Frankly, if I could I'd be driving myself daily. It's a bit safer. Not many would want to attack Steve but I know I'm the more vulnerable member since I don't carry a gun and I'm a bit weak to this day."

"A driver is a possible bodyguard," the lead senator reminded her.

She smiled. "Bruce found me a car agency that's very security conscious. They even do well with my daughter and grandchildren when they're in New York and Dawn isn't supposed to be driving due to exhaustion."

"That's good," the lead senator said. "Though, don't you think you should learn how to use a gun, just in case, Mrs. Banner?"

She shrugged. "I have other weapons around if I need one but I prefer not to use guns."

Steve looked at her. "I agree with that but I'd like you to learn just in case. Things have shown before that not even the administrative level is safe," he said quietly. She nodded slowly at that. He grinned. "Bond with the in-laws."

"I can do that this week."

He nodded and looked at the senators again. "We've been using the budget profiles and charts that Dawn set up for us when she was temping in with former Director Fury before she graduated. The accounting department keeps them updated."

"I've taken a few updating classes to be more proficient with the budgetary concerns," Joyce said. "That way I make sure we don't make huge mistakes that would get us called in front of you."

The lead senator smiled. "That's what we all want, Mrs. Banner. That's why we're making sure now, before appropriation hearings in a few months. At that time, we'll need a full budget for this year and projected for next year. If you need help, your daughter can easily help over a weekend. I've seen the ones she's prepared for Stark during their appropriation hearing and it's always excellent and up to date."

She tipped her head. "I'll ask her advice." They smiled and went over a few other areas that they weren't using that others thought were so important. It'd make things easier and would make sure they didn't run short at the end of the year. They were both practical people and that made a lot of difference. Fury always wanted more budget but these two knew how to live within one while making it stretch to cover everything.

***

Dawn looked at her closets the next weekend, considering how she was going to thin the herd this time. Her closet was getting too packed. She took out all the maternity wear and sorted it out. A few things she could still wear but someone would start asking if she was pregnant again so maybe she'd send that to consignment or maybe... She had a wild idea up her butt and it wasn't that hard to do. The portal was still there in residual energy. She could log onto it. She hummed as she sorted out other things. Natasha walked in and stole a few things, putting two back and handing her another two suits to take their place. "I like them."

"You look washed out in them." She got her e-reader, what she had really come in for, and left again to read on the back porch. She wouldn't wonder about Dawn's sudden sorting binge. She did it every few months so she could find weather appropriate clothes.

Dawn looked at them and put all four of the suits into the going pile. She didn't like those two. They didn't fit her maternity enhanced body very well. Another few got weeded out on that criteria. That helped and she had a whole closet free suddenly. She sorted out the formal gear too. That Dawn could use some of it, right? When she was done, she packed it into a box she charmed then went searching for the remnants of that spell. She sent the box over and made sure it stayed closed.

***

The other Dawn looked at the box that landed beside her, humming as she picked it up.

"What's that?" Nick Fury demanded impatiently.

"The other me that we met was cleaning out her closet. It says to open it at home." She could feel the magic around it. That Dawn did a lot more magic than she did. She tucked it under her desk and went back to work.

Fury huffed but had to accept it. Not like he could stop magical transportation methods yet. Stark hated the very idea of magic being real and refused to work on anything that would work against it. The face he made each time real magic got noted around him was hilarious but disturbing since his brain tended to reboot and he'd change the subject as he walked off.

When Dawn got home that night, she put the box on the bed and opened it, smiling at the clothes that suddenly unpacked themselves into neat piles on the bed. "Aww." She sorted them out. Some she couldn't wear. They were a bit too big. There was a note saying that anything in that size had been some of her maternity wear so that was nice of that other Dawn. She put those in the box in the back of the closet. She might need them some day. The rest she tried on. She looked great. Phil would be drooling if he wasn't in Uzbekistan. She ended up in one of the unitards that had the shorts length legs and tank top straps, going to clean the apartment. It needed it. They had both been busy for days. Now that she had six days of vacation coming, she'd have to figure out what she wanted to do. That Dawn had memories of a great vacation in Miami so maybe she'd do that. Even if Phil would have seizures about her going out in bikinis.

***

Clint walked in carrying bags of dinner, because both women were exhausted thanks to cranky babies. He glanced in their room, finding Dawn remaking the bed. "They puke on it?"

"Sweated all over it. They're cutting their first teeth."

"I remember Philip doing that." He took a kiss and went to the kitchen, putting the bags on the counter. Natasha was reading on the couch. "Anything good happen today?"

"Dawn sorted out her closet," Natasha said.

Clint shivered. "A minor one?"

"Nope," Dawn quipped, coming in to pull down plates and glasses. "Not by a long shot." Clint stared at her. She grinned. "I did send them to that other Dawn."

"Is her Coulson going to bitch?" he asked.

"Maybe." She grinned. "No clue." She set the table and put out the food. Philip came out yawning and stretching. "Have a good nap?"

"Girls sick, Daddy."

"I heard they were getting new teeth." He hugged his boy, letting him cuddle up on his shoulder. He tested his forehead. "You've got a fever too."

"That's why I changed the bed," Dawn said. "He's got a baby doctor appointment Monday morning. Which you're going to have to take him to."

"I can probably do that. Pending the world trying to commit suicide." They settled in to eat, Philip not really hungry but he nibbled some and drank his milk. Natasha cleaned up while Clint did baths tonight. Dawn read the bedtime story but Philip barely made it through three pages. The girls were more happy about the bedtime story. They got their bottles and stayed up to play for a while but they soon conked out to. Dawn put down Mira while Clint got Lexi, then they went to their own rooms. Clint looked in Dawn's closets then at her. "You have nothing left."

"I do so."

"You don't."

"I do. I have stuff at the dry cleaner. I have enough for three weeks at a time and two formal gowns I want to wear."

Clint shook his head, heading for a shower. "When are you going shopping?"

"Next week probably. Pepper's going too."

"Fine," he agreed. "Don't spend us poor."

"I haven't yet." She rolled her eyes.

"Don't we have a meeting with the family accountant soon?" Natasha asked from the vanity table, where she was lotioning down.

"Next week," Dawn agreed. "He's going over the retirement account stuff since they're changing tax laws." She got changed into a nightgown and climbed into bed. Unlike Nat, she didn't have a fancy nighttime ritual of lotioning some things and using a cream to keep down wrinkles. Clint came out and put on boxers then climbed in with her. Natasha came over after she was done. Dawn grimaced. "You pulled out the stinky lotion again, Nat."

"I needed it. I'm running a bit dry."

"That stuff does stink," Clint agreed. "Maybe we can mix in some scent that doesn't make you smell like a pool?"

Natasha huffed. "It'll fade in a few minutes." She curled up in her normal spot around Dawn. Who grimaced and started to scratch. "What are you doing?"

"I itch right where you're laying." Natasha got off her arm, huffing at the new welt looking things popping up. "Great."

"Benadryl," Clint said with a point. Dawn got some. Natasha got some baby wipes to clean off the area with that lotion. Dawn came back and laid down with Clint in the middle this time. That worked for them for the night. Clint liked being their body pillows.

***

Tony looked at Dawn on Monday afternoon - for some reason she had taken the kids to the doctors even though her spouses were free. He suddenly realized why since she had huge bandages on one arm that looked like they had broken sores since the gauze was damp looking. "Chicken pox?"

"Hives from Nat's lotion," she complained. "One baby has the flu, one has a teething problem, and Philip's got something with his sinuses." She looked up at him and shrugged slightly. "No clue."

"Did you go to the ER?"

"No, I talked with the baby doc and he let the nurse bandage it for me. I was going to hit our infirmary on the way in. Then Clint got called for a meeting."

"Why can't Natasha take them to the baby doctor?" She shrugged again. "Ah, that reason." She nodded. "Is she having one of her things?" he asked quietly. Dawn didn't look up but nodded quickly. "Figures," he muttered. "You okay?"

"I'm okay. The hives broke open when I was trying hard not to scratch them earlier." She glanced up at him again. "I've got a jacket to put on them in case someone important shows up. That way I don't look quite so contagious."

"It happens. Doesn't she use the same stuff?"

"This is a super lotion that she only uses sometimes," Dawn said. "Usually I complain about the stink but she came to bed last night before it was fully soaked in."

"Great. Find her something to replace it?"

"I'm going to on the way home. I've got the bottle in my purse in a plastic bag in case it leaks."

He looked at her arm. "Go get that changed?"

"I was going to when I caught lunch, boss." She grinned. "Give me time to finish this and then I'll do that and bring lunch back here."

"You can take a few extra minutes, Dawn."

"No I can't. The Caf's food order has to be put in today. I've got to pick it up on the way and you know they waited until the last minute again, boss."

"Yeah, they do that a lot." He was still staring at the bandage. He finally took the keyboard from her. "Go get those changed and finish it after lunch. It looks nasty."

She nodded, saving it and then heading to the infirmary. She walked in, smiling at the new docs. "I just need a bandage change."

"What happened?" one of the docs asked.

"I'm apparently allergic to the wife's heavy duty lotion." She let him see the bandage. "The baby doc's nurse bandaged it this morning and the boss said it was looking gross."

"It is." He carefully peeled it up, grimacing. "Those hives really broke open."

Dawn looked and winced. "Yeah, they did. I'll try a healing spell tonight once they've quit leaking." He smirked at her. "I hate scars."

"I don't blame you much." He got her some neosporin and put a new bandage over it. "There you go."

"Thank you. Do I have any orders I need to send in for you guys?" The other doc got that and handed it over with a smile. "Thanks, guys. I like you guys a lot more than the last one. He would've made me go to the ER to get bandaged." They smiled and she left. The lunch order was handed over with a tray once she got to the caf. They nicely fit on her desk with her keyboard so she could scan them in and send them to their places. Then she could do the purchase order for Accounting. By that afternoon she got confirmation of the orders and the purchase orders had been approved. Even if someone down there was still being a bit petty now and then they didn't want their source of food and medical attention cut off so they did those immediately when they came in. Which meant Dawn got a quiet afternoon with just some stuff to do for Pepper.

***

Tony walked into the sparring gym, looking at Clint. "Why is it that only one of you is mommy tracking?"

"Huh?" he asked, quitting his punching the heavy bag.

"If there's three of you, why is only Dawn doing all the baby appointments and things," Bruce translated from where he was lifting weights.

"Oh, that. Secreva called a meeting."

Tony stared at him. "And the other one?" Clint shrugged. "Dawn's arm looks really nasty. I made her get a bandage change."

"I put stuff on it for her after her shower."

"The hives broke open," Tony said. Clint winced. "She's going to replace that lotion."

"Nat's really picky," Clint said quietly.

"Yay. If she uses it on purpose around Dawn, I'm going to consider that spousal abuse." He gave him a pointed look. "Also, one of your kids has the flu and you're working out?"

"I did not hear that." He called Dawn mentally and she told him how it had went. He groaned and grabbed his towel to wipe off his face. "Let me go spell Beya. The girls are fussy bitches at the best of times." Tony grinned. "I want to help. I would've went."

"Next time, tell Agent Secreva that you have to be a father for a few hours. If he doesn't understand and it's not the fate of the world, we'll beat his ass for you."

"Thanks, Stark." Clint walked up to kiss Dawn and look at the bandage, wincing some. "Worse?"

"Broke open." She looked up at him.

"I'll go spell Beya. By now she's got to be hoarse or at her wit's end." Dawn grinned. "Want me to pick up new lotion?"

"Nope. I can on the way home. I need to pick up more conditioner since she was using mine this morning and used it all."

He took another kiss. "Let me know if you're not going to be able to drive home." He left, going back to the house. Natasha was reading in the tub. Beya was trying to calm down a fussy Mira. He took her from Beya, looking at her. "What?" She whined. "I know you don't feel good. I'm sorry. We're trying, dear, and you're a lot like your mommy." He put her against his shoulder, which calmed her down. "Thanks, Beya."

"Welcome, Clint. Philip's taking a nap. The medicine they gave him knocks him out. Lexi's gums are swollen so I put on some of that oragel stuff. She's finally resting. This one won't rest."

"The flu's like that sometimes. Go nap. I've got it." She smiled and left with a pat to the baby's back. He looked at her. "So, you feel pukey or just cranky?" She fussed a bit. He got her some water to drink. That made her happier. So did him handing her to Mommy so he could change her sister's diaper and then Philip and his bed since he'd had an accident.

Natasha looked at her daughter. "Are you feeling better?" she asked quietly. The baby heaved up the water on her and her book. "Oh, crap." She got up to wipe them all down. The book got a washcloth over the damp spots to blot it. She and the baby took a shower. Clint came back to get her to put her into clothes and a diaper again. "She just threw up."

"They do that when they have the flu." He took a kiss. "Dawn's getting you some lotion to replace that stuff."

"I'll just not wear it around her."

"Nat, she's got huge hives that are now broken open all down her arm," he said, showing her the picture of her arm. Natasha grimaced. "You're getting new lotion. That way none of us have to worry about being allergic to it, or possibly the kids." She nodded, restarting her bath. He took Mira out to the living room after taking her temperature. A bit high but some baby tylenol helped. She settled down to be comforted and spoiled like her mommy did.

He had to put her down for a minute because Lexi fussed, which made Mira fuss that he had put her on the couch. He brought Lexi out, letting them rest with each other. Lexi fussed at that. "What?" he asked them. Lexi kept fussing. He sent a thought at Dawn, who told him Lexi and Mira were not able to nap next to each other. They woke each other up. "Oh, you sleep like Mommy Nat," he said, shifting them so each kid had a side of him to lay on. That worked. Lexi went back to sleep. Mira fussed herself to sleep.

Philip came out and cuddled him. "Feel tick," he mumbled.

"I know, little guy." He cuddled him, testing his temperature. His medicine didn't have anything for a fever so he got him some baby tylenol too. If one kid had the flu, they'd all have the flu within days. So would the parents probably.

***

Two days later, the infirmary docs got called up to the main office. Dawn was passed out on her desk. They checked her over. "She looks exhausted."

Pepper grimaced. "I didn't think Super Dawn had returned but apparently I'm wrong. If I try to wake her up, she'll react poorly."

One of them nudged her until she woke up. "If your children have the flu you shouldn't be here."

She pushed her hair back. "Sorry, Pepper, taking a lunch nap." She looked at the doctors. "The other spouses have it."

"You clearly have it too," the lead doc said, staring at her. "Did you take your flu shot?"

"And some of the tamiflu." They snorted. "Meds don't always work right on me."

"Oh, you're one of those."

Tony snorted from up the hallway. "Yes, she is. We've had a lot of fun realizing that certain medicines don't work well on her." He stared at her. "Go home."

"I can't. Pepper's going on vacation in two days and I need stuff done before she goes."

"We, Dawn. We," Pepper said patiently. "If you're not contagious."

Dawn looked at her. "You mean I'd have to leave the kids with the other parents?"

"Yes, you do." She smiled. "Sorry, part of your job is being beside me."

Dawn hugged her. Then she looked at the docs. "I'm okay. I'm not sick. I've had the meds."

They stared at her. "You're running a fever again," one told her more quietly. "You look like crap."

Dawn grimaced. "I have puking babies at home. Clint and I were up all night with them."

"Then you should be at home."

"Shit has to get done before we go. I'm going home early tonight and I'm working from home tomorrow." They nodded, leaving it at that and letting Tony and Pepper yell at her. She pushed her hair back again. "Sorry, guys. Just a nap."

Tony nodded, tipping her face off to the side. "Guys, can you bring her some benadryl please?" Tony called after the docs. They nodded, sending some back up. He stared at her. "That lotion?"

"I think it was on a pillow." She touched the spot and shrugged. "I took some when it started to pop up. I got her new stuff."

"Hmm." He stared at her. "Where is she?"

"Hiding because she's sick."

"Great." He looked at Pepper. "You're going to leave us with the kids?"

She smiled and nodded. "Yup." She walked off. "Let me get us some coffee."

"I'm good, thanks, Pepper. Let me finish this so I can go spell Clint from being whined at and thrown up on."

Tony nodded. "Sure." He checked Pepper's desk to see if she had stuff waiting on him then went to log onto the cameras in Dawn's house. Clint was walking the floor with Mira, who was fussing loudly. Philip was cooing at Lexi, who wasn't. "JARVIS, where's Natasha?"

"I believe she's coming back from the grocery store, sir."

"Thank you." He watched to make sure things were going okay. Barton looked like he was at his wit's end. Beya had the other two for now. When Natasha came in he exchanged the baby for the bags so he had a breather.

Natasha looked at her daughter. "Such fussing over such a minor thing is not needed," she said quietly. "You must calm down." Mira threw up on her in retaliation. "You are a lot like your other mother. You hate being corrected."

"Not like she can help it. I'll fix her some pedialyte while you clean her up." Natasha nodded, taking her to do that. Clint looked up then at Philip. "You okay?"

"Better, Daddy. Still sniffly."

"That's cool. We'll figure that out. With our luck you're allergic to one of the flowers around here."

"Flowers for girls," he pointed out.

Clint stared at him. "There's flowers outside."

"Still for girls."

"Plenty of guys work with flowers, bushes, and trees. We'll talk about that when the girls go down." Philip huffed but went back to cooing at his sister. Clint made both girls bottles and Philip got a cup with some. He fed Lexi hers and she calmed down. Philip sipped his, clearly not liking the taste but yay. "If you finish that, there's a red gatorade in the fridge." Philip gulped it and went to get that treat. He loved those. Natasha came out with a clean baby in just a diaper and a t-shirt. "Her fever up?" He pointed at the bottle.

She settled down to feed her daughter. "Not really. She's almost out of clothes."

"We've got to do some laundry tonight," Clint agreed. Natasha stared at him. "I did some last night but it was mostly Philip's. I can start some of hers in a few minutes. Let's get them down." She nodded, letting her daughter fuss herself into a drink-induced nap. That helped and the girls went back to their cribs for a while. Clint started some laundry.

Tony texted him, making him grab his phone to look at. Tony watched him groan and go sniff the pillows to see which one it was. He found it and checked the tag then tossed it into the washer as well.

"Why are you washing that?" she said, trying to remove it.

"Because your lotion's on it and Dawn's got a huge hive on her cheek from it." He stared at her. "So we're going to wash it. It can be washed on cold."

"Those need to be on hot."

He stared at her. "This time, we're doing it the easy way, Nat. It's all going on cold so we can do a larger load and nothing will run." He turned on the machine and stared at her. "Are you feeling better?"

"Not really." He checked her forehead but she ducked. He stared her down. "I'm fine." Tony texted Clint's phone again. "Who's that?"

"Stark." He read it and groaned. "Dawn has to go with Pepper when she goes on vacation in two days." He looked up. "JARVIS, can you please ask Stark why she has to go?"

"It's part of her contract and job to be beside Pepper no matter what she's doing," the AI said. "Therefore, if Pepper goes on vacation, Dawn goes on vacation with her to handle anything that comes up. They'll be gone six days and be in Tahiti."

Clint nodded. "Damn, wish I could."

"Also, Mr. Stark said to tell you that she's working from home tomorrow because that hive on her cheek looks very bad and she's coming home early tonight as soon as she's done with the tasks that have to get done before they leave. Approximately three hours from now by how she's going at the moment, pending the benadryl knocking her out."

"Thanks," Clint said. "Is that the only hive?"

"The only visible one."

"Great. Thanks."

"You're most welcome. I believe Philip is about to throw up." Clint went to get him and take him to the bathroom to teach him how to vomit like a big person.

Natasha huffed but went to check on the girls then work on a snack.

***

Dawn was yawning when she got pulled over by the Malibu PD. "Sorry, Officer. Was I weaving? I took some allergy meds and I'm on my way home."

"You were going a bit slowly," he said. He looked at her face. "Ma'am, is that a wound?"

"No, it's a hive. I'm allergic to my wife's lotion and I didn't know she had left some on the pillow last night." She yawned again. "I'm ten miles from the house," she said when he stared at her.

"You should still take a cab, ma'am. You're too tired to drive with that medicine in your system. If you try to drive I'll have to bring you in."

She nodded, calling the house. No answer. She sighed, trying again. She got Sean, who was on his way home with Diana. They'd pause and pick her and the car up. She said a quiet 'thank you' and hung up. "My niece and nephew will get me. The house phone was forwarded."

"That's fine, ma'am. I can wait." He stared at her cheek. "You're sure that's an allergic reaction?"

She touched it and nodded. "Yeah, I am. It was some leftover lotion on the cushion. Thank you for worrying though."

"We're paid to worry about things like that. You really shouldn't have been driving this tired, ma'am."

Dawn smiled. "I have two kids at home with the flu and one with a sinus issue."

He nodded. "We have a few cab services, use them."

"I'm working from home tomorrow." He smiled at that. He also gave her a warning ticket for it. Sean and Diana pulled up, letting her switch places with Sean. Diana drove her home and Sean got her car. Diana had to wake her up when they got home. Dawn went right to the couch and laid down with the girls. They cooed and napped with the mommy.

Philip wandered out and hugged Diana. "I tick."

"I know. Want to cuddle?" He nodded, letting her sit down and cuddle him while reading him her math assignment. Sean put his things up and came out to check the kitchen. Nothing cooking. He heard the dryer buzz the 'clothes waiting' noise and took them out then made dinner. Clint was crashed on their bed, snoring. Natasha wasn't anywhere he saw. Beya was clearly asleep since she was in Philip's room on the floor snoring. Apparently it was a long day.

***

Pepper got Dawn onto the corporate plane, letting her nap all the way to their destination. She had things she could read. Dawn needed a nap. Then again, Clint had looked like he needed a nap when he had dropped her off. They'd figure that out.

***

Clint woke up to a screaming match later that night. He walked out, staring at Natasha and Diana. "What's going on?"

"I'm not her fucking maid," Diana told him.

"No, you're not. You're our niece. You do minimal chores around the house and help with things that directly affect you because you have to do good in school." She smiled at him. "Now and then we may need a tiny bit of help during big things."

"Which I don't mind. But when she," she said with a point at Natasha. "Is sitting on her ass on the couch reading and tells me to go make dinner, no! I have finals in two damn days."

"Swearing," Natasha ordered.

Diana looked at her. "Yay." Clint scowled. She backed down on that point. "I have to study."

"Yes, you do. Neither of us is that pitiful that we can't either cook or order a pizza." Natasha stared at him. Then at Diana. "The kids?"

"Beya."

He opened the porch door. "Beya, go ahead and send them back. I'm up." She smiled and carried the girls back while Philip ran in. "You're feeling better?" He smiled and nodded, pouncing his cousin. "Good job." He took the girls from her. "Thanks for letting me have a nap, Beya."

"Not a problem, Clint. They're both feeling much better. Their diapers are almost normal." He grinned. "Diana, how's finals?"

"Sucky," she complained. "I need to go study." Beya hugged her and she relaxed again. "C'mon, Philip. I'll read you my english assignment. Maybe it'll make more sense to you."

"Take two hours for playing," Clint ordered. "Clear your mind and go back to it. You'll never retain it otherwise. Your aunt doesn't." She grinned, taking Philip to play in the yard. Beya smiled and let them handle it. He looked at Natasha. "You know their grades are important," he said quietly.

"It was just dinner."

Clint stared at her. He handed her Mira. Natasha didn't look pleased. "Being a mom is a full time job," he said. "The same as being a dad is."

"Perhaps we shouldn't have had children."

He stared her down. "I love my kids, even when they're sick." She huffed off. Mira got put into her crib. Clint brought her back out. They could watch some trash news show. They were covering some starlettes who can't wear panties and then Dawn and Pepper. "Look, it's mommy." And it was speculation about the marks on Dawn's arm and cheek. He groaned and looked at the numbers he had. He texted Callia, she'd know who to tell. Then he got to work on the kids. Natasha clearly left the house with the way it was so silent. Great, just great.

***

Callia got the text message while she and her father were eating. "JARVIS, who's saying what about Auntie Dawn?"

"Two of the news programs are wondering what those marks are," the AI said.

"Great." She found her father's phone and found a number in it. "Hi, Michelle. It's Callia Stark. I'm going to make a short statement for Auntie Dawn since I doubt she's watching the coverage." She smiled and ate a bite while she got a pen and some paper. "No, those aren't sores. They're hives. Auntie Natasha has this heavy lotion that she uses and it turns out Auntie Dawn is allergic. She had really nasty ones on her arm the day they found that out and they're mostly healed. The one on her cheek was because some was accidentally transferred onto a couch pillow. They've since washed it and it's getting better. JARVIS, turn on ET?"

He did and she stared. "Hmm. No, those are the hives. I promise they're not mean to her. Clint would kill them if they were mean to each other. No comment on why," she said when she got asked. "Beyond that, Auntie Dawn can kick them around pretty good when she needs to during sparring practice. So no, it's an allergic reaction. She's got stuff for it. She was at home yesterday due to the flu the girls had and she took a lot of benadryl that day. No, the original ones on her arm were so bad they broke open and had to be covered. It was *gross*." She ate another bite of salad.

"No, dinner with Dad. They're playing. It's nice, don't prompt them to come be hellions please," she said dryly. "They can eat with Daddy later, when they're hungry. MB, Andrew's wife, made them brownies. Of course I did but I'm tinkering tonight so I'm eating early. Hopefully Dad can keep the younger kids' attention so I don't get interrupted again." Tony snorted, giving her a pointed look. "Sure, you can ask her but she *really* needs the vacation. With the girls having the flu and Philip getting allergies from something, it's been tiring for them. Uncle Clint probably slept all day." She finished her salad. "Thank you." She hung up and handed him his phone back.

"You're right, she'd beat their asses and hide their bodies. If Clint didn't." He finished his. "Draw in here."

"I can't. Liz won't let me."

"Lab and only the lab, and expect JARVIS to be staring over your shoulder, Callia." He stared her down. "No weapons, no lasers, nothing too huge. No building a prototype without me checking it." She huffed but nodded, heading to do that once her bowl was in the dishwasher. Tony went to check on the other three. They were all napping, which he nearly danced about. He loved group naps.

***

Dawn looked at her phone that night. Clint was sorry they had spotted the hives. He was also sorry the kids had worn her out that much. She checked on the entertainment sites, groaning at what she saw. Stories about her being underweight again and the hives. She put up a remark on her livejournal about the hives and that her weight was good, she was just tired from the kids having the flu. She posted it and turned off her phone, thinking at her spouses. Natasha was fully blocked off in what felt like a pout. She was apparently heading for another incident. Clint was tired but smiled mentally at her. They talked about the kids and he told her to wear something more massive the next day so she didn't accidentally flash someone. She snorted and said tomorrow's was skimpier. He groaned but he couldn't come down. Someone had to watch the kids.

***

Dawn smiled at the reporter that was huffing up the beach. "Don't go near Pepper. She's tired."

The reporter stared at her. "We're still in a free country."

"Which means I can throw your ass in the ocean." She smiled. "Probably about halfway back to the US." The reporter slowly backed off. "Thank you. You're interrupting our vacation." She stared at the cameraman over the top of her sunglasses. "And you wanted....." He turned and ran. "Great." She smiled at the reporter again. "Anything else?"

"Those aren't hives," she sneered.

"That's funny. Three different doctors said they were." The woman stomped off. Dawn wiggled her fingers. "Toodles." Pepper snickered quietly from where she was reading. "They didn't even send a *good* one. We should be insulted, Pepper." She shifted to get more comfortable, waiting on the next issue to appear. It turned out miss bad reporter had told the cops she was contagious. She looked at the one walking toward her. "They're hives."

"May I see them just in case?" Dawn sat up and shifted so he could see her arm and cheek. "Those look like hives."

She dialed her phone, handing it over. "Our corporate infirmary so you can make sure."

He walked a few feet away talking to them about what the reporter had said. "He said they'd need a picture."

Dawn pointed at a button. "That." He took the picture and sent it to the same number. They called back and told him it was healing nicely and still hives. He handed the phone back. "Thank you," she said quietly. "She's just mad I won't let her near my boss. She's an untalented paparazzi."

"They do seem to hang out to catch celebrities," he said with a smile. She grinned back. "Have a good rest, ma'am."

"You have a great day too, Officer." Dawn stared at the reporter. "Anything else, dear?" She got glared at. "Listen, dear. We only get a week of corporate vacation a year and you're spoiling it. Do I *really* have to talk to your usual editor? Or talk to some of the legitimate press to see if they'd like to shun you? There's dozens of people who would adore your job." The reporter was still sneering. "Of course, the offer of me throwing you halfway back to the US stands." The officer shivered. "Anything else?"

"Dawn," Pepper said quietly, looking at the reporter. "There is no right to bother people on the beach. You're ruining my vacation. I might just have to turn into a super villain myself because of the crankiness you're causing." The officer started to shake trying not to laugh. The reporter huffed back off. "You have a *great* day, ma'am." She smiled at the officer. "It's not your fault she's dumb. Do have a great day, Officer," she said with a wink. He grinned and walked off. She looked at Dawn. "Halfway back to the US might put her near Hawaii, wouldn't it?"

Dawn looked it up on her phone. "No, not really." She showed her the map. "I could land her near Alaska probably. It might be a bit merciful if she died due to the hypothermia but I can be nice even to annoyances."

Pepper looked over. "Good, here comes one," she muttered.

Dawn looked at that one. She was one of the LA society people. "Yes, ma'am?" she asked with a smile.

"Don't you think you should cover up more, dear? You are a mother now."

Dawn grinned. "Yes, I am, and I fully regained my great shape. Beyond that, a bikini in anywhere but the US shows an appreciation for the sun. It's only the US's puritanical visions of beauty that get that mixed up with sexy." The woman gaped. She smiled again. "Some of us rely on more than our boobs to get places and me enjoying the sun and getting a tan is good for me." Pepper swatted her on the arm. "It is."

"It is." She looked over. "The last time I saw, Dawn was looking very nice in her bathing suit, Mrs. Crips. She always dresses to impress even when her spouses aren't around. It's why she's my assistant."

"Yes, she is, isn't she," she sneered.

Dawn grinned, looking at her over her sunglasses. "And worth more than your husband's company. Even before his first divorce when their stock prices were very high." The woman gasped, taking a step backward. "Some of us work because we want to work. I like the work I do. It's challenging and I get to work with a lot of very smart people that answer questions when I have them. Plus I get to spend a lot of time with my family every day." The woman huffed off. "You have a great day too," she said with a smirk and a wave.

Pepper shook her head. "Which degree is next?"

"Probably another language one. I've been working on a paper for it." She settled in again, shaking her head at another reporter staring at them. "Hi, Marianna, please go away."

"Sure, Dawn. You look great. Don't let the cow that needs the abaya get to you." Dawn smirked at her. She called that report in. They had gotten it on film, and what had happened with the first reporter too. Not that she'd usually call the talentless cow a reporter but she was a freelancer since not even TMZ would hire her. She noticed someone staring at them and smiled. "Aww, look, Clint showed up after all. Usually he'd be stalking her from a hotel room so he could relax."

Dawn heard that and looked over. Aaron. She smiled and waved him down, sending a shout at Clint. He walked over. "You okay?" she asked quietly. "Sit, you're being Clint," she said extra softly.

He flopped down beside her. "I'm more hiding but I'm good. Are you okay? Those look bad."

Dawn shrugged. "Allergic hives."

"Ow." He smiled. "There's a private beach about ten minutes from here."

"We're going tomorrow. We're about to go to lunch." Pepper looked over and smiled. "You can hover if you want. We're kinda used to Clint at least doing it."

He smiled. "He warned me when he heard I was down here. The kids okay?"

"The flu is fully gone and so is Philip's allergy thing. So's Natasha. She's having a moment of remembering her training about not getting close to anyone." She rolled her eyes.

"That happens I guess." He glanced at the reporters then at her. "He lets you out wearing that?"

She smiled. "I've worn less." He groaned. "Let's hit lunch. Pepper?"

"Yup, that's a great idea." They put on their non-slutty beach shorts and t-shirts, then their sandals, folding up their towels and walking off with Aaron. He could use some feeding up. He was a bit thin. Plus it kept the reporters off them.

***

"Remind me I'm a good girl?" Dawn asked later that night. She and Pepper were watching a strip show.

"You're a very good girl," Pepper promised. She was a bit tipsy but not too drunk. "She's really good."

"I took the classes," Dawn reminded her.

"Open pole night's tomorrow."

Dawn grinned. "That might be fun."

"Not if it'll get noticed. I'll never hear the end of it." They shared a look then Pepper giggled. "Tony's face would be priceless."

"Clint's too." She sipped her drink. They finally left to go back to the hotel. Someone tried to mug them but Dawn slammed him into the building a few times and they decided she was mean. They made it back to their rooms. Pepper's had someone in there. Dawn beat them and knocked them out then called security. Security was not happy that they had been in there. They checked Dawn's room too. Someone escaped off her balcony. Dawn pulled the guard's gun and shot them in the ass. It was the easiest shot since it was kinda large and flabby. She handed the gun back with a smile. "There, easily identifiable."

"Who are you?" one of the guards asked calmly.

She grinned. "Dawn Summers-Romanoff-Barton."

They just nodded. They had heard of her apparently. They got all the thieves. Dawn made sure they weren't missing anything. They got moved to rooms higher up the hotel in case the people came back. Dawn made her nightly check-in then went to bed. She laid there and talked to Clint about Natasha. They were going to let her run. She'd come back soon. They could handle it while she had an angst moment. They had before.

***

Aaron showed up the next morning at breakfast, staring at Dawn. "Are you really that good of a shot?" he asked quietly.

She smiled and nodded since her mouth was full. Pepper nodded too, buttering her biscuit. "Clint and Natasha taught her very well." Dawn finished chewing and nodded again.

Aaron sat down. "Private beach?"

"Definitely," Pepper said with a smile. "You don't have to hover."

"Someone probably should. I ran into two people last night who had plans to get Dawn into a compromising position."

Dawn snorted, waving a hand around. "If they want it that much, I can hit the open pole competition tonight and then beat them to death." Aaron stared at her oddly. She grinned. "I took pole dancing for PE in high school." She ate another bite.

He shook his head quickly. "Please don't. I don't want to think about that." She grinned. "Can I escort you there?"

"We'd be charmed for you to escort us there and then you can go play," Pepper said, patting him on the wrist. "We don't need bodyguards."

"You kinda do. There's a guy at your hotel who has a bounty to capture Dawn." Dawn choked. "Some guy from Saudi Arabia."

Dawn blinked at him and said the guy's name, getting a nod back. "Mother fucker," she said in French. She looked at Pepper. "He needs to be taught a lesson."

"Yes, but we should not unless he comes near us," she reminded her patiently.

Dawn pouted. "But..."

"No."

"Fine." She finished her breakfast and paid the bill, making Pepper hand her half the bill's worth. Dawn handed it back. "I can afford breakfast, Pepper." They packed up and headed out with Aaron driving. The private beach was nice. They got changed out of their normal clothes into bikinis. Aaron stared and you could almost hear some sort of sound from him. Dawn grinned. "I'm a flirty tease in case Clint didn't tell you." She strolled off.

Pepper came out. "Yes, she is." Aaron nodded and took a picture to send to Clint.

Dawn looked up, putting on her sunglasses. She turned around. "Take a better one." He did and Clint apparently said something since Dawn almost blushed as she spread out her towel. She stretched out with Pepper beside her. Aaron went to hide. He didn't like the thought of them being kidnaped. Then again, he had seen Dawn kick that mugger around the night before. Still, better to be safe than have to mount a rescue. So he sat in the car reading. It was a pretty day, not too hot. He was getting too comfortable and about to nap when three guys in desert over-robes and headdresses showed up and one followed them like they were his dogs on a leash. Aaron got out when the yelling started.

Dawn looked over her sunglasses. "You have *got* to be kidding me," she complained.

Pepper looked back. "Don't we wish. Dawn, be nice."

"Sure," she said. "People, you are disturbing this beach's enjoyment. Go away," she said in Arabic.

"You are his wife," one snarled, grabbing her.

"I doubt it. I have a husband." She got free and broke his nose with a punch. "I'm not his, never have been his, never will be his. I don't like kidnapers. I especially don't like the kidnaper I scarred horribly for daring to touch me." She looked at the other guards. "Get out of here before I call the cops." Their boss stepped around them sneering. "You," she sneered back. "Not yours. Please leave." The guards at the beach were coming over. "This one," she said with a point. "Kidnaped me once and claims I'm his. He's wrong. He's very wrong. He's about to be dead wrong."

"Miss," the guard said. "Please calm down."

Dawn looked at him. "You want me to calm down because the guy who kidnaped me with intent to rape me and force me to marry him is trying again?" she snorted. "Oh hell no. We'll both leave but make him go far, far away."

"I have summoned officers," the guard said. The guy shot the guard.

Dawn caught the bullet in midair. "Nope, sorry." The guy backed up, looking horrified. "Pepper." She came over to move the guy away from the bullet. "Get the others too please?" She got the beach area cleared. Aaron was slowly moving closer. "Anything else from the whiny babyman patrol?" she sneered at him. "Real men don't need to *convince* women." He lunged with a yell. He had a knife. Dawn disarmed him and slammed him into the sand, keeping the knife. The officers rushed over. "He once kidnaped me. It's nice the plastic surgery got rid of some of the scars I gave him for that." She handed over the knife. "It was his."

"We saw," one officer said, moving her farther away. "Are you all right?"

"I've seen worse muggers," she told him. "Though I did stop him from trying to kill the guard." She pointed at the bullet that was still hanging in midair. They shivered. "I warned him to leave." The guy got up with another yell and lunged at her. The officers got pushed aside. Dawn jump and kicked him in the jaw, snapping his head back. Then she spun and caught him in the stomach. He backed up, still sneering and rushed her again, trying to hit her with a wild windmilling of his fists. She ducked one, blocked a few, then grabbed him just right when he was in range to flip him and injure his neck.

Aaron came over to back her away from him. Dawn stared at the moron. "You're damn lucky the officers don't want to see blood today," she told the idiot. "Because yours will be a pretty stain on my hands if you ever come near me again. I made your grandmother see sense. Perhaps you should learn from women." She looked at the still standing guards. They all backed up. She looked at the boss again. "Go. The. Fuck. Away. You have now reached my point of 'I'll be damned' and I'm going to kill you the next time you come near me. How messy I make your death depends on you." The officers hauled him up. "Do you need me to fill out a statement? This isn't the first time he's tried to find his way into my heart the wrong way."

"Please," an officer said. "Can you ...let the bullet down?" Dawn flicked a hand and it fell in the sand. "Thank you." One of the officers picked it up. That one walked Dawn over to Pepper to take a statement on what had happened. There were cameras but they'd need one. Dawn gave a good statement about what had happened today and before today. It was a pretty clear cut case. Another officer hissed in his ear. "He claims you're his wife, ma'am?"

"No, I have a husband. He looks a lot like that one," she said with a thumb point at Aaron. "They're like twins." She smiled. "I have a wife too. She's a redhead. Not that one," she said when he glanced at Pepper. "I'm her assistant." She grinned. "They're back in the house in LA."

"That's fine, ma'am. He claims he has papers?"

"That'd be hard to do since I married my spouse in Spain." The officer chuckled, going to tell the others that. It was clearly a forgery. The man started to rant and rave. Dawn looked over. "You'll never be the man Clint is. Hell, you'll never the man his idiot older brother Barney was and he was a bad guy without a lot of morals or sense." The officer choked. She sighed, glancing at Pepper then at the officer. "We're trying to have a restful vacation."

"We understand. He will hopefully be in jail until you leave, miss."

"Thank you." She shook his hand. "The guard might need some calming down and panty changing time," she said quietly. "I stopped the bullet a few inches in front of him."

"We can have him call in someone else to guard the beach. Things like this don't often happen here."

"I want like hell to not have this one happen," she quipped. The officer smiled and they walked off the prisoners.

Dawn huffed, looking at Pepper. "Regular beach?"

"No, we can move further off to the side here so we're not as noticed." Dawn nodded and they moved to do that. Aaron followed. "Aaron, we'll be fine. They never try twice in one day." She smiled. "Don't you have fun things you want to do?"

"No, not really." He settled in next to them with his book. Dawn smiled and switched it for her e-reader. He grinned. "Don't have that one?"

"Nat only buys boring literature books, not fantasy and not action books. It's annoying." He laughed but settled in to read what she had been reading. She even made sure he didn't lose his place. He texted Clint about how amazing it was that her bikini didn't split when she was kicking the guy's ass. He was sure she was going to spill out of it. He got back a 'yeah, she's got a pretty cold temper about people like that, which one was it'. He answered. Twenty minutes later there was an agent there clearing his throat. Aaron looked up at him. That was fast work by his 'twin'.

"Mrs. Barton, your husband would like you to come home sooner."

"I don't care," she said with a smile. "It's Pepper's vacation and I have to be with her. And you are...." He pulled out his ID case to hold up. FBI. Great! "That's nice and all but I'm her first line of defense."

"I can't argue that she would need it, but they found the officers that had arrested that man dead. Two missing and the rest dead. Along with all the statements and the film from the beach's camera."

"The guard they almost shot said they have a backup," Pepper said. "The guard can give another statement and so can we."

He nodded. "Their people are going to come to you later about that. Can we perhaps talk you into sunbathing somewhere more...private?"

"That we're more than happy to do," Pepper agreed. "As long as I can relax."

"I understand fully, Ms. Potts. Really I do. This was my vacation last week until someone we protect showed up." She patted him on the arm. He looked at Aaron. "You must be related to Agent Barton."

"I am. I'm Aaron, another brother." That's how he had decided to think about the whole cloning thing, someone had made Clint his twin brother.

"That's fine then. Come with me please." They got taken back to the hotel, which had a private rooftop deck for the penthouse. Which they had been switched up to. Mr. Stark had made sure of it when he had heard. The local police came to talk to them and took another statement. Dawn offered to find the guys and bring them back ball-less and miserable for harming the very nice and polite officers. The one taking the statement said she shouldn't have to get her hands dirty. They had plenty who were willing to help do that on their behalf. Dawn promised to help if the families needed help with the funeral expenses since they had died trying to protect her. They promised it wasn't necessary but she'd talk to someone later. The police left it in the capable agent hands. The FBI agent was sitting across the rooftop from them, watching the area. He was getting an easier day it seemed. These two were much more polite and easy going than any political appointee in on a trade summit.

Aaron's phone rang with a message that had a link. He typed it into Dawn's tablet, sure she would probably want to see it too since it had come from Clint. He read up on the guy, waving the agent over. "From her husband." Dawn looked over. "Incidences he had caused."

"Great." She went back to reading. "Do whatever you want, Aaron. We're okay."

"Yeah," he said dryly. "Sure you are." She shot him a grin. He took back the tablet when the agent was done, ignoring how pale he looked. "He had some cleric there declare your first marriage invalid and declare you married." Dawn moaned and shook her head.

"What is it with people deciding that you shouldn't be married and making it so you can only marry them?" Pepper teased with a smile at her book. Dawn swatted her. "How much did the State Department have to do with it?"

"A lot," the agent sighed. "Ma'am, you wouldn't happen to have a copy of your marriage license around would you?"

"Somewhere in the apartment in New York." She looked over. She called Tara. "Can you do me a huge favor and go dig my wedding certificate to Clint out of the safe in the New York apartment? Thanks, Tara. I'm pretty sure there'll be an agent looking for it, yup. Thanks." She hung up. "Tara Maclay will go dig it out for someone you trust." He smiled, walking off calling that in to his boss, who called someone he trusted out there. She looked at Pepper. "If this turns out like that idiot world leader, I'll try not to destroy his castle." Aaron choked, shaking his head.

The agent looked over. "That was you?"

She nodded, going back to Aaron's book. "He declared all marriages not done in his country and Russia invalid then kidnaped my spouses and my niece to get me there for our wedding. I had tried to be merciful. I only destroyed his castle. Someone else killed him for me so I wouldn't have to keep brushing off his kidnaping teams."

"You need a bodyguard, Dawn," Aaron said quietly.

She grinned. "Usually I'd have Clint lurking in a hotel room to watch me in my bikinis."

"I can see why," he said with a smile back. "But still, bodyguard?"

"I'm a good bodyguard for Pepper and not a lot of people could take me down and out, Aaron. I'm fairly well trained."

He nodded. "Sure." She patted him on the knee and went back to reading. They even had a private pool so she got some swimming in when she got tired of sunbathing. Aaron looked around to make sure no one was trying to spy on them. He found one but by their suit they were an agent. He cleared his throat and nodded.

The agent looked and waved, getting one back. "He's my partner."

"That's fine." He went back to reading, wondering how Clint put up with the insanity.

Dawn looked over at the feeling of being stared at, finding someone watching. She blinked at them and nodded her head. They nodded back and disappeared. "Aaron, someone's looking for you."

"Who?"

She shrugged. "White guy, short hair, built like a fighter." He stiffened and she nodded. "Think so."

"I'll find him later." She smiled and went back to it. Pepper looked at him. "There were others in the project as we found out," he said quietly.

"Ah." She nodded. "Do you need Dawn to help you kick one of them around?"

He grinned. "I hope not." Dawn snorted but she looked pleased.

***

Stark looked up as Clint walked into his lab. "Kids finally back in daycare?"

"Yup." He got into the same file, letting him see it. "I sent the link to Joyce but haven't heard anything."

Stark skimmed it and snorted. "Does this one have a castle she can destroy?"

"Reread who facilitated the paperwork."

Tony read that part more closely and moaned. "Fuck!" Callia jumped under the hood of one of the cars, giving him a look. "Like the guy with the castle, only the State Department helped."

"They're fucked," Callia said blandly. "Can we have popcorn? That way I'm not in a shock collar again?" Tony glared at her. She grinned back. "Not like she can't and won't."

"Good point." He and Clint shared a look. "Warn her to be subtle."

"I will. Where's the embassies so we can start a protest?"

"LA has one," Callia said. "I had to call them for a report."

Clint smiled. "Thanks, Short Stuff." He left, going to gather copies of their documents and take them to the embassy. He even dressed up nicer than jeans and a t-shirt. He walked in and took off his sunglasses, hanging them on his neckline. "I'd like to speak to someone about what an idiot in your country has done please," he said quietly to the receptionist.

"Is it business related?" she asked.

"He got my marriage declared illegal so he could try to steal my wife. She just kicked his ass in Tahiti and somehow the officers that arrested him were killed." She called the top guy at the embassy. Clint shook his hand when he walked out. "Agent Clint Barton, SHIELD, but I'm here about my wife."

"What has happened?" Clint handed him the information Aaron had emailed him first. The head of the local consulate general grimaced as he read it. "That is not good."

"No, it's not." He handed over the other documents. "I realize the State Department doesn't like her, or me, and I don't really care. They helped have my marriage declared illegal. Frankly, a few of them tried to pressure her to divorce me and marry him to make things easier on them."

The local Secretary Consulate General winced. "That's very dirty. Come to my office."

"Sure." He followed. He'd try diplomacy. If not, he had an arrow he could use a sharpie on to make sure it knew whose eye it was for.

The local guy was very nice about things and when he called the higher ups, they were a bit embarrassed. He went past the head of the Consulate to the higher ups back at home. They weren't pleased either. He finally hung up and looked at this very angry husband. "We do respect all marriages, even if they're only legal in certain locations. Even a trio, though we, as a nation, do not like the fact she has a wife as well." Clint nodded he knew that. "The people in charge of the embassies is highly upset that they forced this issue. He did not know. Now that he is aware he's investigating it and the declaration will be repealed."

Clint nodded. "That's good. Does that mean if he comes near my wife again she or I can kill him? She was going to earlier." He handed over something else. "What we've had to talk about in the past when someone talked us all out of killing him about." The secretary read it over and faxed it. Clint grinned. "I wasn't sure if they knew that or not."

"No, I was not aware and I'll make sure he is." He looked at the agent again. "She is more than welcome to take any defensive action she feels is warranted. Though, as of this moment, hers to him is still legal."

"Dawn will kill everyone involved in that," Clint warned. "How long do I have to keep her calm?"

"Probably about a week. We should have it resolved by then." Clint handed over one of his cards. "He will be calling the officers where she is to see what he did." Clint nodded, standing up. "Thank you for bringing that to our attention, Agent Barton. I hope she doesn't have to see him again."

"Me too." He shook his hand. "Or me." That got a nod of understanding and Clint went back to the compound. The secretary moaned and went to pray for this to be fixed very fast. When his boss called him he told him why he had went above him, including that it now included charges of killing officers and escaping custody in another country. That was going to take the head office, not his. He agreed it would and left it there. The secretary sent up a long prayer that it wasn't his family. None of his relatives were that dumb.

***

Aaron came out of the club the ladies were in when his phone beeped a text message. He got slammed into the building, staring at the guy they had started the research that went into him on. "Aaron Cross," he said quietly.

"How do you know me? It's been noted that you were looking for me."

"The same people that trained you made me." The guy backed off. Aaron fixed his shirt and looked around. "I'm supposed to be guarding someone's wife."

"You took a bodyguarding job?"

"No, they made me a clone of her husband." The other guy shuddered. "Clint's pretty decent. We've talked a lot. We've both pretty well decided they made us a twin." He grinned slightly. "They raided the facility that had us and there's records at Stark. That's one reason why I was looking for you. The other is some funny...side effects of the treatments they gave us."

"I've had a few of those," he admitted. He looked at the other guy. "Why Stark?"

"They had Clint and Dawn. Clint's an Avenger."

"Oh, seen them." He blinked a few times. "Dawn's the perky brunette he's married to?" Aaron nodded. He pointed.

Dawn grinned, leaning on Aaron's arm. "There's three files there with your name on them. One was the attempt to give you a twin. One was on your training and the serums they used on you, and the third was on a potential breeding program they were going to start by harvesting my eggs."

"Hell," he said, rubbing his forehead. "Can I get copies of those?"

She smiled. "I'll be back in LA next week. Pop around to Stark International and I'll download them. Tony's already put around that anyone else that has files is more than welcome to copies. The NSA has a copy but we got them first." He nodded. She heard a scream and looked inside. "I don't fucking believe it."

"Him again?" Aaron asked, following her. "Dawn, let me help beat them up."

"Nope. Not likely." She pulled Aaron's gun off his side and pointed it at the person. "You have my boss. I want her back healthy. I will kill you," she noted calmly and patiently. "I'm a *fantastic* shot. Put. Pepper. Down." The guard from that morning's hand was starting to shake. She stared at the guy. He raised his gun and Dawn shot him in the forehead. "I warned you," she quipped, handing Aaron his gun back. "I need to find my old bra holster again." She helped Pepper into a chair. "Are you okay?" she asked quietly. "Bartender guy, can she have some ice water please?" she called. He nodded, sending it over with a bouncer. "Here, Pepper, drink. It's ice water." Pepper took it to drink, calming down. "I'm sorry I was outside," she said quietly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay," she said. She swallowed more water then looked at the guy then at her assistant. "They might've wanted to talk to him."

"He was about to shoot you, there's no way in hell I'd allow that. I'd have to teach Tony to dress up like you so the kids had a mom."

Pepper smiled. "Steve's a good stepmom." She finished her water. Officers charged in. "One of the guys that escaped custody this morning. He had me hostage."

Dawn looked at the lead officer. "He was making motions like he was going to kill my boss. We don't allow that."

The officer nodded. "We will take a statement. Are you sure?"

Aaron nodded. "The FBI agent watching us earlier had access to a file about them," he told the nearest officer. "He should be here soon." They nodded, telling the bouncer to let them in. He spun when he heard the shout, pulling his gun and shooting the guy. The one behind him moved out of the way and behind someone.

Dawn looked over and lifted a hand, smacking the guy into the ceiling as hard as she could. "Bad you," she said, staring at him. "Make me lose my temper." He was crying about magic being unholy. She snorted. "Yay." The officers stared at her. She shrugged. "He's incapacitated."

"Yes, he is. Let me get an extra pair of cuffs then please let him down." Dawn smacked him into the ceiling again then let the officer have him. "Thank you, Miss Summers."

"Not a problem. Only thing I'd change is I wasn't very armed tonight," she sighed. Pepper snickered. "I'm not."

"You're dangerous in more ways than one, Dawn, and I've always appreciated that about you." She stood up, leaning on Dawn's arm. "Can we go back to our hotel?" she asked an officer.

"Let us finish taking the statement," the nearest one said calmly and quietly. Pepper nodded and sat back down. Dawn sat on the table, swinging her legs as she checked the crowd. "I doubt they'll try it again."

"Those are the three flunky guards," Dawn said quietly. "Their boss is somewhere." That got a nod and they called for pictures of him.

Aaron looked at Pepper. "I'm camping on your couch tonight."

She smiled and patted him on the hand. "That's fine, Aaron. We'll go somewhere more peaceful tomorrow." He nodded. She saw someone coming up behind Dawn with a knife. "Dawn!" Dawn teleported behind the guy and kicked him onto the table, which sent him onto his knife.

"Hmm, he might need a surgeon to remove that from his lung," Dawn said then shrugged. "Pity, mother fucker, next time don't try to kidnap someone to *convince* them that they should be your wife." The watching officers shuddered. Dawn smiled. "Way back when I was nineteen. He's made a few feints toward me in the past. Then earlier, he escaped custody and killed a few officers."

"We would adore finding him a surgeon so he can face justice," the local head officer said as he walked in. Dawn nodded at him. "Very nice work, Miss Summers."

"Thank you. I hate guys like him. They suck and blow." The officer smiled. She was a bit bouncy. "I need to blow off this anger. Sorry."

"I'd be mad too." He got the statements taken. Aaron and his new friend Jason escorted them back to the hotel and stayed on the couches. Dawn worked off the tension in the pool but they knew how that was.

***

Dawn walked into the local precinct the next morning, nodding at one of the officers she had met the day before. "Is your supervisor in?" They pointed at the office. "Thank you." She walked in after knocking. "We're getting ready to leave the island." She closed the door. "We're going to Hawaii for the rest of our vacation."

"I hope you get some rest."

Dawn smiled. "Us too. Stark Industries can drive you nuts at times." He smiled back. She put down an envelope. "To help the officers' families."

"We have...."

"They died trying to protect me. It's the least I can do to help the families. In there is the contact number and a letter for my personal accountant authorizing a payment to their families to help with funeral or other expenses." He smiled. "It's the least I could do and if I could, I'd try to protect them. It's not right he had them killed to get away."

"Thank you. I will tell them."

Dawn shook his hand. "Tell them I'm sorry?"

"We all know it can happen, Miss Summers, we do the job anyway because it needs to be done."

"I understand that. I do a lot of that myself sometimes." He smiled. She left, going to the airport.

He took that to the officer helping the families with arrangements. "From the victim they saved," he said in his ear. "She was adamant it was the least she could do to help them since they had tried to protect her." He nodded, taking it to look at. "For whatever the families need. She'd do more but she doubted they'd let her."

"A few might balk at it but it's something they could use." His supervisor nodded and left him to make the calls for them and arrange things for the families. It would definitely help.

***

Dawn stepped onto the plane's staircase first, looking around. "Pepper, visitor."

"Great." She came off pulling up her hair. "Steve." She hugged him. "Are you okay? Is everyone okay?"

"Chris sprained his neck and shoulder falling down a flight of stairs on his roller blades but we were worried about you." He walked her off. "Dawn?"

"Right behind you. Let me grab the bags." She smiled at the two guys. "Her spouse."

They smiled. "I think we can leave it in his hands." Jason shook her hand and disappeared with Aaron. They had things to go over.

Dawn followed the duo to Customs with their bags. They easily got stamped back into the country and taken to their hotel by their hired driver. It was a nice, safe, security conscious resort with a private beach area. Dawn had arranged it and had the files from the local PD in Tahiti sent to them. Just in case. They settled in and Dawn gave them some privacy by going to the beach.

Phil appeared next to her, settling into the chair next to her. "This seems familiar," he quipped. She smiled at him. "Everyone's okay. Relax."

"I am. There's guards here and Steve's helping Pepper finish calming down."

"He's good at that. Most spouses are."

"Nat's not real calming," Dawn admitted. He smirked at her. "I know."

"She's downtown." He shifted, crossing his feet. "Are you good?"

"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be fine?"

"Not sure but there's some weird feelings around your mind and essence."

"Huh. Not sure," she admitted. "We'll figure it out." He nodded. "Did you need a day off?" she teased.

"Hell yes." She laughed. "Joyce told me to take one." She patted him on the arm and went back to reading on her tablet. He got comfortable. When Steve and Pepper came out she looked happy and secure. "I was sent on vacation by Joyce," he said at Steve's odd look. "She said I needed one before she sent me back to Miami to be ganged up on by some college coeds again." Dawn cackled, beaming at him. Pepper and Steve pulled over lounge chairs and they settled in to relax. They could handle this for now. The sunset was beautiful and they all sighed in pleasure. Even if Pepper and Dawn wanted to go out to dinner. Steve talked Pepper into ordering chocolate sundaes from room service, which he would enjoy a lot from her stomach. Dawn and Phil went out to dinner together instead. It was a good night. Not one single problem.

***

Clint got called to the embassy, smiling as he walked in. He was in uniform today and the receptionist stared. "I got called," he said.

"Yes, Agent Barton, let me announce you." She called back there to tell him that. The Secretary Consul came out to greet him and take him back to his office. She sighed in pleasure. She wasn't married and he was very handsome.

Clint sat down when the chair was motioned to. "Dawn said he was rearrested that night when they attacked the club they were in."

"They were. One of the guards was killed. Their employer didn't make it through the surgery to remove her knife from his lung."

"His knife. Dawn said she made him fall onto it."

"That wasn't in the report but it was probably a good thing." He looked at him. "That leaves us with a slight dilemma."

"If you're about to say he left things to Dawn, she won't want it."

"By law, since they're still fighting to have his decree overturned, it would be."

"His grandmother showed up to talk Dawn into taking in her worthless grandson," he said quietly and calmly. "Dawn won't want a single thing from him. I'm sure the family matriarch can set it aside for anyone else who might need it in the family."

"We needed to make sure and have your wife sign paperwork dissolving her claim on his estate."

Clint smiled. "It must include a section that says that the family does not hold it against her and will not try to sue or retaliate for her having to take him and his guards out."

The Secretary Consul nodded. "I think that's reasonable. Where is she?"

"She'll be home day after tomorrow and at work the day after that."

"We can talk to her then. Thank you for not being overly alarming."

Clint snorted, standing up. "I nearly killed him the first time he tried his plan on her. We thought her scarring him and ripping him up would've stopped it." He shook his hand and left, going to tell Stark that. Turns out they'd have to come to the New York office so Clint got the kids and the cats packed up that night and back there with the Stark clan. Dawn and Pepper landed late the next night and came home to nap off the strain of their vacations.

***

Dawn looked up her first day back, smiling at the man the security desk had said they let up to see her. "Yes, may I help you?"

"Miss Summers?"

"I am." She shifted, crossing her feet. "What are you here to see me about?"

"I'm sorry to say, I'm here to serve you papers, ma'am."

She took them while dialing Gloria in Legal. She came up before Dawn could finish inputting the extension. "Gloria." She smiled and handed over the paperwork. "This is the head of Stark's legal team."

Gloria glanced it over. "She signed paperwork an hour ago giving up her claims to this as long as the family doesn't sue her," she told him. He was clearly a lawyer, not a usual courier.

"They contend it's a family matter and she had no business killing him."

"He was attacking me. They can't argue that self defense isn't wrong," Dawn said. "Especially with his history."

"His family says you made that up."

"There's paperwork with the US embassy there. We have copies of it." She stared at him. "They can try and be laughed out of court. I'm not giving them a damn thing."

"They said if you marry his brother...."

Dawn burst out laughing. "I'm still a married woman, no matter what legal bullshit he tried in his country to make it not so. I'm not marrying a single member of that clan. And if they try this, then I'm going to fight back in a way that makes their God beg my Goddess for mercy. You can tell them that." Gloria smiled at her. "It's not like I can't hire multiple lawyers in both countries." He shuddered. "You can pass on my message verbatim?" He nodded and left. Dawn looked at Gloria. "Tell me who to hire?"

She patted her on the shoulder. "I haven't had to do an international case outside the idiots who tried to steal stuff from Callia in years, Dawn." She went back to her office, calling Clint to get all the prior information he had. Within minutes it came from SHIELD. It was a nicely thick file, including a background check. "Oh, dear." She took it up to Dawn. "He's done this before." She showed her.

Dawn read over the mention of his first wife, who he killed, and then the family sued hers for not living up to their standards, and won somehow. It had decimated the other family's money and status. "So he had visions that I'd have money some year?"

"Or the matriarch you saw decided you'd have money soon." They shared a look. "I can start on this."

"Thank you. You can also tell them to make up their minds. If I'm his spouse, then I'm going to kill the rest of them for that insult to my marriage. If I'm not, then it's self defense. Also, the embassy does know. Clint took it to them. They brought the paperwork over, which did have a 'you will not sue me' clause."

"I'll get with them." She took the file to the embassy downtown, smiling as she got out of her car. She covered her head to show her respect and carried the file inside. "I need to see the ambassador or his assistant please. Some paperwork they sent over earlier is now being countered by stupidity."

"Yes, ma'am," the male receptionist said, not looking at her. He called in there. A lesser staff member showed up.

She stared at him. "I'm here about the Dawn Summers issue. His family just countered your government's paperwork and is trying to sue her for defending herself. This isn't the first time they've done this." He called the higher ups himself. It was above his pay grade. She smiled and shook the under-ambassador's hand. "Thank you." She handed over the legal notice of lawsuit.

He read it and shook his head. "They can't do that."

"They've done it once before." She handed over the files they had. "From her husband at SHIELD."

"I heard he was an agent." He took her back to his office to go over that file. He walked out with it and the ambassador came back with him. This did not look good.

"You are?" the ambassador asked with a smile.

"Gloria Reedet, head of Stark International's legal department." She smiled back. "Dawn's had me read over any contract she signs."

"That's always a wise thing." He looked at the lawsuit then the paperwork they had done with Dawn. "There's one out clause."

"Self defense is still legal in your country," she reminded him, getting a grimace. "He would have stabbed her or her boss, who she was protecting. For that matter, she left him living. He died on the operating table. Dawn was the precipitating factor but not the cause of death. I'm told an air embolism was the actual cause of death."

"That's what was listed." He went over everything. "May we have a few days to talk about this?"

"That's the only copy of the lawsuit paperwork but the rest is a copy sent to me." They nodded and copied that for her. She shook their hands and left. Let them beat their own people then she could ruin them. She called a few friends who specialized in international law, mostly business law but they had to know who could help most. Her ex-husband was a great asset and they were back on speaking terms thanks to her handing him the reins on a multi-million dollar lawsuit against a company in Norway for Callia.

The ambassador and his underling shared a look then he went to call his boss. This was getting stupid and they did not need some overly liberated American woman who had questionable skills to make them look bad. Though they'd have to make sure no one arrested her for being a witch if she had to come over. That might be a bit stickier.

***

Dawn was cleaning up for the day when the vision hit her. "Oh, that's so not good," she moaned, holding her head. "Pep!" She came out to check her. "Tape recorder." She got one and helped her through the vision so they'd know what she had seen. Dawn panted and swallowed hard. Pepper got her to the infirmary once she was out of it. Natasha stomped in a few minutes later looking a bit cut up.

"Car accident?" Pepper asked.

"Mugger. I was chasing him to get my wallet back." She looked in Dawn's eyes. "It will not happen."

She nodded. "It will happen. That's not something I can change." She swallowed. "We have to make plans."

Clint walked in. "We're really good at plans." He smiled and kissed both his girls on the lips then Dawn on the forehead.

"Better than morphine," she said with a slight grin. "We have to prepare or go around it."

"We can do that. Rest," Natasha ordered. "Let us plan things." Dawn nodded, letting them tuck her in. She looked at Clint, who shrugged. "Start with the island? I'll start with the bomb?"

"Bomb was made by the Chinese about the same time as Max had his made. There's six known about according to our records." Tony walked in looking pissed off. "Totally green bombs?"

"Like the snuke thing? We destroyed the ones they had."

"The ones the Chinese built?"

"Haven't heard anything about them," Tony admitted. He rewound the tape to listen to it. What he heard did not please him. "If she doesn't kill them for bringing Philip, I will be for pulling my daughter." He looked at Pepper, then kissed her. "JARVIS, send an order to assemble in our gym. Now. Including Joyce and Hill." He walked off with the tape recorder. "You too, people and Pepper."

"Aaron's in Singapore," Clint said, following. "Dawn, we'll be back after the meeting."

"'Kay. I could use a nap." She yawned and drifted off.

They walked into the gym. Joyce and Bruce were the last in. Clint looked at Stark. "We'll need more help," he said quietly.

"Want your half-brother?" he joked.

"Yeah, I think I do. It's easier to take us from out there because we're more spread out."

"Good point." He got him beamed in, with his beer. "Sit, Gamble. Big shit is going on." He sat down next to Clint, sipping his beer. He looked around. "Where's Barnes?" He came out of the changing area drying off his hands. "All right. Let's get started. Dawn had a vision."

Joyce winced. "I really hate those things."

"This time, it's important and it'll be just as bad on the team as an invasion would be." Gamble choked and spluttered. Tony looked at him. "He thought you'd be a good backup at this point." He looked around again. "Someone wants to play Hunger Games: Villains versus Avengers."

55: Education From Some Old Ones

Some people never learn, like Barney Barton. NC-17 for the trio

"Someone wants to play Hunger Games: Villains versus Avengers," Tony Stark announced to the massed team and other attending members.

"I've barely read that book," Gamble said. "Saw a few clips of the movies."

"Basically a kill or be killed contest that ends up with one single winner," Joyce said. "Why did she have a vision of this one?"

"Because," Clint said, shifting forward to lean on his knees. "They're going to do a few really stupid things. There's a few gods behind it and we're going to have Loki and Ares chained up being forced to watch. They're going to pull Philip and Callia." Joyce was now growling. "And they're going to have a few of those green bombs on hand that the last one will have to undo. Though they'll tell us there's one and there's three. They'll expect us to be heros and kill off each other so that Stark or Banner is the last one so they can end the bombs."

Gamble considered that. "Can we take the higher ups planning this out?"

"Hopefully," Tony agreed. "Especially since those green bombs are nasty and should be off the market." He looked at Pepper. Then at Joyce. "Also, part of it was the Chinese hacking in here and getting a disruptor Callia's presently working on. They'll be putting it on my armor and other things so I can't call it and if anyone tries to use the beaming satellite it'll kill the machine and possibly the person trying to use it." That got a nod from Bruce but he was scowling. "In the vision, they didn't pull Dawn. When we noted she wasn't there, they said 'you want a witch, we'll give you one' and pulled that Dr. Strange wannabe sorcerer." Bruce took a deep breath. "They had Barney Barton's old group, all clones apparently. It was us against them. We found out when we gathered together that Philip and Callia had been brought, on purpose, and that was a big thing to get us to do what they wanted. Because some of Barney's group wouldn't care about killing kids." Clint nodded that was true.

"So, where?" Bruce asked quietly.

"Some island near Malaysia," Clint said. "Not huge. Mostly a rock with a lot of trees, made or not. We set Nat, Bruce, and Steve to guard the two kids. Nat because she and I have the most secure communication. Steve because he didn't have his shield and we only had what weapons were on us. The strange gods had magic that canceled out anything we might be carrying, like the chamber necklaces." Loki appeared, staring at him. "We saw you chained with Hephaestus's handcuffs. Callia got you two free."

Loki grimaced. "We've been working against that plan." He touched his head, making Clint shudder.

"Take mine," Natasha ordered.

"His is clearer or I would've." He frowned. "We have no idea who those two gods are," he told Stark. "The island doesn't exist as of this moment in time." Tony nodded. "Those bombs, Ares is trying to locate. Not very successfully."

"We have contacts that can tell us," Natasha assured him. He smiled at her. She stared back. "Dawn came into it because she felt us, she felt the alarms on Philip go off, and ran here to gather weapons." The others nodded that sounded like Dawn. "Including using Chris to get into your special safe when the AI wouldn't allow it," she said with a nod at Stark. "Then she showed up to kill everyone. We had gotten two of Barney's group. She got another three. That left two and Barney. Callia snuck off, after telling Philip, to look at the bombs. Two of his group cornered her and tried to rape her but Barney killed them. He was acting in his own self interest. She called back a shade of a builder, who told her how his version went, which was not this one. The first one exploded but the Key that Dawn sent at her protected everyone from it going off. She got them disarmed and used some tools Dawn had sent at her with the Key to protect her to get Ares and Loki free."

"Dawn hadn't been around us because someone had stuck a genetic switch bomb on her hip. About here," Clint said with a point. Steve shuddered. "It was set to Barton DNA. So even Philip or the girls could set it off. She was working virtually from North Dakota while they figured out how to remove it. She finally went elemental and let it fall off, mostly, then came out to the other compound to get weapons. Including some of the crossbows she had in storage for Callia."

"Philip spent a good bit of time fussing that Dawn was the protective mommy," Natasha said with a wry grin. "By then, we had taken down most everyone. Dawn wore out two of her Keys helping Loki and Ares fighting the two gods. That's when we beamed back in groups. Callia and Philip came in the first one with myself and Steve to protect them. Callia's the one that found the disruptor devices on the satellite and others. She ordered the staff to look fore more of them and told them how to take them off. They did and she got the last of us out. Dawn had to make her own way out during the battle because they were going to dissolve the island. Which is when she landed in the infirmary and barely managed to survive because two of the Keys were so worn down. The Keys talked with the one that Callia had borrowed and they switched around some. Callia had a tremendous bit of backlash from doing some magic to protect herself and Philip."

"So we've got a huge problem with two gods playing games, and then they'll expect us to entertain them," Steve paraphrased.

"Without our usual weapons. They'll have a few weapons there we can fight over," Clint said. He shifted to look up at him. "That's how we'll get the first two down. Natasha and I always have some hidden weapons."

Steve nodded. "Good," Joyce said. She looked around the room. "How do we bypass this?"

"Dawn doesn't think there's much chance," Clint told her. Joyce growled again. "She said she's not sure if it's changeable."

"Some things always are," Loki said. "If we can find those bombs, we can take them out of the equation. Most gods can't make something that complex with their powers. All the forging Gods would refuse to make them." He thought at his mate.

Ares appeared, handing Natasha reports. "That's all we've been able to figure out. If you find them, tell us and we'll let someone take them down and out."

"Clay's team," Clint said. "They're used to those things and how to stop the idiots doing it. They're legal through SHIELD and have done that sort of job for the Army."

"They're a good choice," Ares agreed. "So are a few of the junior agents."

"If we find them and can take down their group, it's all good," Steve said. Bucky nodded he agreed. "That bomb they put on Dawn?"

"Made by the same people that made the DNA coded trigger on the bomb in my old house," Tony said. "It has to be. No one else is working on that."

Callia walked in and around Loki, staring at her father. "This is the disruptor coil I created. It'll cancel out any electrical impulse. I meant for it to go on bombs near the battery or whatever switch or on things like Loki's staff."

"Yeah, they had your symbols of power?" Clint told them. "Dawn said at first they felt totally dead to her."

"I've had mine stolen a few times," Ares admitted. He huffed. "We can protect them better."

"What if they don't act this fall?" Bruce said.

"There was no time code built in," Tony said more quietly. "At all. It may be that they don't have everything they need yet. It may be that they can feel us stopping them and try to interfere or push it back."

Thor looked at his brother then at Steve. "Captain?" Steve looked at him. "How can I best help?"

"Dawn's magic wasn't felt by them," Tony said. "They knew about the Keys but couldn't counter her magic."

"Aye, not much can," Thor agreed. "Dawn's powers come from Creation itself. Each Key has a built in part of the powers of Creation. It can draw from any source in any universe to keep itself steady."

"Then why would two be worn out?" Steve asked.

"Because if she drew from the island it could've killed us," Clint said. Steve slumped but nodded. "She didn't put her back into that battle until we were all safe. Then she blasted them with the other two and made them damn sorry, and their hidden buddy that never showed himself but you could hear laughing in the background now and then." He looked at Loki. "Which sounded like yours only a bit higher pitched."

"Sounds like ..." Loki looked at Ares. "That one sub-realm that Zeus created by accident to capture and hold the Titans."

"I remember hearing that story. I wasn't born then."

"They had a few gods and if I remember right, one was a chaos god and one was a war god. It would've trapped them in there for eternity fighting those gods instead of Zeus's siblings."

"Mother?" Ares called. Xander appeared with Phil and a few books. "That realm?"

"Different place, same outcome, different starting point." He handed it over. "I had Phil checking earlier. That one's sealed. The other one wasn't when I checked. It was created during the war between the Egyptian pantheon and Roque's." Roque appeared looking pissed off. "Remember that sub-realm they were going to trap you and a few others in?"

"Yup, pissed me the fuck off," Roque agreed.

"They're back. It's open."

Roque stared at him then up, going up to read Dawn's memories of the vision. He came back sweating and grimacing. "It is them. I'm the one that held the doorway open so our people could get out. The laughing one is their god of the earth. The other two are their god of war and their god of chaos."

"How would they work with the mortals?" Loki asked.

Roque smirked. "They'd have priests. They've got a few worshipers. It's some new age cult thing that Jensen's caught sight of. They were also slightly behind the Starkinati rumors to disquiet and distract you." Tony shifted but grimaced as he crossed his arms over his chest. He looked at Clint and Natasha. "Want me to go blow the fuck out of that family?"

"Dawn's making them miserable legally but you can when it's done," Clint said with a grin. "I can help." That got an evil smirk from the hunter God.

Xander looked at him. "What?" Clint sent over a prayer with that information. Xander looked up then at Roque. "Have Jensen handle it. He's more subtle and it's not the first one. When they look they'll find another one they ruined the same way. He was promised Dawn as a reward if he got those two for his family. He was supposed to hook Pepper but she showed no notice of him." Roque smiled and put his hands in his pockets. That had made him very happy. Xander looked at Stark. "If it happens, it won't happen that way."

"Can we shut that sub-realm?" Joyce asked.

"No," Roque said. "I did the last time. It's always been slightly open."

"It's like shutting the gateway over the stargate," Xander said. "It'll come together but there's still gaps to get through the opening if you really want to."

"The opening felt like earth magic to me," Phil told them. They all nodded at that. He looked at Bruce. "I'd put you protecting the kids since you Hulking out would probably cause damage that wouldn't be beneficial but your skills as a doctor would be."

"I can try to handle that," he said quietly. "What if we talk to Barney? Would he help us out of self-interest?"

Clint nodded. "Gamble and I can talk to him later." That got a mass nod. "Dawn's napping in the infirmary and the kids are in the daycare. Any immediate orders?" he asked his bosses.

Steve shook his head. "See if you can find those bombs. See if you can find out if there's groups that are trying to get access to such things just in case."

Joyce swallowed. "Be careful, children. We can't afford to lose you and Dawn does not cry very prettily. She's said often enough if you're going to die it's going to be by her hand." They smiled and left to pick up the kids and start calling contacts. Clint even called Benji to warn him in case it helped. Joyce looked at the others. "Tell us what we need to do."

"We will," Stark assured her. "This is going to be huge if it happens."

"We knew something would mean that your team had to work more closely together," Loki said. "We've been helping that happen." He and Ares disappeared.

Stark looked at Gamble. "Let me get you back to wherever." He sent him home and looked at his daughter. "Where's the plans for that? We know they hacked us."

"Same tablet. It was one of the ones the guy in Norway hacked."

"Great." He stood up. "Let me look into that." They broke up to see what they could do to make sure it didn't happen.

***

Clint showed up in LA, gathering Gamble on the way to where his brother was hiding out. Secreva was keeping track of him since someone had bought his way out of jail. Clint smiled at the warehouse, sending in a small robot to stick Barney with a tracer shot. He got beamed out once it was in his leg. "Morning. We've gotta talk, Barney."

"Why?" he asked, looking at the other guy who looked like Clint. "Who's he?" If Clint thought two versions of him would beat him, he was probably wrong.

"Gamble. Our half-brother through Dad. There's people about to use you and your new team of clones to play the Hunger Games."

"The what?"

"Major book and movie series," Gamble said. He tossed him a copy of the first book. "They're going to basically play ultimate elimination war games."

"Not likely," Barney said. He gave the book a strange look. It figured his brother and half-brother read. It was probably Dawn's fault.

"Some strange gods are planning it," Clint said quietly, staring at him. "You and your team. Me and mine. They brought two of the group's kids. They didn't count on Dawn." Barney shuddered. "They had sonic nuclear weapons there to destroy us all even if we won."

"Fuck," Barney muttered. Okay, the Barton conference had a good reason. None of them wanted to die by nuclear device. "I've only heard rumors about those and some psycho named Max."

"He's the one that got the Losers team that works at the temple with Xander." Clint stared at him. "Work in your self interest?"

"Gladly. I'd hate to be shot by someone like Dawn."

"Again?" Gamble asked with a smirk. "How good is she?"

Barney stared at him. "If you're the least bit evil near the kids? Let's just say I had to be healed since I lost all the skin on my front from my knees to my throat. And I do mean everything." Gamble shuddered.

Clint grinned. "Dawn told us about that. We were kinda proud." Barney glared at him. "As Dawn's said: bad things happen to bad guys. You threatened her family after she warned you. Feel lucky she was in a playful mood."

"I am. That was still kinda evil." Clint smiled. "Fine. Whatever. Fuck the evil out of her more often. When?"

"No set date. They're still gathering things. Dawn had a vision."

"I don't trust those things."

"Dawn's never wrong," Clint said. "She changes it so it's not fully right but the initial vision is never wrong with her or Xander. This time she didn't have a 'when' so it could be whenever."

"Shit." Barney slumped, glancing inside then at him again. "I'll bring this up." Clint held up drawings Dawn had let Steve do. "I know one of them. Seen him lurking."

"The bad gods who have the plan."

"That'll end. Any good way of killing them?"

"Not sure," Clint said. "Some gods can only be killed by a few things. We're not sure of their weakness yet."

"Got it. Thanks for the head's up."

Clint nodded. "I'd never want to have to go through that. Or having to let Dawn save us by nearly dying during the fight." That got a nod. "Also, listen for Chinese hackers. They got into some stuff the pervert in Norway hacked from Callia. She's presently on laser weapons."

"Heard something about that. We'll see." He went back inside with the drawings. "People." The geeks and his team stared at him. They knew something was going on and were all gathered. "Dawn had a vision." They all groaned. "There's huge bad shit coming and we're pawns." He walked over to put down the drawings and tell them what Clint had told him. None of them were that sort of noble and none of them were ready to tangle with the Avengers at this time. Maybe not for years yet. No one wanted any part of this shit.

Clint and Gamble went back to where Gamble was staying. Clint got beamed home once he had parked the truck in the garage. Dawn was waiting on him. "I told Barney."

"Thanks." She kissed him. "Nat's got the kids at home."

"Then lets go spoil our deluded little princessly son and his sisters." She swatted him but they left together.

Tony smiled, shaking his head. "We need to let Philip drive his sisters nuts again." He looked up good ideas that would make Natasha groan and stomp off in a snit.

His AI cleared his virtual throat. "I believe she's already done so, sir."

"Really?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Great," he said with a scowl. "Maybe it's time to look up divorce rituals." He switched to that. He'd do some research so Dawn didn't have to. He hated it when they fought. Dawn got really upset and started to cry, which he couldn't take. Then it upset Pepper, so his life got even further into the crapper. It was definitely time that Barton chose a wife to end all their stress.

***

Pepper looked at Dawn the next morning. Tony had told her that Natasha was having another episode. She pulled her into the office and shut the door, staring at her. "Are you okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be okay?"

"I heard Natasha's in a hotel again."

"During her training she got molded into not letting anyone get to close. She takes these moods now and then. It's like her mind suddenly remembers and she starts to get chilly toward us to push us away. Not a huge lot we can do about it but she'll eventually come back."

"Okay. Are you okay with that?"

"I think it sucks majorly but I know what being programmed feels like. Clint and I agreed to let her free during it but if she cheats on us or something like that she's still going to be killed." Pepper grinned. "She'll probably take over Maria's old apartment with all the surveillance gear and put some up in the house or something."

"Can you and Clint handle it?"

"Me, Clint, and Beya have been handling it, Pepper. Being a mom freaked her out. She didn't connect the pregnancy with the reality of having a needy, whiny princess that counted on her and wanted to be with her all the time. It's upsetting Philip so she's going to have to learn to call him more often. Clint and she are talking today but we decided long ago not to stress her out so far that she snapped."

"I can see that. Tony and I are worried that you're heading for a divorce."

"If we were a normal couple, I'm not sure. But we're not." She shifted her balance. "Nat's never let herself sink into us. We've never been her refuge. We've been connected and it's still pretty deep but Clint and she work on a different wavelength due to having worked together for so long. He and I work differently because of how close we've gotten. She's never let herself get that close. We all understand that and accept it. It's just Natasha."

"I get that." She smiled. "If you need to talk, I'm still here."

Dawn leaned over the desk to hug her. "I can do that." Pepper grinned. "Let me get back to the reports for the meeting tomorrow over the metal supplies contract." She went back to her desk, ignoring Bucky as he walked up the hall. When he paused by the elevator she didn't even glance up. "Remind my wife that her son wishes to speak to her daily. He panicked last night that she hadn't packed for a mission and he didn't get a chance to say goodbye."

"I'll tell her to call the kid." He looked at her. "Why would I know?"

Dawn looked up, giving him a pointed look. "Did you really just ask me that?"

He shook his head, getting onto the elevator to find Natasha apparently. He had no idea what was going on. He found her and Clint having a quiet lunch in the other tower and didn't interrupt. Clint looked a bit upset. Natasha looked overly calm. Now he understood. He had seen her moving closer to the snapping point. He'd been there himself a few times recently so he definitely understood and Dawn was right, she'd probably come to him to talk. Or he'd make her talk. When he saw Clint walk off he went in to talk to her. "Dawn told me to remind you to call Philip more often. He's worrying since he didn't see you pack and didn't get to do whatever pre-mission goodbye rituals he does."

She smiled slightly. "I can call him later." She sighed. "I'm...."

"You're feeling boxed in," he said. She nodded, sipping her iced tea. "Did they give you some sort of ultimatum?"

"No. They both said they understand and gave me a few things they would kill me over but said they would help us all through this yet again." She kept herself from playing with her glass. The waitress came over and Bucky ordered lunch, paying for it too. Natasha smiled. "They are understanding," she said once they were alone again. "They're not being pushy in the least. The demands are reasonable."

"That's good." He stared at her. "So now what?"

"Maria is moving out of her apartment and I could take it over for a few weeks or however long. I could find somewhere else if she's given up the lease. I need to be close enough to get in for team things and to protect them if necessary." She took another sip of her tea and stole one of his chips when his lunch came. "Sometimes it's like they work very well without me."

"Any relationship has to have some stability to work," he said. He stared at her. "You're in three of them. You each have to work. You and Clint work. She and Clint work. So the real sticking point is that sometimes you seem to turn a bit jealous of Dawn."

"I was originally. When Stark had just taken her in and I was helping mentor her through the last of her teen years. She was happy and plucky and a smartass. I admired her a bit then for keeping her optimism through all that she had dealt with. We had no idea that Dawn had a deeper section then. Or that she had defeated some menaces without us knowing. I thought her a bit weird and shallow but fashionable and happy."

Bucky nodded. "I can see her being that."

"Then you have not looked underneath the mask. Dawn is a lot deeper than that and I didn't realize it until we were dealing with the lead up to Thanos' cult and that battle. She worried about a lot of things and we had to make her quit worrying. Repeatedly. I hadn't seen her as a warrior before then. Not fully trained but she was in training. Stark put her in self defense before he picked her school. Mostly because people suddenly wanted to own their very own Dawn." She sipped her tea and ate another of his chips. "I should have looked then.

"We never talked after any of the times we had to rescue her from a kidnaping attempt. Or about any of the times she rescued herself. After her trip to Miami, things changed and I was caught up in it, but when I did look I was amazed and amused. Dawn was still perky but she'd be perky as she kicked you around." He smirked at that because Dawn had done it to him a few times. "But it's still a mask. I never saw the depth. When I do, it's like a well and it's dark down there. I'm not willing to climb into the basket to go down like Clint is." She looked at her tea then at her best friend, former mentor, and former lover. "Which makes me a coward but in those moments my training snaps back into place."

"The training they gave us sucked, Natasha. It really did. It's ruined a lot of good things."

"Including us," she agreed.

He nodded. "Including us." He ate one of his own chips, staring at her. "It's up to you to fight it but if you want to lean on me, I'll be here."

"I know. It's easier to talk to you. Dawn will put in questions and suggestions or ask me things like a therapist at times."

He smiled. "She's well trained to help people."

"She is. Whereas I was never meant to help anyone."

"True." He ate a bite of his sandwich. "Are you going to be jealous if they go out on dates and things?"

"No. I'm not jealous of her and Clint. I appreciate watching it a lot more than being forced out on date nights. Though Dawn has claimed there has been favoritism there and he'll go out if I suggest it but not her. I have seen that happen with both of us actually." She frowned but let it clear up.

"I think I see why Philip decided Dawn was you two's pet." He stared at her.

"I've seen that as well, and it didn't make me happy."

"Probably doesn't make her happy either."

"No, it doesn't."

They ate and drank for a few minutes then he looked at her. "What about your bond thing?"

"It's still strong. I have it locked off at the normal level. If I didn't keep it there I'd never know when Dawn got into trouble."

"She's not always getting into trouble."

"People still want her."

"Mostly because of the kids."

"There's days I'm not sure we should've had children but Clint wanted one." She finished her tea. "Things were easier without them."

"Things always are but it's a fact of life that kids happen." He stared her down. "You liked having Mira."

"Yes and then I got frustrated because I...."

"You were the mom," he said. She nodded with a sigh. "Some women are meant to be mom's and some women are meant to have nannies," he said bluntly.

"I clearly was meant to have a nanny, and I adore Beya doing it."

"So work that out."

"I'm trying to."

He finished his lunch and leaned on the table after pushing his plate out of the way. "There's no easy fix around this, Natasha. No undo command for all the training you got as a kid. No way to suppress it. Nothing that'll help. You might want to start seeing someone to talk about such things." She shook her head quickly. "You can always talk to me but maybe someone who deals with programmed people could help."

"Maybe. I don't like that idea."

"Do you want to replay this scene every few years?" he asked. "Have Philip and the girls grow up weird thanks to this?"

"No. I do not."

"Then I'd do some work to maybe work your way around this, with me and others. Plus your spouses."

"I need to. I know I need to." She leaned on the table too. "Things were easier before the kids."

"And yet you had another one of these then."

"I remember, even if it did not fully happen." He nodded. She sighed. "I'll talk to Maria about her apartment later." He smiled. "I'm not sure when she's moving back."

"Tara seems like the homebody sort, like a sweeter, nicer, more motherly version of Dawn. Because the girls have frustrated her too."

"It will be easier when they're more mobile."

He snorted. "Then they'll have to chase after all three of them."

"Philip will help."

"He'll tell them to go so they give him peace and quiet like Callia does."

"That is a good point. He does seem to look up to her." She huffed. "We will have it worked out by then."

He nodded. "I can only hope so. Dawn's going to have to blow off some steam."

"We can and do still spar. I'm not going that far away." She stared at him. "It feels wrong."

"That's because you're ignoring your responsibilities."

"Maybe." She stood up. "We should go before someone spots us and starts to infer that I'm cheating with you again."

He grinned. "Back in the old days, I would've fought for you." She swatted him but they left a tip and went their separate ways.

The people in the booth behind them had heard most of it and were weighing the ethics of selling the story. Everyone could use a little bit of money, right?

***

Dawn's cellphone beeped a text from Gloria so she looked at it even though they were in a meeting. What she saw did not amuse her. She canceled the message and sent a mental shout at Clint. Pepper glanced at her so she shook her head subtly. Dawn's phone was on vibrate but it still made a tiny bit of noise. The other people hadn't really noticed.

***

Clint looked up from his present shit ton of paperwork on his last mission then logged onto Dawn's livejournal. Almost instantly SHIELD's IT department sent him a reprimand for it. He carried his laptop up to the head office. "Hey, Joyce?" he called as he walked into her office. She looked frazzled from her paperwork too. "Want a stress break for screaming?"

"Yours or mine?" She took the laptop to look at the messages that had been sent to Dawn's livejournal account. "Oh, dear."

"Oh, yeah. So both of us can yell."

"Dirt." She handed it back. "I'll tell IT to leave you alone too."

He grinned. "I've got nine or so of those, Joyce. Usually because they want us to answer subtly." He shouted mentally at Natasha and she came up from talking to Maria. "Someone heard."

She took the laptop to look at the message, grimacing. "Bucky and I were discussing things after you left."

"I figured you were or they overheard us." He stared at her.

"I will straighten this out." She handed the laptop back. "Is she with ET or Vogue?"

"Vogue."

"Let me talk to her subtly." She went to do that, still in casual clothes so it didn't look that odd.

Clint looked at Joyce, shrugging some. "We don't know," he said quietly.

"It happens sometimes. Even Bruce and I fight now and then."

He grinned. "Good to know you're not perfect."

"If I had been perfect, Buffy never would've went on patrol in booty skirts and heels, Clint." He walked off smiling. She called IT to deal with their snotty attitude. "All Avengers Initiative members are required to keep a slight media presence and them being on his wife's livejournal is perfectly fine." She hung up and got back to her paperwork for the upcoming budget hearings. Fortunately her new assistant started tomorrow.

***

Natasha walked into the Vogue offices, smiling at the receptionist. "Allison is expecting me."

"Who are you?" he asked, picking up the phone.

"Natasha Romanoff."

He called back there and she came out quickly. "You're here."

"We must talk."

"I'm not the only one that has it."

"Yes but you're not an imbecile or part of the gossip media chain."

"Good point." She led her back to her cubby sized office. "Sorry."

"We have much the same on the hell carrier." She sat down delicately. "It's not what you think."

"We think that it's probably a problem and that you're having new parent stress."

Natasha shook her head. "I was trained as a very young woman. Before I was ten I was in training." The reporter sat down, staring at her, mouth slightly open. "One of the things they trained us to never be was attached."

"Oh, so you're having a moment when that training is fighting against all the other stuff...." Natasha nodded. "Okay, so not a real fight. Want to do an interview to get the real news out there?"

"It's not something anyone would want to read about."

"Natasha, women *love* tragic stories that have a happy ending. Have you seen how many books marketed at women have really tragic story lines?"

"I prefer classical literature and it's all tragic."

She smiled. "That doesn't really surprise me. I saw you sneering at _Pride and Prejudice_ in the park while Dawn was reading a Star Wars book.

"I do not see why she likes that level of fantasy trash," she admitted. "If we must. I do not want to make it any harder on them than it is. We've all agreed to make these ...incidences as easy on each other as possible."

"That's very mature of you and them." She smiled. "Clint always seemed a bit possessive."

"He does growl and Dawn does enjoy it a lot," she admitted. "That's how we ended up with the girls actually."

Allison laughed and pulled out a tape recorder and set up something on her computer. They talked for a bit about how hard it was to balance being an agent, with the agent's training and natural reserve at getting closer to people, with a marriage and children. That hinted at her true story and gave people a good dose of tragic love story. They could use a few stock photos of Natasha in her uniform and one from today. The last question's answer shocked the reporter. "Why are you making this public knowledge?"

"Someone overheard myself and another agent I'm friends with talking about it over lunch and told others. There's already wild rumors and I'd hate to be killed by Dawn for making her life difficult."

"Would she?"

"Perhaps only if I ended up cheating but I'm not so sure about Pepper. She does have an iron hand when necessary and she's warned me before not to make things too difficult on Dawn's work life." She smiled slightly. "I'm not sure if I could take Pepper in a fight. She never fights fair, doesn't have the training Dawn does, and she's the mistress of cutting you with polite small talk."

The reporter smiled. "She can be. So is Dawn."

"Dawn learned it from Pepper. Callia uses a mixed style that's partially Pepper's and partially her father's."

"She can be blunt. Thank you for clearing up those rumors."

"I would rather have the truth, even if it doesn't always look good, than wild speculation that we'll be fighting for years." She stood up. "Have a better day."

"You as well, Agent Romanoff. And have some ice cream. Most women find it helps." She smiled.

"I have already had some for lunch. Dawn was the one that taught me that trick." She left, going back to the headquarters building.

The reporter transcribed it faster than she ever had before and brought it to her editor. "It's past deadline for this upcoming issue. I know that."

She read it over and made room for it. It was a longish article and it could take up a few pages with an ad on the last one. That would definitely sell. Plus that issue would be out in about two weeks to the home subscribers. It'd be there to combat the rumors faster.

***

That evening, Pepper walked up to Natasha in SHIELD's cafeteria, handing her a book. "Here, might help you purge all that better than a therapist. I know a few people that did it even if it wasn't published and it helped a lot." She walked off. "We're having a meeting about the necessary tech upgrades. Dawn's at home."

"Thank you, Pepper." She flipped it over to look at the cover. How to write a tell-all autobiography. She sighed. "I suppose that would be like using a diary." She put it under her tray. She had never been one to write down her feelings but it would get them outside of her so she could work on things in her own mind. It was a silly idea but who knows since she didn't like the traditional methods. She reminded herself to call Philip after she finished dinner. He might panic if she didn't and that would get her beaten by Dawn and Clint both.

***

Clint looked at his son the next morning. He was back in the cargo kilt and his favorite shirt. "Why are you wearing that?"

"Going to daycare, Mommy said she'd come play." He blinked up at him. "Is pretty."

"It is. I guess it's fine." Dawn came out with the girls dressed and ready to go. She gave Philip a grin, getting a shy one back. "C'mon, I'll drive." They nodded, letting him take them to work. A few reporters were lurking. One started to giggle. Clint looked over. "He thinks it's pretty. His cousin Sean taught him about goth guys." He got Philip into his carseat and the girls into hooked into theirs while Dawn got in and made sure she had everything. Then he got in to drive. Dawn got out and got something off the sidewalk that had dropped from Mira's carrier. That helped because she'd whine all day about missing her rattle. He drove them to Stark then him to HQ.

The daycare worker smiled at Philip then at Dawn. "That's very untraditional."

"It's a cargo kilt. Sean introduced him to some goth guys and Philip decided he liked it." She shrugged. "If he wants to be a bit goth now and then I'm okay with that. His dad said it's for special occasions only."

"I suppose that's fine. I'll try to keep any picking on him down."

"They didn't in LA's daycare." She pointed at a few bigger kids. "School's out?"

"Fall break."

"Great." She smiled at the staring bigger kids. "Sean showed him goth guys."

"I've seen a few of those," one of them said. "He looks good in his kilt." Philip beamed and ran over to hug her then went back to playing with his friends. Dawn left, letting the girls police themselves for their problems. They were more concerned about Caroline and Allenetta both wearing overalls than Philip's kilt. Goth kids were okay with them. Kids who lived the nerd stereotype weren't. With Callia being that group's Queen of the Nerds, they had to live up to her standards. Even if she had pigtails, a leotard, and board shorts on today.

Dawn spotted Callia coming from the caf. "You have an interview in two hours."

"Reschedule it."

"Fat chance. Go change. And shower off the grease please."

Callia huffed. "Why can't you reschedule it for me?"

"Because she's flying in from another country," she said bluntly, staring at her. "It's one of the people on the prosecutor's team in Norway." She groaned but went to shower, change, and look like a genius. Dawn shook her head. "She's like her dad in that."

Pepper laughed from her desk. "Often."

Dawn leaned over. "Are you going to the educational store later on to get stuff for Liz and Chris? You have it penciled in as a maybe."

"I hope I can."

"Okay, I'll try to preserve that block and of course I'm coming along because Philip could use some. The big kids didn't even pick on him about his kilt."

"Great." She smiled. "Did Clint?"

"Just sighed."

"Awww. Maybe Philip will grow up to design our future gowns."

"Maybe." She got back to work. Only one thing would interrupt that block and that was a SHIELD related issue that only took twenty minutes.

***

Dawn smiled as her niece complained about having to dress up for something as she walked up the hallway. "That's just a different science, Callia."

Callia spun to look at her. "No it's not."

"Yes it is. There's all sorts of science involved in making clothes. Color science, textile science, fashion design is a lot of proportional math and anatomy drawing. It's a link between the worlds of art and science."

"Color science?"

"Making new shades, making old ones last longer, finding new ways of making old shades. It used to be that purple could only be made by one group because they had stuff they created the dye from. Then others learned how to mix colors to make purple. It's always evolving or else we'd only have the basic colors, not in-between and mixed shades. That's why most people used to wear browns, blacks, blues, and grays. Because you could easily dye them, then dyes got easier to make and use."

"How does that relate to clothes? And textiles?"

"Textiles is the fabric. It's the study of fabric. People are always trying to make it stronger, tougher, hold color better, be softer, flow better over the body. Like the guys making the new armor on six."

Callia considered that. "People study that?"

"Yeah. There's not many programs but there's a few. Plus you get a bit of it in fashion design school if you go. They have a museum if you want to pack up all the kids and go on a field trip. They're doing a shoe exhibit of designs that took engineering."

"I could like that," she decided. "Sure." She went to gather her siblings and decided to bring Caro and Etta too. They could use the fashion help. Auntie Dawn needed to help them a lot. They got put into strollers, Dawn pushing one and her pushing the other. Philip was cuddled with his buddies. The youngest three were cuddled together in front of them. Callia had the two other siblings. It would go okay. The fashion museum was only a few blocks up the street; that was a great thing about Manhattan being so small. Dawn got one of the guards to escort them just in case. Which helped when Philip kept trying to get out to adopt a stray dog. Callia looked at him. "He'd eat Loki and Tsarina." He huffed but settled for petting it since it was following them. Dawn got them into the museum relatively inexpensively.

The older woman on the greeting desk smiled. "A preschool, dear?"

"No, mine, my boss's, and a few friend's kids. Callia wasn't sure that there was science and art both in fashion."

"She'll adore the shoe exhibit." She smiled and let them go look.

Callia stared at one thing. "What's that?"

"Homespun. It's what most clothes used to be made from. Named because the spinning wheel and weaving was done at home. Almost all clothes used to be made of this because it took things we didn't have until more recently to make the finer threads for things like shiny cotton or velvet." Callia nodded, pushing the stroller and looking at things.

"Needs buttons," Philip said with a point at one dress.

"They're in the back," Dawn said with a grin for her son, who smiled back. "No zippers so they had buttons in the back." She pulled him out to let him look. He 'oohed' and got put back into the stroller. They kept looking at all the fashionable styles and special gowns that had been preserved.

They finally came to the shoe exhibit. "Wow, some seriously took engineering," Callia said, pointing at the ballet heels. "How do you walk in those?"

"Those were clearly meant for alien feet," Dawn joked with a grin for her. "Sometimes designers make things just to show off or to give a wild idea. Half of all runway shows are full of things like that."

Callia nodded, looking at them more closely. "How do you design shoes?"

"You understand the usual affects on the feet based on anatomy and physics. You may not learn more than 'this is how a heel this size affects the ankles and feet' but you do learn what's needed in your area."

"Huh." She took Liz and Chris to look at the shoes more closely, holding their hands so they couldn't touch. They had an exhibit on different materials through the ages too. That got her attention. She could see the differences in the weaves and how they were created. "Auntie Dawn?" She pushed the other stroller over, holding onto Philip with her free hand. "Can you weave?"

"I know the basics. I did a slight weaving thing for Home Ec one year as a project."

"Can I do that?"

"Sure. They make weaving kits. You can set it up on the table and experiment with different threads, different textures, all that. People make things like that into wall hangings."

"Huh." They finished up and Dawn took them to the hobby store. Philip and Caro squealed. "My stuff," Callia complained, getting pouted at.

"They can get a new treat too," Dawn assured her with a smile. She looked at the kids. "Tell me if you see something you want to play with." They pointed out a lot of things but Caro and Etta knew how to make choices. Philip tried to get a few things but Mommy taught him how to choose.

Callia got a weaving kit and a rock tumbling kit. That looked neat and like something she could use some day. They went back to the tower, the kids going back to daycare and Callia going up to put her stuff together on the table with the help of her pets. She was doing pretty good on the weaving trial when her father came in for dinner. "Hi, Daddy."

"Hey." He looked. "Who got you those?"

"Auntie Dawn when I asked. She showed me earlier how much science goes into fashion stuff. It's kinda interesting. They wove things before."

"They did. They also crocheted and knitted stuff."

She smiled. "I'm not into that. Though, did you know that lace used to be hand crocheted?"

He sat down. "I didn't."

"Yeah. By hand with a tiny hook and a really tiny thread. It must've taken days just to do a foot of it."

"I bet it did." He smiled and watched his daughter learn something outside her normal range of science. It was kinda neat watching her learn new things and she was teaching him too. He hadn't even really thought about textile science outside the uniforms and that lab's stuff.

***

Dawn sat down in the daycare with Philip. He'd like to start learning stuff easier if his friends helped. "Guys," she said, getting his, Caro, and Etta's attention. They came over to look at the workbooks, getting a grin from Etta for having them. "Philip, you guys are going to start doing these. They're workbooks." He pouted so she showed him. "This one is on letters." He liked letters and this one put letters with animals, which he also liked. He could do those.

"The girls can help you with them. You're all going to start doing them so you get really smart like Callia." They all grinned at her. Dawn laid down on the floor with them to teach them how to color in the letters and the animals. Philip still liked to scribble but he tried because it made Mommy happy and the girls liked it. "That's so good." She grinned at them. "You guys do a few pages a day, okay?" They were busy coloring. "If you ask, Miss Nancy will read the pages to you." She handed over the spare copies she had gotten of everything. "For copying or reading," she said with a grin.

"That's great, Dawn. We can keep using these. These three are all doing an hour of Sesame Street a day for letter and number education."

"We like that idea. He does one at home too." She got up, earning a pout. "Okay, one more then I have to go back to work and Miss Nancy will have to read to you." She settled in to read them the next page they chose. They went from D, Dinosaur, to P, Pigeon. She read them that page and showed them how to color all the 'P's the same color. They liked that and it went well. Dawn kissed them all on the head and got up. "Okay, you guys do a few pages of those and I'll see you after we're done." Philip grinned. She smiled back. "Good boy."

She went back up to her desk, dusting off and straightening out in the elevator. She came off to someone waiting. "Sorry, I was in the daycare on my lunch teaching some of the kids about workbooks." She sat down and smiled at them, texting Pepper's phone. It rang in the office. She sent out a more subtle 'they're here' message through Stark's phone. She came off the next elevator. "Can I get you anything for the meeting?"

"No, thank you, Dawn." He smiled. "How old is Philip?"

"He's just had his third birthday."

"Awww. That's a precious age."

She smiled. "He has two slightly older friends down there with the same workbooks." He followed Pepper into the office, shutting the door. Dawn went back to her million and one reports and order forms to deal with, listening a bit. That guy had always been a bit slimy about Pepper. So when the emergency alarm went off, Dawn was in there before the first beep had ended. She pulled the guy away from Pepper. "Pepper, you okay?"

"No, I'm not." She got helped up and into the bathroom. "Have him escorted off please, Dawn."

"Sure." She walked him off even if he didn't really want to go. She ran into Steve and Tony. "Hey, boss. Pepper said to please escort him off."

"Why?"

"Hit the emergency alarm, looked shaky," Dawn said. "He had the door closed."

"Really," Tony said, taking him to haul him off and see what happened. The guy was sneering about being better than Tony but yay. Tony could abuse him.

Dawn and Steve went back to the office. "Should I ask an officer to subtly come take a report?" she asked quietly. She unhit the emergency button.

"No, I'm not pressing charges."

"Tony's talking to him," Steve said. He moved to work on her shoulders, which made her flinch. "Did he hurt you?"

"He was going to try. He was looming and making insinuations." She let Steve hug her. "I'm okay, guys."

"I'm going to write a formal protest to his company. Are we cutting ties?"

"They're the only ones who make that part," Pepper said.

"I'll make sure of that while I write up the 'you sent us a moron' letter." She went back to her desk to start on that. They were the only one that made that specific component and he was the head of the company. He did have a board of directors however. When Tony came back up she printed it and handed it over. "For their board as they're the only ones above him and they're the only people that make that part. If you want me to amend it to 'we're cutting ties' let me know."

"I can do that." He walked into the office, pulling Pepper over to the couch so they could both cuddle her. They'd talk about cutting ties with them later.

***

The next day, Dawn was out in front of the reporters due to the idiot having went on camera complaining about 'women CEO's who don't know how to play the game'. She stared at them until they calmed down. "Contrary to popular opinion, Pepper is very well able to play whatever game is going on," she said. "Unfortunately his 'game' wasn't the appropriate one for doing business with Stark International. Especially since he was trying to force himself on Pepper." A few muttered. "We have since cut ties with them because of that, and his later stupidity.

"If his board had fired him we might not have cut ties but not with him acting out. If he can't play the real game of business then he shouldn't be on the field." She smiled slightly. "He's not the sort of CEO that would get out of trouble automatically due to his wealth. He's not the sort of smart CEO that can disappear after a scandal. He proved that by opening his mouth. He's not the sort of CEO who can make apologies and just slink in the shadows while his underlings handle things. Which is a pity because it would've meant we might have kept buying that one component we got from them.

"As is, his opening mouth got him in trouble, got his company in trouble, and we're the only people who buy that component according to our research." She smiled. "So I hope he has a nice life. We have filed a restraining order from him getting near Pepper or anyone from Stark International. It was granted. The judge was not amused at us having to but he understood how a wannabe rapist isn't wanted in a business meeting. We hope other companies that do business with his take into account his character in their future dealings. After all, if he's that shitty of a person, how can we be sure his company's not making shitty products." Some of the reporters shuddered at that.

Callia walked out. "Since you're here." She wasn't dressed really nicely but at least she was wearing pants over her leotard and had her hair pulled back in a single ponytail. "Forgive me for not dressing up, but Marilyn, can I see you for a moment? We've found out that you're interviewing the jackass in Norway who made flirty motions toward me and then hacked my designs, some of which have went to the Chinese."

"I am?" she asked. Callia nodded. "Oh! That's who!" Callia nodded, looking pissed off. "He did?"

"Oh, yes. Because we've found a Chinese industrial spy here putting some of the power disruptors that I designed a few months back on our machines," Callia said dryly. "Even though there was an injunction from them doing anything with what he had hacked. I'm at the stage of *livid* and we're suing him in the World Court for trademark infringement, theft, selling secrets that weren't theirs to China, and anything else I can come up with that sounds illegal."

"Remember to have Gloria look over the paperwork," Dawn said.

"She's already got it." She smiled. "She gave me that smile that made her look like Skeletor."

Dawn chuckled. "I love that look." She patted her on the back. "The rest of you have a great day." They filed out but a few stayed to talk to Marilyn. This was huge news. They had no idea what Callia had designed. Or what a power disruptor was.

Dawn stayed to help Callia then walked upstairs with her. "She announced she's suing the guy in Norway."

"Good," Tony called from the office. He looked at his daughter's outfit. "Not really good clothes."

"I told them I was in the lab." She kissed him on the cheek then Pepper. "Are you okay?" She nodded. "Good. If I see him, I'll stab his ass like I would've when I was six." She went back to Legal.

Dawn smiled. "She made them pant, boss."

Tony smiled. "That's great." She went back to her desk and Tony went back to proofreading an article for someone while Pepper worked. It helped and Pepper stayed calm. "We can have someone make that component cheaper anyway," he said when she sighed again. She smiled at him. He grinned back. "Yes, I'm hovering."

"I don't mind you hovering. You clear your throat when you run into grammar mistakes."

He laughed but quit distracting her. It was good for both of them.

***

Dawn came out that night with the kids in the garage. She hit the button for the car door. "Philip, check before you get in," she reminded him when he ran that way. He looked and pointed. She put the girls down and hit her button, bringing security. They came down to get the guy out of her trunk. She looked around, one of the girls was missing. "Lock the gate, Mira's not in her carrier." They did that and found the car before it could leave. Dawn beat his ass for having her daughter. She kindly got Mira from his carseat and took her back to their car. Philip had guarded Lexi. "Thank you, Philip." She kissed him on the head, getting a grin back.

"Stupid idiots. That's Mira and they wanted Lexi."

"That's very true." She got them into their car seats, let the guards do a garage search while she got Philip in, then locked the doors so she could deal with the person coming up the walkway openly. "Damn, I thought I ripped those balls off you," she said bluntly.

"I come in peace this time," Barney said with an evil smirk.

"Sure you do. Do you want me to start thinking up more creative ways of torturing you?" She smiled. The guards were staring and edging slightly away from her.

"No, not in the least." He stared. "There's a call to get your daughter back into custody."

"And yet they just took the wrong one. For which they got beaten." She pointed at the crying guy the guards had. "Are you going to try again?"

"No. My people don't want babies. When they're teenagers we'll get them to join us." Dawn snickered, shaking her head. "We could."

"And I'd send them to Asgard first."

"That'll make them prettier so it'd be even more protective."

Dawn shot him in the thigh, making him scream. "Not really. I *am* the overprotective mother stereotype." She put the gun up. "Anything else, Barney? If not, I've got to go make dinner. We're having lamb kabobs." She got into the car and drove them off, nicely going around Barney's body. She even honked and waved at him.

"Wow, Dawn has PMS," one of the guards said quietly. "Must be back to normal after the birth." The other guards all nodded. Hopefully she'd remember how she fought it before. Stark came down to see what had happened. He had been in security since the alarm had went off but now he could taunt Barney himself until paramedics and officers got there. They had restraining orders on Barney Barton getting near the building or the children. Plus the files to back up why. Barney only sneered at that.

He'd learn not to screw with Dawn like most everyone else had.

Or he was really dumb and no one could fix that level of stupid.

***

Dawn smiled at the officers waiting on her the next morning. "Is there a problem, Officers?"

"Ma'am, you discharged a gun in a public location," one said. "We should really arrest you for that."

"Considering I had just taken one of the kids back from someone else and Barney died the first time trying to snatch them, you're lucky I left him living," Dawn said, staring at him.

"I realized that when we saw the files. We remember he did die."

"And then someone in his training group of evil shits decided to clone him about a month before then," she said dryly. "Which the NSA confiscated and woke him up." They groaned. "Frankly, don't really care. At the moment I'm just happy he's not here." She glared across the street. Barney walked off. She smiled at them again when they quit staring at Barney and looked at her. "Anything else, guys? Am I in trouble?"

"Not this time. We'd suggest you let the guards handle it unless it's an imminent threat situation, ma'am," one of the officers said.

"I'm much better trained than they are."

"We understand fully." They smiled.

"I'll try to play the bimbo a bit better."

"Thank you. Oh, and someone's said that you shouldn't have custody of one of the girls?"

"Mira is my stepdaughter. She's Nat's daughter with Clint. No one says anything when she's out with Philip or Lexi."

"They do," one officer said. "There's a church that keeps pushing things." He held up a paper. "We got asked to deliver this to you. They're going to try something huge."

"Thank you for the warning. I'll try not to burn them all in their shitty church." She smiled. They walked off. She read it over. "Fuck them," she decided, putting it into her bag. "Philip, why are you talking to Lexi?"

"She's pooping."

"We'll change her in the car." She got them in there and changed Lexi before buckling her in. She got Philip last and checked for dropped toys then got in to drive them to work. Today was going to be one of those days. The guards were all giving her wary looks when she walked in with the kids. The daycare people were on a heightened alert status so they all got to wear the tracking armbands today. Her desk had spouted a few flowers, including a condolence set from someone. She had the guards track that while she went to Legal to hand Gloria that summons. "Here, stupid people you can laugh at."

She read it over and did burst out laughing. "They can't challenge your custody over that! You're their stepmother!"

"Only Mira's."

"Good point." She smiled at Dawn. "Thanks, I needed that."

"Welcome." She smiled. "The officers today wanted me to play bimbo more often too."

"Uh-huh." Dawn grinned. "You haven't met with your accountant yet."

"Ooops. Later, after work. I'll see if they're free." She went back to her desk. Tony was reading the notes on the flowers. "No clue, boss."

"Great." He looked at her. "A condolence set?"

"Apparently they decided I'm breaking up with Nat." She sighed. "I was down handling Gloria in Legal a nice little summons by a church that said I shouldn't have custody of Mira since she's not mine."

Tony's eye twitched. "Really."

She nodded. "Yup." She sat down, clearing everything off her work area.

Tony went down to Legal. Gloria gave him that summons, making him laugh too. "Huh. Well, we can fight that." He handed it back and walked off. "You noticed you should be there at two?" he asked as he walked past her.

"I'm rearranging my schedule now, and Natasha's and Clint's through Mom." She fixed it and then called her accountant. Some things had to be rearranged and she had forgotten.

Tony watched her handle it and stay calm. It was good she was calm and not cackling in the corner.

***

Dawn walked in with Gloria. The kids were in daycare. The judge looked at her. "Dawn Summers and the head of Stark International's legal department, Your Honor."

"Great." He nodded at the sub-lawyer she had with her. Then at the other team. Then he looked at Dawn. "The order said to bring the children."

"That was not in there," Gloria said, handing over the forms. "This is what the officers delivered to her this morning, Your Honor. Beyond that, do you really want infants who would be cranky in here for this? They're going to cheer their mother on."

He read it over. "That was a separate note but I can see it is missing." He put that aside. "We are here over the custody of three minor children."

"No, Your Honor, by that filing, we're here over the custody of one minor child," Dawn said. "I gave birth to the other two."

"That was not in the files either."

"Your wife did," one of the other side's uptight people said.

"No, I did," Dawn said. "I have pictures, their birth certificates, the notes from the birthing center." She put them on the table. She looked back as someone else walked in looking nicely dressed up. "Did you break in to raid your brother's closet?" she demanded.

"Slightly. Not like I own dress clothes." He sat down behind Dawn.

"We think this member of the family is a more suitable guardian for those children," one of the church women said firmly.

Gloria snorted and pulled out a few files and pulled up one on her tablet. "On the restraining order against the supposed Agent Barney Barton, Your Honor," she said. "Including that he died the first time trying to kidnap the children."

"He was trying to protect them! God would like that!" one of the matrons shrieked.

Dawn looked at her. "Not hardly. His group wanted to alter them and make them villains." She looked at the judge. "I had to rescue one of the girls from their group beyond that time. They were starting to give her part of the serum that was used on Captain America."

The judge grimaced. "Were they arrested?"

"No. They had my daughter hostage," Dawn said. "Why would I let them try again?" The judge stared at her in horrified awe. "They knew coming near my children was a death sentence. If not from me, from SHIELD agents. I just got there first."

"The NSA said she was acting in good faith and called it a justified action," Gloria said, pulling up that file to show him.

"I can see they did say that," he complained, handing the tablet back. "Are you considered a fit guardian, Mrs. Barton?"

"Yes, I am. I am their mother and Mira's stepmother." Clint and Natasha walked in and Clint glared until Barney moved away from her.

"We don't believe that *construct* can give birth. Prove it," one of the matrons sneered at Dawn.

"Birth center records be enough?" Gloria asked, handing them over. "Beyond that, they're trying to give the children to a clone, Your Honor. Barney Barton, this one, is a clone. The original died when he was shoved out a sixth floor window for trying to kidnap his niece and nephew."

"You?" the judge asked Dawn.

"No, me," Clint said. "My brother tried to take my children. It's not the first time this has happened." Natasha handed the bailiff files. "On all the times the kids have been kidnaped or attempted to be taken."

The judge looked through them. "I see you're right to be a bit paranoid," he said, looking at the thickness of the stack. "They tried to take you before you gave birth to your son?"

"Yes. Many times. A few tried to kill us both instead."

The judge grimaced but kept going. He finally had to put it aside. "Are they getting a moral education?"

"Natasha's slightly Russian Orthodox. Clint was raised Methodist before he was orphaned with his brother. I'm nominally Wicca. The children will decide which path they want to follow when they're old enough to make that sort of complex decision."

"How do you teach them right from wrong?" the judge asked. "That's based on the bible, Mrs. Barton."

"Actually, the first set of codified laws was by Hamurabi, Your Honor," Gloria said. "That was pre-biblical writing times. That's where the 'eye for an eye' and those punishments came from. I can pull up that citation and history book if you wish. My son had to use it recently for a class report."

"I would've expected that to come from your client," he said grimly.

"Why? I'm a languages person with an MBA," Dawn said. He stared at her. "And I'm one dissertation from a PhD in education and languages. I'm still doing research on teaching bilingual children."

He blinked at her. "You are?" he demanded. She smiled and nodded. "Through an accredited institution?"

"Yes. Through one here in the city. My language masters came from a university in Rio but otherwise the rest has been US colleges."

"I take it your employer offers tuition reimbursement?" he asked dryly.

"Yes but I haven't filed for it. I make a good salary and I pay for my own education without grants or loans."

"Whatever." He went back over the paperwork. "Mrs. Barton, I find you very violent."

"And yet Barney Barton's out on bond for killing 103 people since he got reborn," she said calmly.

"How many have you killed in that same time?"

"One. He had my stepdaughter hostage."

He stared at her. "Only the one?"

"Yes. I have beaten a few."

"The guard that was trying to kidnap you," Clint said.

"I forgot about him. I did kill him because he had my boss hostage in a club in Tahiti while we were on vacation. I injured his associates for trying to kidnap us."

"Beyond that, which was declared legally self defense and the officers were pleased since those same people had killed five officers earlier in the day," Gloria said. "You haven't noted why they thought they have the right to challenge her custody. They're not relatives."

"They're doing it for the good of the children."

"Then they would've called Social Services," Gloria said. "We haven't seen anyone from them." The three parents shook their heads.

"She doesn't have a listed address," the judge said.

"She's in the DMV system so yes I do," Dawn said dryly. "It's even the current address. Which Social Services would have access to. Beyond that, not like I'm that hard to find. Even if I'm on the other coast, I'm pretty sure I'm usually either at work or home."

"I don't like that insinuation," the judge told her.

"I don't like them using the legal system to try to prove their meaningless religious point," she shot back. "Like the church in Georgia tried to do." He flinched. "Or the one in North Carolina that was helping them. For that matter, even if you *tried* to give my children to Barney, or any of their folks, they have dual citizenship so you're not actually able to rule on their custody, Your Honor." She stared at him. "For that matter, I have an unfortunate third citizenship being cleared up thanks to that same guy in Tahiti filing paperwork trying to marry me against my will. Which would automatically go to my children through me." She looked at Gloria, who nodded. Then back at the judge. "Mira has dual citizenship through her mother, who still has Russian citizenship."

The judge considered that. "You're pushy."

"Yes, I do tend to be when I'm faced with bigots." He glared at her. She stared back. "Can't call it any other way, Your Honor. Beyond you allowing them to illegally file paperwork that any other judge would've thrown out as being groundless. The proper path to testing my custody of my children when you're not a relative is to start with Social Services. Which they probably can't because they have very high BS meters."

"We tried but they called you a 'hero'," one of the matrons sneered. "We know who you really are. You're Satan, teaching people to use magic!"

Dawn looked at her. "Magic is a bloodline gift that some people have and some don't. If they have it, they do need to train it because any strong emotion can make it come out to hurt people." They flinched back. "It's not like I'm training anyone. Even my niece and nephew, who have magic, weren't trained by me. They were trained in the oldest traditions of doing no harm and only doing healing and protections." She looked at the judge again. "Beyond that, let them prove I'm Satan, Your Honor. I'd like to see that proof."

"The bible says," one started.

Dawn looked over. "The bible isn't a confirmed historical document. It's been proven they took stories from many cultures over the years to include. Especially the ones that had the Jewish people as slaves. For that matter, that part about witches was put in by King James. It's not in the original. It was put in to soothe his wife because she was scared of witches. There's plenty of seers and the like in the bible. Which I am." She stared at them.

"We can beat that ungodly *gift* out of your son," one shouted.

"Philip doesn't have that gift." They paused. "He doesn't have any sort of gifts like that." They glared at her. "He doesn't."

"He doesn't," Barney agreed. "My bosses, who would desperately love me to take the kids so they can be trained to follow our less than white light ways, figured that out."

"Agent Barton," the judge said.

"He's not an agent of any recognized US agency," Dawn said. "His employers *call* them agents, but he is not in fact an agent of the US government. Anyone can call their people agents, Your Honor. Job titles aren't determined by the government."

"Most of his people are wanted on things like treason charges," Clint said. "The Secret Service and the FBI have them under surveillance for it, Your Honor. My brother isn't an agent." He looked at his brother. "Where did the other three kills come from? We have you listed as a hundred."

"Two of the scumbags in the prison and one of the guards that tried to taunt me about you," he said blandly. The church ladies all gasped and gave him horrified looks. He smirked back. "Yeah, I'm the bad guy Barton. And you just nearly made a deal with me. Very Christian of you." They started to loudly pray.

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Shut up, Barney, before I castrate you."

"You go right ahead so I don't have a son that wears a skirt," he sneered at her.

She looked at him. "It's a kilt. He likes goth people and the cargo kilt isn't going to kill him if he wants to wear it. He'll probably grow out of it. For that matter, he was watching the _Three Musketeers_ and wanted to dress like them too because they had swords and ponies. Now, shut up and sit there." He shrank away from her. She turned back around.

"Your son has a kilt?" the judge demanded.

"Yeah. His cousin took him to hang out with some goth kids he knows in college. He really liked their clothes so Sean took him to get a few outfits. He's got a tartan plaid kilt outfit and a cargo kilt with a ton of pockets for kid things. He enjoys it and knows it's for special occasions. I'm not going to tell him he can't try different styles and make him conform to a stupid ideal that's only relevant in one country. The rest of the world has many fashions and many styles for men to choose from. Including kimonos, sarongs, and clogs. If my son wanted one to wear I'd get him one until that curiosity passed. I see no harm in my son learning to like things that aren't jeans and a t-shirt."

"I'm a bit wary of it, but we looked at a lot of clothes over the last few months. He found others he liked that were more US standard. He's found a few he liked that weren't, including the kimonos the Stark family got two of theirs." He shrugged. "He's curious and this is how he's learning about the rest of the world and other peoples."

"At that age, Callia was walking around wearing a sari now and then and watching Bollywood because she liked it. Since then she's moved on to leotards and shorts," Natasha agreed. "The children will learn more if we allow them to explore their world than not. Though he does need a different tartan on his kilt, Dawn. He's wearing Notre Dame's pattern and I loathe that school."

Dawn smiled. "It's a bit too small since he's growing again."

"I can remedy that." She looked at the judge. Who was holding his head. "I was taught to wear many native styles and to fit in with them as part of my agent training."

"Me too," Clint agreed.

"I've had to learn a few things for business meetings. I can tie a proper kimono because we've been taught for formal business meetings in Japan," Dawn said. "I know how to wear a sari thanks to Xander's mother."

The judge looked at her. "Who?"

"Alexander. His mother's Hindu."

"She is?"

"Yes."

"Prove it."

Xander appeared, staring at him. The church ladies shrieked and hid. Xander looked at them. "Shut up. I'm not here for you." He looked at the judge again, holding up a picture. "Upon my birth. It's a miniature done by one of Asgard's nicer portrait makers. My mother insisted." The judge looked at it then at him. He smiled. "I take after my father, Loki." He looked at Dawn. "We have the kids. Phil's kids need some manners reinforcement so we're working on all of them. Plus Caro and Etta." He disappeared.

"That's fine," Dawn said with a slight shrug. "Nothing's going to hurt them with Xander and Phil, not with all the soldiers at the temple right now."

"Yeah, Clay's team would kick everyone's ass," Clint agreed.

"He is pretty good," Barney admitted. "We don't want to tangle with them."

The judge glared at him. "Are you in fact an agent of the US?"

"No. Our bosses want us to be really hard when we take down the Avengers and take over their jobs." He smirked. "He thinks it means we can take over and make it work better in our ways." He pointed at the church ladies. "The bosses had a good, long laugh over them trying this."

"You're helping your brother's children yet you hate them," the judge said. "Why?"

"Clint's a better father than ours was. Dawn's a great mom. If I had them as parents I'd probably be less of a bad guy but my thing against my brother has nothing to do with his kids. His kids don't need to see us fight like we saw our parents fight. Beyond that, I learned not to screw with Dawn when I woke up without skin on most of my front thanks to a demon gluing me to the ceiling because I was upsetting her."

Dawn smiled at him. "A popcorn ceiling I heard."

"You're still getting it for that."

"We spar every week," Dawn said dryly. "Come to it. The kids don't attend."

He stood up, sneering at her. "I might take up that invitation. You against me?"

"Sure, Barney. We can settle that." He walked off looking smug. She looked at Clint. "You can't help."

"I won't. I want to watch you kick his ass in multiple ways." He smiled at her. "I know you can." He looked at the judge. "Is this farce done with or must we revive our dual citizenships?" The judge glared at him. "We do. I have two, one for helping save a country."

Dawn nodded. "So do I but for different reasons."

The judge huffed. "You have made a mockery of the justice system."

"No, I think that was their doing, Your Honor." She pointed at the huddled matrons. "I'm not the one that filed specious lawsuits. Nor am I the one that was going to decide not on legal reasons but on supposed moral ones. I'm fairly certain that being a member of their church should've gotten you recused from the case." He flinched. "Frankly, I consider this one more feint by people who want to take my children to use. Which is why they're heavily protected from everyone. I wouldn't have to be half as deadly if people didn't try my children. As any good mother would say." She gathered up the files. "Is the case dismissed or are we going to keep arguing?"

"I find you in contempt. You have thirty days in jail, starting today."

Dawn laughed. "That's not legal." Gloria looked at her. "And if you do try that, I can just appeal it. Beyond that, not like I'm afraid of a jail cell." He gaped in horror at her. "Let's go," she told the bailiff with a smile. "Gloria, please file an appeal today."

"Gladly, Dawn." She was tapping out something. "And it's approved." She showed the bailiff. "Hold off on that." She looked at the judge. "Beyond that, I have a motion here to dismiss and to counter sue for legal fees and harassment." She handed that over. The judge ripped it up with a smile.

The chief justice cleared his throat from the doorway. "I don't think so. You're not allowed to do that. Yes, the contempt charge is removed. The case is dismissed as there is no legal precedent for them being able to challenge it. Miss Summers is right, they did not go through the proper legal challenges." Dawn nodded at him. "Though you are a bit huffy," he warned her.

"He's threatening my children. I have *fantastic* control of my temper."

"My wife would've already gutted him," he agreed. "Dismissed, people. Flee before I have you arrested," he told the matrons. "The court is not there to back up your religion or it's desires." They huffed off. Dawn and her family gathered the papers and left together. He stared at his coworker. "We have to talk. Now. My chambers. You have two minutes or I'll consider you having quit." He walked off. The judge did huff off so he apparently decided to resign. That let him put in a legal challenge before the board over that. It would start a bad precedent.

It started an even worse one when the judge went to some Christian Broadcasting station to give a statement that Dawn was huffy, dangerous, and evil. By the morning the ethics board had an emergency meeting at his prompting and had disbarred the judge. It was widely reported in all the papers. Stark put out a note that he hadn't had anything to do with it. Dawn hadn't let him help her in any means beyond loaning her the lawyer.

Dawn's statement was more gracious about them trying to push their religious viewpoints on her children and her life, and that she hadn't done anything 'evil' beyond stick up for herself. Evil was in the eye of the beholder, or the people that openly claimed they wanted to beat the gifts out of a child that didn't have any. Hers included court transcripts. Suddenly that judge was not as happy and the broadcasters he had been going to didn't want to talk to him. So hopefully that problem would be stopped for good.

***

Six days later, Dawn was in front of another judge, this time on video from work. She did have her head covered in a show of respect but otherwise just looked pretty from the conference room. "No, Your Honor, I'm not going to come anywhere near your country, even on business, as they tend to put people in my religion to death. I'm not going to deal with that and I'd hate to have to protect myself from idiots." The judge scowled at her. So she lit up a ball of magic on her hand to show him. "As I said, I'm not coming there. They don't like my religion. You have a letter from them on that subject."

"I can see why. Is that...."

"Just a ball of glow." She smiled and made it disappear. "Beyond that, I'd have to control my temper to not hurt the frivolous people who went against your embassy's paperwork over that tragic situation of their family member taking me hostage once, and trying a few more times when I beat him and got free."

"I have all the files on those incidences," he said. "From our government and yours, Mrs. Barton." She nodded. "Or do you go by another name?"

"That's fine. That's legally one title I have. I go by that or my maiden name for business things."

"That's reasonable. I've heard some women do." He looked over the piles of evidence she had submitted. Then at their smaller pile. "It appears that there's a long history of this problem."

"Not just with me," Dawn reminded him.

"I've seen that. The head clerics have agreed that one of them declaring your marriage invalid was improperly done." She smiled and nodded slightly at that. "Which is the cause of their lawsuit. Though the embassy's agreement with you was very thorough and they are going against it." One of the women on that side started to wail.

"She wasn't that upset when she came to my workplace in LA to try to talk me into marrying him," Dawn said dryly. "It took me half an hour to make her give up because I did not want her faulty grandson."

"Faulty?" she demanded, hopping up to glare at her. "How dare you!"

"He killed officers that had him in custody for trying to kill a guard while trying to kidnap me. I'd call that faulty," Dawn said patiently. "The same as I'd call him faulty since he came back after I hurt him pretty badly to get away from him the first time."

"I've gotten medical records on the pre-surgery consultation he had to fix those scars. What caused them?" the judge asked.

"My nails. He had kidnaped me from another country," she said over the renewed ranting and wailing of the grandmother and a few other women. "Taken me to a tent in the desert, and declared that we were there so he could *convince* me to marry him. Hell no I don't put up with that. His brother had tried a few years earlier to get my attention during a business meeting by sending my underaged self inappropriate presents of jewelry and candy. I want nothing to do with anyone in that family, Your Honor, and there's no legal basis for me having to pay them for making me deal with their faulty member when he was trying to kidnap myself and my boss. I don't pay blood money."

"I can see that point. It might be easier," he said.

Dawn shrugged. "That would be giving in to terroristic threats." The judge flinched. "I don't. I tend to take out threats to my safety, happiness, and life. If they wish to try that threat they sent me earlier, which I faxed to my legal representative on that end, then they're more than welcome to come here and try. Then this would be solved fairly quickly."

"I was handed that before the trial," the judge said. He looked at them. "Should you attempt that, I would have to find her reasonable in killing whoever attempted it." He looked at their paperwork. "As there was no legal marriage, he had no right to try to take her from Tahiti. Or her employer. No matter that they were in fairly revealing clothes on a beach or not."

"As far as he knew they were married," the family's lawyer said quietly and calmly.

"Not true," Dawn said. "He knew what he did was illegal. He knew that there's no religious edict that could remove a legal marriage in another country."

"That's very hard to do and must be done through the courts and the clerics," the judge agreed blandly. "He did not even try with us as we would've had to talk to his proposed wife." He looked at the family then at Dawn. "They would probably stop if you paid them."

"I'm not paying them. If you try to make me pay them I'll blow them up instead. They promised to do it to me so I think that's fair. You guys do believe in an eye for an eye in your legal codes."

"We do," he agreed. "Though you should not threaten in front of me."

"Yet they're trying."

"True." He glared. "Stop it." They settled down. He sighed. "One percent of your net worth?"

"No. I'm not paying them. If you make me pay them they'll never live to see it. I helped the families of the people their male member killed with his bodyguards because I felt I should as they died trying to protect me from that raging psychotic bastard. I'm not paying the family a single cent." She repeated that in Arabic for them. They went on another wailing fit about missing his help with the family expenses. She snorted. "What help? From the other two women you've tried this on and won a judgement against? You're not getting me. I'm not going to pay you. I should have taken him out back in the desert. If I had known he wouldn't give up I would have. I sent back the 'apology' present money he sent me for that when I found it. I sent back everything else he sent me. I stabbed him a few times over the years. What makes you think I'm going to *pay* you for failing to teach your son proper manners around women?"

The judge chuckled. "You have a very nice accent."

"Thank you."

The judge found those documents. "It says you were the cause of death in their lawsuit."

"No, Your Honor, the cause of death was an air embolism on the operating table when they were taking out the bullets the officers had used on him when he was escaping earlier in the day," Dawn's lawyer said. He handed over two tapes. "I questioned the doctors about the cause of death. They stated he lived through the removal of the knife from his lung but died thanks to the bullets."

He had a player and tv brought in so he could watch them, nodding. "I see that is correct." The family were strangely silent. "I find that it'd still be easier and more pleasant if you paid the family."

"I can remove them from your society's anger if you want," Dawn offered. "I'm not paying them. If I see them I'm not going to be as nice either."

"I fully agree on that subject." He looked at the family. "You broke the agreement the King's people signed with her. You knew it wasn't a legal marriage, and she did act in self defense according to the officers in that area. She's adamant that she's not paying you blood money." Dawn nodded at that. "I find your case without very much merit at the moment. Do you wish to withdraw it or would you rather be found guilty of pushing frivolous and dangerous lawsuits?"

"We would rather she compensated us," their lawyer said.

Dawn snorted. "I'm not paying them blood money," she assured him in Arabic. "If they try to collect blood money from me, I'll show them what their blood looks like and they can get money for it." He winced. "I do not give in to threats from *anyone*. There's two cells of supposed rebels that are scared to death of me showing up again. Do you think I'm scared of those women?"

"No," he said, shivering and looking away from her.

The judge looked at her. "There is?"

"Yes, there are." She smiled. "They thought I might make a good hostage." She grinned. "They were very wrong. The few left have spread that rumor." The judge shuddered.

"Oh, do tell me," Tony said from his seat in the corner.

Dawn looked at him. "You didn't hear about the two cells in Africa that thought I'd make a good hostage, boss?"

"No, I hadn't." He tapped that to Natasha, who gave back the answer 'just don't ask'. "Your wife doesn't seem pleased."

"No, she wasn't. Neither was the husband." She smiled at the judge.

He shook his head. "I am not wading into that fray. Pay them ten dollars." She opened her mouth. "That way they have to shut up and cannot retaliate. If they should try they will be arrested. That way everyone is satisfied and it's not something you will miss."

"Pay it," Tony ordered quietly.

"I'll wire it to my attorney later with his fee."

"Thank you." He banged his gavel. "Dismissed." The family was still crying and wailing but he walked off.

Dawn looked at her lawyer. "Tell me where?"

"I've already sent the bill to your email a few minutes before the trial, Dawn." She smiled and nodded. "You can translate it or not, either's fine."

"Thank you." She hung up and got into her email, sending that to him. Her accountant had moved a few things on her but not that account. "His fees were pretty reasonable compared to some."

"He was," Tony agreed. "What's with your accountant?"

"I'm making too much profit."

"Oh. So more investments?"

Dawn smiled. "We're discussing it." She strolled off. "The judge made me pay them ten dollars so they couldn't challenge the verdict or me," she told Pepper when she ran into her.

"Ten whole dollars?" she joked. "Great."

"They tried for one percent of my net worth."

"Oooh," Pepper said with a wince. "Ten bucks is better."

Dawn nodded. "Definitely." They walked into the office area together. "Security to my desk," she ordered when she saw who was waiting. He glared at her. Security teams came off the elevator to grab him. "Thank you. There's a restraining order, guys." They walked him off. "Anything he wants to say he can say through a lawyer." They dragged him off.

"You're just mad because I'm better than yours," he sneered.

"Not hardly. Have you seen Clint recently?" Dawn asked with an evil smirk. "He puts models to shame, has a delicate side that can help me braid my hair or soak with me in bubbles, yet he's one of the toughest assassins and snipers in the world today. He can kick nearly anyone's ass and you think you're better?" The guy was pale and shaking. "I doubt you'll ever be better than a *real* man, because they don't have to try to force themselves on people. Guys, toss him out." They got him onto the elevator and tossed him outside. She looked at Pepper. "You okay?"

"I think he was talking about Tony."

"Not likely. Steve and Tony are better men than he'll ever be if only because they're both mannered, would never force themselves on anyone, and they're both able to help you braid your hair too." She smiled. "And Tony makes you things like that robotic rose."

She smiled. That had been on her pillow that morning. "It was sweet of him." Tony grinned and accepted a kiss. "Thank you."

"Chris helped me make that." She beamed and went to her office. Tony stopped her. "Roomba, come search the office," he called. Two of them rolled off the next elevator and in to search for things. One barked he had found something. Tony looked and got officers up there immediately. Dawn got security footage pulled up for them and saved down by the time they got off the elevator.

"Ma'am, the guy outside said that you tried to make him do drugs with you as part of a business deal?" the officer asked Pepper.

"I was just in a meeting and found him by Dawn's desk," Pepper said. "Security escorted him off. Our scanning Roombas found he had planted drugs."

"Security footage," Dawn said, holding up the DVD.

They nodded, going to pick up the drugs they had found. They brought a drug dog up to make sure it was all of it. The dog snuffled the Roombas but otherwise didn't hit on anything. They got checked over. They had a tiny sample to test against since they didn't have noses and the officers liked that. They talked to Andrew and Jonathan about how they had done that. They arrested the guy on the way out since he was there gloating to one of the reporters that liked to lurk around the building to take pictures of people.

***

Dawn walked into the Avengers sparring gym. "There needs to be less morons in the universe."

"I heard Andrew was going to make you some moron-be-gone," Clint teased with a grin.

She took a kiss. "Hell. Yes." He laughed. She went in to change and came out putting up her hair. "Barney."

"Sister-in-law. He likes bubble baths?"

"Only when we're in them." She smirked. "That's why guys like him get all the bitches." Clint cleared his throat but he was smiling. "Someone clearly taught him how to handle a woman better than they did you." She looked over him. "Want to change or are you fighting in that?"

"This," he sneered. "Shall we?"

"Sure." She got into the ring and waved him up. "Unless you just want the bare floor?"

"That's fine with me."

"Sure." Dawn jumped on him and beat him until he got free and took a swing back. Dawn kicked him and kept pushing him back toward the walls. He got out of that trap but he wasn't going to win. "No, Bucky. He thinks he can take me." She kicked Barney then flipped out of his way and got him again. Barney was getting really frustrated. "Want a weapon?" she asked politely, not even breathing hard. "I'm just warming up and it might make it a bit more fair for you." Barney sneered and lunged but Dawn stopped him with a foot to the throat and then quickly one to the jaw. He fell down. Dawn smiled. "Just think, if the guys outside were in any shape to help, I'd offer to shoot them for you. That way they're out of my misery." She backed up when he got up with a yell. He grabbed her and managed to slam her onto the ground but she teleported and got him from behind. He shrieked but then again she had just kicked him in the nuts. He turned and tried to punch her. One connected with her arm but she broke his jaw for it.

"Summers, quit playing with him," Bucky complained. "Once you're warmed up the rest of us have to spar."

She shrugged. "Be there soon, Bucky. Start with Clint." She smiled at Barney. "Bucky used to be the Winter Soldier. He's pretty darn good. He helped train Nat." She grinned and got Barney in the side, making him groan. She kept going until he finally fell down panting and bloody. "So," she said, wiping off the bit of sweat on her chest with the towel Tony had tossed her as he came out of the locker room. "Now that you've seen how I got trained." She smiled. "How do you think I am?"

"Mean," he said, glaring at her. "My team?"

"I believe they're in police custody." She looked over. "Guys? Our sparring match is done."

"Thankfully we heard that you two were going to spar," one of the officers said, staring at Barney. "Can you do that instead of shooting the people that want your kids, Summers? That way we can have some fun with them in jail?"

"As long as they've never laid a hand on the kids, sure. I'll try." She grinned.

"Thanks," the other officer said. "We'll take him to the ER first." He called that in and got an ambulance to bring him out. The others were already on their way to central booking. Them going with Barney to the ER meant they got a dinner break.

Dawn finished blotting the sweat and stretched. Natasha came over. "I'm okay."

"You're limping on your right knee and your left foot must ache with how weak you kicked," she said quietly, cracking Bucky up.

Dawn looked at her. "It's asleep actually and my knee's swollen again from falling down two flights of stairs earlier thanks to MB rushing to puke up lunch." Natasha gave her a hug and they switched to team fighting tactics tonight. Steve got there late but he had requested they work on it due to the vision.

"Sorry, had to get past the press and the ambulance. Was that Barney Barton?"

"He didn't think I could beat him," Dawn quipped with a grin for him, ducking Bucky's swing at her head without looking. "He wanted to gauge the training of the normal one."

"Ah." He nodded. "So he's...."

"Going to the ER because I may have punctured his spleen," Dawn said. "Or his right testicle." The guys all winced at that. Natasha chuckled, a warm, throaty sound. "And I think I may have fractured his jaw."

"Works for me," Clint quipped. "If he thinks she's the weakest fighter then I'm all for that."

"Me too," Tony said. Because he knew he had the weakest training of all of them. "I was brilliant to put you in self defense lessons, Dawn."

"Yup, because otherwise I'd still probably be with that group in Pomona who wanted me, boss." He shuddered. He had heard after the fact, after Phil Coulson had rescued her. "You know, in that other realm, the me there was with Phil," she told Tony with a grin. "You were with Bruce."

Bruce shook his head. "We'd never make it. We'd just talk from our labs."

"Yeah, she was going to have to retrain Phil hard. He didn't even want her to club. Threatened to spank her for it. That's why I sent her some of my clothes so she could have something pretty to wear beyond the agent suit."

"Is she taking a vacation to Miami?" Clint asked.

"Maybe." Dawn grinned at him. "I did share that memory with her." She winked and turned, kicking Bucky away from her. "Don't huff on my back. I'm getting acne there."

"That's what I was looking at."

"It's hormones," Dawn quipped. "They happen." Clint and Natasha both nodded. "Should I write an apology note to Barney for kicking his ass?"

"Sure, go for it," Clint said with an evil smirk. "He might appreciate that."

Dawn kissed him and kneed him in the stomach fairly gently. "Constant vigilance. Whoever wins tonight has to do bath times."

Clint groaned and it was on. He could beat Dawn, most of the time. Natasha even helped him. The girls adored Dawn doing bath times over the rest of them. It meant he'd get to make dinner instead.

"It's like foreplay," Bucky complained.

Bruce smiled. "It is. But it's good foreplay." Dawn blushed. "If Joyce sparred I'd have to get better too." That got a hotter blush, which Clint took advantage of by kissing her and pinning her against the ropes. "And he wins."

"The girls love Dawn doing baths because they get bubbles," Clint quipped, kissing Dawn again. "Team building."

"Yup." They moved back to fighting together under Steve's watch and tutoring. Coulson appeared to join in. Dawn looked over at him. The look on his face was a bit amused. "Did you talk to that other you again?"

"He was complaining that you were corrupting his Dawn with bikinis. He prayed for mercy and me to beat you for it." Tony cackled and had to walk off shaking his head before he got knocked down.

"I did share what happened on my Miami vacation."

"Uh-huh. He also said he couldn't find all the flirty clothes you gave her."

"I needed to clean out my closets anyway."

Phil looked at her. "Quit being mean to that me."

She blew a kiss and knocked him down. "Me, mean? Really?" She walked over him to get some water.

"Barton, can't you cure the PMS?" Bucky complained.

"Nope," Clint said dryly. "No known cure. Sorry." Dawn smiled at him for that. "Besides, that was last week." They all groaned. It meant Dawn was in a playful mood.

***

Philip looked at Mommy that night during his bath. "Are girls mommies?"

"Yup, we are. Mommies are just grown up girls. Some day Caro and Etta will be mommies." She washed his hair. "Why?"

"Girls not see Philip naked," he repeated. Dawn had told him that a lot when he wanted to run around naked.

She smiled. "It's okay for mommies to see you naked. I gave birth to you and you were naked then. You were naked for months inside my belly."

"Babies naked?"

"Yeah. Babies are born naked. There's no clothes in there." She grinned. "But if you want, you can have Daddy do baths when he's around." He grinned and nodded, getting out to go talk to his father.

Clint looked down from stirring. "You're not done with your bath. You still have soap on you."

"Girls no see Philip naked." Clint nodded that was true. "Mommies are girls."

"Oh! Dawn, come stir." She came out to stir the sauce for him while he finished his son's bath. They'd talk about mommies and girls. His son was really smart.

Dawn smiled at the guys coming off the elevator. "Hunt, I coded you and Benji into the lock. You don't have to use fake fingerprints."

"Good to know," Benji said, giving her a hug. "We're going to steal your husband for a few hours."

"He's giving Philip a bath because girls are mommies and girls shouldn't see him naked." They shared a grin and he went to talk to Clint. The girls had already had their baths and some cereal with a bottle. They were cooing on the couch to some music Clint had playing. Clint came out with Philip, helping him into jammies. Then he got cleaned up and dressed. The girls quit cooing, staring at the daddy. One squealed.

"Thanks, Lexi. Your mom made me look very nice." Dawn smiled and blew a kiss. Mira was still staring so he bent down. "It's okay." She patted him and smiled. "Good girl." He winked at her. "I'll be back by dinner tomorrow night." Dawn made him a plate to go. He took a deep kiss. "It's nothing dangerous."

"I'll be around, hot stuff." She pinched him on the butt, making him smirk as he walked out with them. Dawn got her and Philip dinner and they settled in to eat then read a bedtime story. Philip kept explaining who people were in the Pooh book to the girls. It was adorable. "Remember, if you wake up, you go potty immediately," she reminded Philip. He still had some nighttime accidents. "So when you wake up, run for the potty and then go back to bed." He nodded, hugging her and going potty one last time before he got up in the middle of the night like usual. She tucked him in then came out to get the girls and tuck them in. She had a bad feeling about Clint's assignment but it wasn't a vision so it'd be okay. If not, she'd kill Hunt.

***

Dawn let Beya have the kids the next morning. She wanted them all day so that was great. She went to work wearing something slightly flirty. Clint had said he might show up for lunch before she fell asleep. She saw a few wary looks but shrugged it off. She got to her desk and found Clint there, only it wasn't him. He was in the wrong suit and he looked strange. She stared at him. It wasn't Aaron or Gamble. "Who are you?" A tickle of thought from Clint told her that he was presently in a cell with Hunt, who was about batshit insane.

"You don't recognize your husband?" he asked with a grin.

"Dear, I have a telepathic link with my spouse," she said bluntly. "I can't feel your mind. So who the fuck are you?" He flinched and backed up. "Boss?"

"He's coming, Dawn," JARVIS said. "This one doesn't have a heart beat."

"Check and see if he's the new version of those goo clones."

A beam ran over him. "It may be." Tony came off the elevator wearing one of his armored gloves. "Sir, that is not Agent Barton."

"Yes, yes I am," he said.

"Dawn, he has a small device on his hip."

Dawn looked at it. "That's an explosive. Lock down the area," she ordered.

"Go, Dawn," Tony said.

"No, you go. I can teleport. Beya had the kids." He nodded, backing off to let her handle it. A security shield came down around them. "So, why did you come here?"

He smirked. "I'm Clint Barton."

"No, you're not." She grabbed a knife off her desk and lunged, getting the jacket over the lump. Yup, an explosive. "Boss, sonic based."

"Locking it all off, Dawn." He looked and took pictures of it. The guy was staring at it too. "Didn't know they had mined you?"

"No. I am Clint Barton."

"Uh-huh," Dawn said. NYPD SWAT came off the elevator. "Guys, this isn't Clint." They nodded. "He's got a bomb on his side. He didn't know that."

"Great," one said. "Can you get out of there, ma'am?"

"Let's move the bubble up to a more secure location," Tony ordered. "Dawn." She nodded, walking the golem up the hall to an open space that was a future lab. They were just now working on it. The golem looked very confused. Dawn knocked him out with a nerve pinch, being as gentle as she could. Then she teleported and walked off with her fingers in her ears. "Dawn, find him. Go get him. You don't want to be here." She nodded and disappeared down to Tony's lab to do that.

"I wouldn't want to see a version of my wife with a bomb even if I knew it wasn't her," one of the SWAT guys said quietly. "Can we remove it, Stark?"

He squatted down to get a better look at it, shaking his head. "No, I don't think so. JARVIS, do we have any lasers in here?"

"Yes, sir. Two are still operational from the set that your daughter put in."

"Pinpoint the transmitter if you can."

"It's too narrow. I'm sorry." They heard the whine and the AI added to the shielding when the body went boom. "I'm glad Dawn didn't see that," he said quietly.

"Me too," Tony told his AI. The SWAT guys picked up the bomb pieces and got the rest to the morgue to study. Tony went to his lab to trace what was going on. Dawn was out of there already. He started tracking her and called Steve to assemble everyone else. They'd probably need some backup, no matter how much artillery Dawn brought with her.

***

Dawn opened the cell door for Clint and Ethan, helping Clint up and kissing him. "That's really dirty pool."

"Yes it was," he said, calming her down. "C'mon, I could use a few stitches." She nodded and blew open the other cell doors. Most of them were agents and were brought with them. SHIELD was waiting at Dawn's huge entrance hole. Dawn had called in backup. He hugged her to keep her calm. "Hill," he said with a nod in greeting.

"Barton, injuries?"

"Few. Going to Stark's infirmary."

"Make a report."

Dawn looked at her. "Don't leave whoever sent a not-Clint with a bomb to us living." Maria shuddered but Clint just hugged her. She looked at Ethan. "Where's Benji?"

"He was in the van. He's not here?"

"I haven't seen him." She called him, hearing his phone ring. He had a distinctive Dawn ringtone. She looked around and ran off. "Guys, missing some agents," she yelled. One of the response teams followed her toward where the ringing was. When it stopped she hit it again. They found his phone. They found a few work areas. They found some people in medical tubes being fitted with what looked like microchips. "Fuck! I need Stark's head doc, now!" she called over the com. "We've got medical probing and inserting going on." A few minutes later, Steve walked in with both head docs. "Guys, Benji and a few others." They looked and Stark showed up to break the systems. They got them to a nearby ER to do the surgery they'd need. It was going to be a long day.

"Agent Hill, we've found records," one of the junior agents called from up the hallway. "This isn't all the agents they've done this to."

She took them to look over. "Three I know. We'll check them." He nodded, letting her have the rest of the records room he found. "Summers, go with your husband."

"Going." He went with her to the same hospital Benji was in. They could do stitches. Or Dawn could do them while they waited. Ethan was nearly pacing up and down the walls. Dawn shoved him down and looked at his injuries. The nurses smiled at her for it and took over but she still helped them.

Ethan stared at her. "I'm okay, Dawn. I'm not your spouse."

"No, you're my husband's teammate." She stared at him. "So shut up." He slumped but let her and the nurses handle it. "Maybe I should go for a medical degree after the next one," she muttered.

"Yeah, a PhD, Dawn?" Clint asked.

She looked at him. "It's a few more papers?" He stared at her. She kissed him. "It really was. One of my teachers caught me looking up stuff on how to make kids multilingual and suggested it." She took another kiss and got back to Ethan's few injuries. "You have a concussion."

"Had. It's a few weeks old."

She stared at him. "No blurry vision?" He shook his head. "Okay." She finished fussing and let him go. Fortunately Doctor Pigalli was coming out and had been with Benji. "How is Benji? If he's more hurt I'm going to go kill a few more of them."

The doctor handed her to Clint. "He's okay. There's two that were implanted that we're not sure about taking out. The rest were still unconnected so they got pulled out and closed. I've got the same neurologist that worked on that poor agent who had a memory chip installed coming. He's furious someone was trying this bullshit." Ethan nodded. "Benji's not the one with the most. One other guy was on the last chip. Stark's got them to see if he can find out what they're for."

"SHIELD has all the medical records," Dawn said.

"We've already got a call in to Joyce to see if we can find out easier. I have the feeling it was along the lines of letting them log into computers a different way since all of them were listed as computer and tech ops."

"Okay," Ethan said. "Benji wasn't really."

"Yes, but that was his official classification," Dawn said quietly. "He laughed at that." Ethan looked at her. She nodded. "In the IMF files, that's what it listed."

"Fuck." Ethan huffed. "Okay, so they got into the records."

"Doc, can you have them cross-reference with the Initiative mess? Might have some scientists in common."

"I'll pass that message on to your mother." She looked at Ethan. "Do you want him to stay here?"

"No. I don't know this hospital."

"Okay, he and a few others are coming back to us. The rest are going to SHIELD." He nodded. "Dawn, get him home. Take Ethan. We'll be back in a few hours and he could use cleaned up and a meal before we get there." Ethan nodded. Dawn got them beamed back. Pigalli went to talk to Hill. "Dawn wanted to check against the Initiative records," she said quietly in her ear.

"Already thought of that. They are."

"We were thinking the chips were to integrate humans?"

"Stark thinks so. He's ripping apart their computer systems as well." She looked at her. "How many are bad?"

"Most of them are bad. I have someone excellent showing up at your infirmary tonight to look over what we've been able to do here."

"Excellent news. They'll all be there?"

"Benji won't be. He's Clint's teammate so he's coming with us. It'll calm down everyone. I doubt you want Hunt pacing or hovering."

"Fine. We trust your infirmary to be above the standards of ours." She nodded and left, going to tell the others. SHIELD's emergency physician team got them all sorted back where they needed to be and Pigalli took hers with Shivs. Maria went back with the last load. The agents that had been held hostage were cleaned up, given a bunk to rest in, and they could call their own bosses in the morning.

***

Benji moaned and Dawn moved closer, holding a cup with ice water and a straw. "Here, have a sip," she said quietly. He sipped, staring at her. "What do you remember?"

"You're a bloody angel of mercy who'll kill me for this headache?" he asked softly.

"Not likely. I'd miss you." She kissed him on the forehead. "Doc's going to tell you what they were trying to do. You're here with us at Stark. Ethan's in the hallway bouncing a ball against a wall to keep from having a raging fit." He groaned and she lifted the head of the bed up.

Ethan leaned over to look in. "Is he finally awake?"

"Yup."

Doctor Shivs came out of the office, shoving Ethan back out of the infirmary. "Him first." He looked at Benji. "They were going to turn you into a computer." Benji gave him an odd look. "They were implanting chips to turn you and a few other geeks into a serial wired human computer. You've got two chips implanted and we haven't been able to remove them yet but the person who can is coming in early in the morning." Benji nodded. "So hopefully within a week. You weren't the only one and you're one of the easiest cases."

Dawn smoothed his hair down for him. "The one to network you guys is in the area of motion and movement." He looked at her. "That one went in first, Benji."

"Great." She smiled. He looked at the doctor again. "How long is my recovery going to be?"

"As long as he doesn't slip up with the laser scalpel, probably about a half a year all told. The other one's near the anger and rage centers."

"Am I going to turn green or some other fashionable color?"

"We hope not. No radiation we could find," Shivs said with a smile. Benji relaxed. "So we'll have to remove them. Not sure if they can do them at the same time or not. That's why I'm giving you such a long term estimate."

Benji nodded. "Looks like we need to find a safehouse then," he decided. "The last one had a terrible kitchen. I lived on takeaway." He looked at Dawn.

"We've got one set up for you guys on the same street we're on. Your physical therapist got a referral to see you again in about a month or so. He knows you're undergoing some brain surgery so the timetable's iffy," Dawn said quietly.

"If you didn't have too much on your mind, I'd kiss you."

She kissed him on the forehead. "You're the best fussy friend ever, Benji. Of course you're not going through this alone. I'll even let the kids help you do PT this time so they can chase you around."

He grinned. "Philip looks like he'd be mean and tickle me."

"Probably, yeah," Ethan said, walking in with Clint. Shivs would let him stay if he had Clint or someone else that could knock him cold if he got too uptight. "Six months?"

Dawn looked at him. "You've got to fix that torn muscle in your arm and that's going to be like three probably," she reminded him.

"Good point. We can cheer each other on."

Benji looked at him. "Go get some rest."

"I will. I've been waiting."

"I can tell. Go rest." He pointed a shaky hand. Ethan walked off shaking his head. He looked at Clint. "If I'm that badly off, let her kill me?"

"Sure. I'll let her give you a poisoned kiss or something." He looked at him. "She's going to make you take the girls bra shopping for their first one if you don't get better."

"That's great incentive," he assured them with a grin. He looked at the doctor. "Until then?"

"You're in that bed until he looks at you. We're not sure if someone made it off the base and they might not have a switch. The reason they put that networking chip there was because it'd knock out all motor functions. They'd have complete control of their brain servers as they were put onto permanent IV lines and the like."

Benji nodded. "My brain's not part centipede. I'd have destroyed them."

"Benji, some of the guys have all but one chip," Dawn said. "The doc's got to remove like twelve in one guy." Benji shuddered. "You were only captured two days ago."

"Damn." He calmed himself and let Dawn feed him more water. "That's good." She smiled at him. "Okay, so I rest, I nag from bed."

Shiv's nodded with a slight smirk. "She could use it. She's had to go to court twice over stupid things."

"Oh, you didn't hear the greatest thing," Dawn quipped. "Yesterday, I was outside for some air and ran into Barney. A whole, undamaged, unscarred Barney." Clint stiffened. "So I shot him in the spleen so he could join the other one in the hospital ward. They're very amused at clones and doing all sorts of tests on their blood and tissue samples they had to give up anyway. They've found three genetic markers. The morgue kept something of Barney's for later DNA testing against. It came up slightly different in three things. They'll forward SHIELD the stuff they're finding."

"Great," Clint said. "That's the third thing that goes in groups of threes so we're probably looking for another one."

"Nat told me earlier she had shot him and I told her to damage his spleen so he could join the other two and they could eliminate the extra ones." She smiled. "The first clone is trying really hard."

Clint shook his head. "You need a nap."

"Well, yeah. But the kids will want us when we get home." She kissed Benji on the forehead again. "Feel better. I'll pop in on you tomorrow during the work day." He nodded. "Try to rest. The docs here are really nice to me when I'm in here." Benji smiled at her. "Maybe tomorrow you can even have soup."

"Maybe," Shivs agreed. "Depending on the surgery schedule." He pointed and they left. He looked at Benji. "It's nice to have friends who will fuss you to death."

"It is. Though I'm feeling a bit odd."

"That second chip's interfering in your emotional center, Benji. She realizes that. We all realize you're going to have a few anger outbursts." He looked over as someone limped in. "Cross, what the hell did you do?"

"Kicked the butt of the people trying to take Mira again?" He hauled his friend in. "This is Jason. We kicked their butts but they had automatic weapons."

"It looks like they had a few, and some knives. Did you tell the family?"

"Natasha showed up to clean up the mess," Jason said quietly. "We can go to the regular ER."

"Shut up," Shivs ordered, helping him onto the bed. Then he pointed so Aaron climbed on one. The nurses came out with a huff to help him clean them up. "At least you're not really injured. I won't have to do more than pull a few things." They got to work on them while Benji went back to his nap.

Tony leaned in. "Thanks, guys. Break your path here. We're not known for playing nicely with some types of agents. Dawn likes to chew on them." He looked at Benji and tossed a book at the foot of his bed before leaving them alone.

Benji blinked at the thing that hit him, picking it up to look at. Word puzzles. He would like that. He shifted to curl up better. That helped a lot more.

Shivs smiled and shook his head. "Sometimes we're all a bit insane around here."

Aaron smiled. "Did Dawn do more naughty posing?"

"Not that I got to see. No one ever shows me things like that."

***

Dawn was waiting when someone drove up in an SUV, freezing it and letting it slam into a shield she had thrown up. "Hi." She walked over. "By the way, you guys keep trying to take Mira. Which is pissing off her mother. Do you *really* want to know what Natasha is going to do to you?" The agents all looked suddenly scared when smoke started in their SUV. Dawn grinned. "Here you go, Nat. Suitably contained." She strolled off. She went back to fixing the damage to the security system the earlier ones had caused. She looked over as a limo glided up the street. "Huh." She went back to her fixing.

An older man in a nice suit got out. "Miss Summers, I must insist that you release my people."

Dawn looked at him. "Why would I have them?" She shrugged. "I'm fixing the security system they damaged earlier. This way it'll kill whoever shouldn't touch it." The man blinked at her. She went back to it. "Nat, this guy says you have to let the guys who were going to steal your daughter go."

"I doubt they will be of much use to anyone," she said. She stared at him. "Director." He backed up a step. "I am not pleased that your people have tried to get my daughter repeatedly tonight."

"She's a national asset."

"She's an infant who can barely tolerate food. She is not an asset for anyone at this point in time and I am making sure she never will be used as I was." She tipped her head slightly. "I would suggest that you leave."

"I can get an order to force you to turn her over."

"And just as easily I can take her to Asgard to grow up. We would miss the children's young lives but it's not that hard. Or we could all take a long sabbatical."

He blinked. "You can't get up there."

"The hell I can't," Dawn said dryly. "I can and if I can't, their godparents probably can since they live up there half the time." She looked over. "Beyond that, if you try to touch my kids, I'm going to bring down your whole agency if possible. If not, definitely you." She pointed at the waiting reporters who had filmed it all from behind another Stark shield. "Having good ties with the press does help us." One of the reporters smiled and waved. The director was now shaky. "Beyond that..." She pointed in the other direction. "There's NYPD people to help us prevent me from losing my shit if my daughters or son are kidnaped. Because if I lose my shit, this pretty, expensive, dirty little city and about three thousand miles around it goes up in flames and I'll *love* to watch it burn." She stared at him. "So, the ball really is in your court at the moment." She smiled slightly.

"I'm...I'm sure we can work something out."

"Sure, commit suicide and take all your nasty little childnaping idiots with you," Dawn said simply. "Then I can keep being a mom instead of the mom who destroyed the world." She smiled again. "Your choice. Because if I *have* to act, I will act."

Phil appeared, staring at her. "Your temper..." She pointed. "I saw. The alarm for magic is going off."

"Huh, imagine that since they're trying to take the kids. Me using magic against idiots. Really?" He scowled at her. She stared back. He got out of the way.

"Agent Coulson, I demand that you arrest her," the director of the NSA said.

"I don't take orders from anyone but the higher ups in SHIELD, sir." He stared at him. "Frankly, I'll have a hard enough time stopping her from destroying humanity thanks to you. It really is your choice about how she reacts at the moment." The director huffed back to his limo, which was now in tiny pieces and the driver was sitting on his seat holding the steering wheel but on the ground. Phil looked at Dawn. "Nice."

"Thank you. Totally environmentally sound too since it's been recycled to fill in the start of a pothole that area had."

"She's evil, Agent Coulson," the director said.

He stared at him. "No, she's not. She's a very pissed off mother who is protecting her children. I sincerely doubt anyone would say that she's wrong or evil to defend her children." The man glared at him. "As I said, sir, I work for SHIELD. I only take orders from them. You and your Initiative ties are not in charge there."

Joyce walked over. "Agent Coulson, please arrest this director and any of his flunkies that are left," she ordered. "Dawn, do calm down, dear."

"Trying. Not working real well."

"I understand perfectly." She smiled at her. "Try?"

"Am."

"Thank you." She looked at Phil, who walked over to arrest them. Joyce smiled at the yelling and struggling director. "My people are loyal because SHIELD isn't the sort of people to kidnap children to experiment on." He spat at her. Joyce shook her head with a sigh. "My agents have such good manners. I'm not sure why yours don't. Agent Coulson has very good manners even during hard arrests."

Phil smiled. "Saying please and thank you never hurt anyone, even during an arrest and often gets me underestimated as being too nice." He walked him over to the NYPD officers. "Can you hold him for me please?"

"Sure, Agent Coulson." They helped him arrest the others too. Within minutes the police commissioner was there to yell but Phil had a quiet word with him and he praised the officers for helping stop this situation before it got out of hand.

Dawn smiled. "That's why my kids aren't here right now. So I'd only have to kill them a little bit." The police commissioner moaned at that admission.

"Ma'am, please just kick them around a lot. Each time you shoot one you don't let justice work."

Dawn smiled. "If I have to shoot them, I'll try for non-fatally unless they've touched one of my kids or they're an imminent threat, okay?"

"That'll help," one agreed. "Why do you have three brother-in-laws?"

"The same people he oversees made Barney's first clone before the original died," Dawn said with a grin. "We've went from the original clone to two new clones. They're having a fight to see which one will be the only one. That's why we had them put into the same room." She smiled.

The officers and Phil stared at her. Then Phil looked at where Clint was waiting with a variety of weapons to snipe someone. "Don't look at me. I was going to eliminate all of them immediately. Dawn wanted a playmate."

Dawn grinned at him. "I needed a new sparring partner. I'm too used to kicking around Bucky."

"You are," he agreed.

Phil looked at her. "We'll start sparing again, Dawn." She grinned at him for that. "Can you please finish calming down?"

"We'll see." She went back to tinkering with the alarm system. "There. NYPD guys, push the button for you guys. It won't shock you. Run your badge or ID card under it first." They nodded they'd pass that on. "Fire and ambulance is the same way. The rest is still a fingerprint coded system and if you're not in it and not carrying one of you guys' identification methods, it'll shock them pretty hard. Like a taser only in your hand." She walked over to the SUV, helping Natasha get the lock undone so they could haul them out since they were holding the doors shut. The officers took them too. Another SUV came roaring around the corner and Dawn looked then threw out a shield device. They avoided it. She tossed another. They avoided it. She threw up a magical wall across the whole street and they tried to avoid it but it attacked and bit the engine in two. She smiled. "Hi. Welcome to our party." Clint shot at one trying to escape, getting him in the kneecap. "That's two, dear. Are we keeping count?"

"Nope. Not tonight. We'll keep count at the range."

"Sure. This weekend?"

"Definitely." He smirked at her. "You still need a nap, Dawn."

"Well, yeah, but yay. I'll get one soon I'm sure." She smiled at the guys in that SUV as they got hauled out. "Awww, and it's the local FBI guys who refuse to answer any calls at Stark Towers because we pointed out that they had bad guys. Who's the bad guy," she said in baby talk. "Are you a bad guy? You're so cute as a bad guy." One growled and lunged at her so she kicked him in the chest with her stiletto heels. The tip nicely made a brilliant cut on his throat and the heel itself embedded into his chest. She had to take off the shoe and pull it out with a sucking noise. The guy fell down crying. "Well, you ran and pushed against the heel, dude. What did you expect to happen when a sharp, pointy thing is aimed at your chest and you run at it?" She dropped the shoe to put it back on.

The police commissioner looked at his people. "Clean this up before the press hears," he ordered quietly. They pointed at the filming reporters. "Why?" he complained.

Dawn grinned. "So they can't wiggle out of it. This way people quit trying to take my kids. They get the scoop of the century about bad agents and bad agency directors. We have proof when it goes to trial. No one can say I was too mean and tortured them this time. Unlike the last one. Though I didn't. I just made fun of him a lot." The reporters all laughed. "I did!"

"We heard," one called. "We think it was sweet and that Philip did his make up for him."

"Philip was so worried he had gotten it wrong and made him not pretty," Dawn said with a grin for them. "He pouted and everything. I had to assure him that the guy was very pretty and he'd look adorable when he went to Rikers Island. He got all sorts of happy."

One of the officers coughed. "I've seen someone do that to a child molester once too. Gen pop loved their makeup job." The commissioner stared at him. "Few years back, sir."

"I remember hearing. Thought it was amusing myself but illegal." He gave him a pointed look. The officer quit laughing and smiling in front of the press. "Can we have them, Miss Summers?"

"Ask the director for SHIELD and Agent Coulson."

"Mrs. Banner?" he asked with a smile.

"I think it'd be great if you used your holding cells. They'd probably not try to break them out of yours, even if they would with ours."

"I'd say use the hell carrier's but they might try anyway and you'd have to shoot down multiple expensive aircraft the US might need," Dawn said.

Natasha nodded. "The new targeting systems are quite good." She glanced up at Clint, who gave her a wry look back. "You could still probably find a way around them."

"Have twice. His agents aren't as good as I am."

Dawn floated him down to kiss him. "No, they're not. They're agents and you're clearly a *special* agent." She winked and put him back then walked off happier. She threw a fireball at the new SUV. It exploded then sucked back into itself. It ended up the size of a nice campfire. "That'll melt and seal in the limo's contribution to filling in that pothole that was starting." She smiled at the NYPD commissioner. "That way the street's safer."

"It is," he agreed with a smile. "Helps a bit with the budget when we don't have to fill them in."

Dawn grinned. "I love helping with Stark's budgets. They're so complex and meaty sometimes."

"Come help me with mine tomorrow?" her mother begged.

"Sure, Mom. After work?"

"That'll be fine. I can watch the babies while you show my new assistant how to do things."

Another van started to come up the street but paused. They all stared at it. They threw a body out and zipped off. The officers called it in so their waiting backup went after it. They got the young woman untied and to the ER. The backup cruisers got the van within two blocks. So that was another win for the good guys.

Dawn sighed, smiling at the commissioner. "If I had a way of making sure they never came near us again, I would. Unfortunately I don't know how to do a secret keeper sort of spell to hide the house."

"We hate moving," Natasha added.

"We can ask that Xander that's a Weasley," Phil said. "I'll have Xander ask him how hard it is." A few minutes later Xander showed up with a slip of paper. The officers all had a good shudder in between. So did the Commissioner.

"Will that affect emergency services getting to her?" one of the officers asked.

"We hope not," Clint said. "If so, we can let the whole NYPD in on the secret as well as the FDNY."

"If that would stop this, I'm all for it," the commissioner said. Dawn and Xander cast the spell together then Dawn wrote down the message for those who'd get it tonight. He read it and suddenly the building reappeared to him. "That worked well. I'll make sure every officer in the local precincts reads it, Miss Summers. Thank you for not being lethal."

"If they had touched my kids, all bets are off."

"I understand and I'd do the same thing." He walked off with the officers and the prisoners.

Clint came down and got the same message. So did Natasha, and they posted it on Beya's door so she could read it. They'd tell it to the kids so they could see the building. The press....not getting it. They pouted but they had gotten a great story earlier. Joyce and Phil got it. That helped and they all settled in. Phil could hand out notes to those who needed it in the morning since Dawn had the morning off.

Clint took both wives inside, taking the time to strip them off carefully so he could check them for injuries. When all he found was a few bruises he kissed each inch of undamaged skin, licking over the bruises. Dawn whimpered. Natasha moaned. Clint stared at Natasha. "Do you want first or second?"

"Second," she moaned. "I'll help you with Dawn."

"Sure. I adore having help since she's so wiggly."

"Let me pee," Dawn said. "Then I'll be wiggly?" They smirked at her. She ran to pee, clean up really well, then went to make sure the bed was ready for a sexual romp.

Clint pushed her onto the bed, looking her over. "Hmm. Decisions decisions....." Dawn shifted so she could roll over. "That's a nice choice." He leaned down to kiss her belly button. Dawn wiggled some but Natasha stopped that by making Dawn focus on her needs. Soon Dawn's moans were muffled by the warmth and heaviness of Natasha's body and Clint was doing the same thing to Dawn. It was definitely time to be wiggly and teasing. Dawn shot Clint a vision of him riding Dawn while licking Natasha. He apparently liked that. He surged up and thrust into her, pushing Natasha over so he could lick her with Dawn's help. Natasha squealed, a rare sound they loved to hear. Dawn shot over another suggestion of them both riding Nat at the same time, the way they did to Dawn sometimes. Clint smirked evilly at her. "That's dirty," he said.

Dawn blew a kiss at him. "Yes, it is." Clint laughed and got off Dawn, pushing Natasha down so he could work on her to ease her into a dirty mood. Dawn got the strap on and put it on.

Natasha looked over once but Clint distracted her. She didn't realize what they were doing until she felt something cool and slick enter her. She shifted but Clint kept teasing her and it was good so she didn't fight it. Then something blunter and warmer slid into her ass. She gasped but it was slow and gently applied. Clint pushed into her body while Dawn was using her backside. That...made her head spin. They had done this to Dawn but not to her. She gasped as she was filled. Clint kissed her hard, making her head spin from lack of oxygen. Then it was a wave of riding her, moving her, rocking her body to try to catch the apex of the thrusts but they weren't in synch. "Dawn, rhythm," she begged.

Dawn kissed her neck, nibbling on it. "I have rhythm, Nat. Clint's off-rhythm." She nibbled some more, marking Natasha subtly. Natasha arched up as Clint hit her g-spot and Dawn teased her clit. "See? We like driving you nuts."

"I am," she said in Russian.

"Good," Dawn answered. "Totally break, 'Tasha. We want to see you turn gooey."

Natasha fought it a bit but they were good to her. She was open, she was lost in the sea of motion, she couldn't feel her feet or in what position she was in. They were making her simply experience it. It was great. She came apart, sobbing as she came. Clint and Dawn held her, comforting her, calming her down. All she wanted was more but they'd give it to her. Dawn heard that thought and gently stroked over her clit, easing her down from the peak she was on. Natasha finally went limp. "Dawn. Clint."

"Just us," he agreed, kissing her. "All us, 'Tasha." She smiled and kissed them both. "Still need more?"

"No, I need soft and gentle." He chuckled and let Dawn pull out to clean off the toy while he rode her into the nap she needed. She went limp a few minutes later and fell asleep within breaths.

Clint looked at Dawn, who had just pulled a throw blanket over Natasha's sweaty body. "Hmm. What to do now."

"I guess that depends on if you're tired or not. If you are, I could take a toy into the tub."

He pulled her against him, kissing her hard. "I'm not too tired, Dawn." She smiled. "I'm kinda energized really." He patted her on the butt. "Want to be head down in the pillows on your face or your back?"

She kissed him and nuzzled his ear with her lips. "Whatever you want, husband." Clint moaned and shivered a bit. Dawn knew he loved the possessive times she prompted in him. She leaned down to lick his cock clean, making him groan and arch up a bit. "Such a pretty thing."

Clint hauled her up and put her onto her back. "Sore?"

"No. Not at the moment." She smiled. "Are you going to change that on me?"

"Yes." He stared down her body. "Hmm. We haven't played in a while."

"I haven't heard a single growl."

"Oh, I'm sure you'll hear some," he assured her, staring at her lower half. He gave in to his need to taste her, licking up all the pretty juices she had spilled while riding Nat. Her feet went over his shoulders and he pulled her hips off the bed to get a better depth and angle. She wiggled and moaned but he wanted more than that. Maybe some mutual pleasure. To strap her down or not? All he had to do was offer her his cock and she'd suck his brains out if he asked. He decided he wanted to play a bit. "How about a bet for tomorrow's clothes?"

"Meeting at two I have to be appropriately dressed for," she panted. He gave her a casual lick. "Don't have to go in until eleven."

Clint smiled. "That's good." She shivered as he took another lick. "You get me off before I get you off and I get to pick your clothes. If I get you off first I get to pick your clothes?"

She smiled. "You can pick my clothes as long as I look good, Clint."

"I never make you look ugly, Dawn."

"Not what I meant. There's actually a line in the company dress code that says panties have to be worn."

He hummed. "That's interesting." He leaned into Dawn's body to lick her harder. Dawn loved it all ways but sometimes she wanted it a bit rougher. Tonight was looking like one of those. He nibbled on her hood, shaking his head a bit.

"Too hard," she squealed, arching up into it. He licked it in apology and went back to teasing her. "Clint!"

He smiled. "Yes?"

"More?"

"Of course I'm giving you more. I'm greedy and I haven't touched this for weeks." He let her back down onto the bed, staring at her body. She had a few bruises from sparring earlier in the week and earlier that night. She was starting to sweat and she looked like a goddess. He shot her a fantasy of her on an altar being ridden as a sacrifice. She stared back, smiling slightly and sent one back of her in Clint's workroom on the table where he worked on his arrows. "That's a fitting altar," he agreed, kissing her. "Tomorrow?"

"After the kids are down."

He hummed. "I could like that." He nuzzled one breast, gently teasing a nipple. Dawn pushed up against his lips but he kept teasing. Natasha liked things rougher but secretly wanted to be teased. Dawn got teased a lot because it drove her nuts, but she really wanted to be claimed. Clint could usually handle that but he wanted something different tonight. He kissed her. "I want to rock you so hard you beg," he said quietly, staring at her. "And I'm debating what to do."

She kissed him and ran a fingertip around his cheek. "You always do, so whatever you want to do is great for me. Primal you, normal you, happy, slutty boy you. It's all great."

He grinned. "I like that you enjoy most everything I do." He let his weight rest on her for a few minutes while they kissed. Dawn was inhaling his essence again. "Anything you desperately wanted to try?"

"No." She smiled. "I'm not really into knives or whips or anything. Biting sometimes but you like it when I do that."

He grinned. "I do, until you drink the blood."

"Blood is a life's water, Clint. Blood is special. It's nurturing like mother's milk for adults." He moaned, getting a bit harder. "So I'm tasting the essence of you when I do that." She kissed him and sucked on his bottom lip. He groaned and shifted. "Primal you did the same thing with that hickey."

"I guess he did." He kissed her again and moved his head down to her chest, sucking a bit on the side of her left breast. The time he had gone primal on her he had marked the other side. This time it was all on him. Dawn shifted and wiggled a bit as he sucked but she was right. The blood that barely came up was energizing. It was salty like his come. It was sweet like her. He stared up at her, licking over it. She leaned up and bit him on the chest, making him hiss and tense up. Then she licked it clean. She knew he liked it a bit rough. The licking just made it better. He kissed her, liking the tastes she had. "Okay, I get that." He groaned as he shifted again. "I'm not sure where I want to plant this dick of mine."

Dawn grinned. "I saw the mental 69. If that's what you want, I can help you with that. You know I adore your tongue."

He considered it then shifted the down the bed so he could flip around comfortably. He could feel that touch of primal being coming up. Dawn was definitely drawing it out tonight. He had a lot of fun licking Dawn while she sucked and played with his cock. She was getting wiggly, he was getting desperate, then Dawn groaned around him and he snapped, nipping her by accident. She yelped but pressed up into his mouth. "Dawn," he moaned. She sucked harder on his cock, making him shiver. "You're about to get pounced," he warned.

"I love being pounced. Let him out, Clint. Primal you probably does a really good job licking too." He looked back at her and she nibbled on the circumcision line just below the head. If that's what she wanted, he could lose all control for a bit. He let his instincts take over. Dawn's mouth was more than able to handle him thrusting harder and deeper. She moaned over it. His primal urges to claim Dawn by making sure she only tasted like him was strong. He held it back some but Dawn shrieked into his cock when he dove into her with his tongue and fingers. It might've had to do with him having two fingers up her ass while his tongue was busy with her pussy, but maybe not. He was really getting into it, thrusting hard. Working himself off so Dawn only tasted like him. He got shoved by Natasha, growling at her.

"She needs to breathe, Clint."

"I could," Dawn protested.

"I'd rather watch him claim you on your knees, Dawn." Dawn shivered but got to her knees. Clint growled a pleased sound and licked her again. She liked that. It felt tighter to them both. He finally pushed his way inside, setting a brutally hard pace. He wasn't near ready yet. Natasha shifted over to tease his balls and ass, making him kiss her but push her over. Natasha let him do whatever they wanted. Dawn had wanted primal Clint. She could be sore in the morning because of it. Clint rode Dawn through a few bouts of energetic yelling. She finally fell onto her front, which let Clint bite her on the ass cheek with a pleased noised. Natasha got pounced. "I'm sore," Natasha said.

"No you're not. You're pretending to be sore," he said in her ear before biting one of her nipples fairly hard. Natasha wilted and opened up for him, letting him pounce. She didn't want him to mark her as his. He sucked a nice mark on her side anyway, avoiding the swat she gave him for it. She moaned as she finally let go and went limp again. "Now you're sore from me." He kissed her, then looked at Dawn. "Hmm." He kissed Natasha again and moved back to Dawn, licking up her back. Dawn smiled back at him. "Sore?"

"Not yet." He made a pleased growling noise and pulled back to lick her again. She tasted like him. He liked that. She needed to taste more like him. He pushed back in, nibbling on her back.

"Clint," Dawn moaned, pushing back against him. "Please?"

"Of course." He rode her hard, nipping at her sides and lower back to put pretty little marks on her. Others wanted his wife and he didn't share very well. He sat back on his heels and pulled her into his lap. "Ride me, Dawn. Make me beg."

Dawn looked back at him. "I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't." Dawn smiled and they were suddenly floating, feeling like they were on a soft platform. Clint gave her an amused look but it let Dawn fully settle herself in his lap, legs straddling him. It brought him so deep into her that he could barely thrust. "That's nice." Dawn turned around and replanted herself on him, kissing him. She raised a hand to touch his cheek, letting him feel her. He growled and pushed up harder. She kissed him, then leaned over to bite him again. He yelped but it just made him harder.

She looked up as she licked his blood, smiling at him. That got her put onto her back and he pounded into her, nipping her again. His mark was gone and he had to fix that. At one point she screamed in pleasure but he liked that too. He was nearly there, nearly ready to come, to mark her with his scent. He thrust as hard and as deep as he could, blasting most of it in there but then pulled his dick out to pour the rest on the marks he had made. She whimpered but stroked through it, tasting it. He growled and kissed her. She let them back onto the bed, letting him help her mark herself. Clint started to shiver so Dawn got them covered and snuggled.

Natasha smiled over Clint's arm. "That was adorable."

Dawn grinned back. "I love him in a claiming mood, or really any mood."

Natasha smiled. "I adore watching you two together." Dawn smiled and snuggled in, taking Nat's hand to hold. That would work for tonight. Clint was already deeply asleep. Dawn was tired so they'd get up late in the morning. Maybe Natasha would indulge in some waking up sex.

***

Tony didn't read the paper until he got to Dawn's. Then he read it and suddenly the house appeared. He walked in, noticing the changes to the security system's panel. He went up. "How did you make a spell off a movie and book work?" he demanded.

Dawn grinned. "We asked the Xander that's married to a Weasley. He teaches demonology at Hogwarts."

Tony got this look on his face like he was either trying not to crap himself due to the sudden bout of diarrhea or his brain was twisting itself in knots. Dawn wasn't sure which. She got him sitting down. Finally Tony moaned and shook his head. "Why me?" Tony muttered.

Dawn kissed him on the temple. "At least you're not married to Xander, boss."

"Thank you!" Tony shouted, waking the girls. "Sorry."

"They were due up anyway," Clint complained. He walked into their nursery. "Where's Mira?"

"Probably in Philip's room where he carried her?" Dawn guessed with a point. "While you were in the shower. He was explaining undies to her because she wouldn't quit fussing while I made breakfast."

Clint walked in there, finding her happily cooing. "Did your brother steal you? That was very nice of him." He came out to find his son finally out of the bathroom and babbling at Uncle Tony about his poop. "Son," he said. "Some things you're not supposed to share."

"Etta say sharing good." He grinned. "Right, Uncle Tony?"

"Most of the time." Philip hugged him and looked at his father, pointing and grunting at his sister. "I think it's adult cuddling time."

"Okay. Want Lexi?"

"I have her," Natasha said, going in to pick her up. She changed her and brought her out, taking the bottle from Dawn. "There, we'll eat." She settled in to feed her. Lexi slurped and kicked, wiggling happily. Mira was in a pouty mood but she liked her bottle too. She proved it by trying to pee on Clint.

Clint stared down at her. "Thanks, dear. Really."

"Someone in Hollywood could probably be convinced that's a great skin treatment," Dawn quipped with a grin as she sipped her water. "There's a spa where you can get barely legal guys to do the same thing on you." Tony shook his head quickly. "Sorry, boss. Pepper almost made that mistake but I asked what that treatment was." She finished her water and put the glass in the dishwasher.

Tony stood up. "Eleven, right?"

"I'll be there at eleven and the meeting's at two," she agreed with a grin. "Go find a way to negate magic with science, boss."

"Yes, thank you I think I will." He went to complain to Bruce, and call Rodney to complain to him too. It was just *wrong* that they had a Xander that lived in the Harry Potter verse. Especially when John pointed out there were two, the other was a curse breaker and book nerd.

Dawn winked at Clint. "What am I wearing today?"

"Big boy panties?" Philip asked, grinning at her.

"Big girl panties definitely." She kissed him on the head. "I don't often get to steal Daddy's panties to wear." Philip giggled and stole Lexi from his favorite mommy to feed her. He cooed and let them help by propping her on some pillows. That made her happier.

Dawn walked into the bedroom, looking in her closet. "All the clothes are in LA. Be right back." She popped home, finding her niece Diana staring in her closet with a pout. "What's up?" She found a few things she could wear today. Nothing too risque.

"I need a dress for dance class."

"Showy, flirty?"

"Yes. And she *still* has me with Sean. I really should complain to someone."

Dawn smiled and gave her a hug. "Look at her and ask when she expected you to do the smutty dances to entice your brother into giving up women for good."

"Have. Sean too."

Dawn sighed. "I'll call her later?" Diana squealed and hugged her. "What sort of dance?"

"Has to be swingy, her words, and I need heels."

Dawn looked in her formal closet, finding one. "Not very swinging by it'll do for most of them. Heels." She handed over her backup credit card. "Go find some." Diana grinned and took the dress with her. It was long on Dawn and she had never gotten it hemmed. It should fit Diana at about cocktail length. Dawn looked in her closet, picking out one last thing. Then she took them home.

Clint picked out one. "And a jacket. Stockings." Dawn smiled and went to get that outfit ready. "What took so long?"

"Their dance teacher is making them dress up for some reason and she's still keeping Diana with Sean, which is creeping them out."

"I'll call her later," Natasha said.

"I said I would," Dawn said, coming out pulling up her hair.

"I can. I'm not doing much today." Dawn kissed her and went down to answer whoever had just rang the intercom. She looked at the officer then at Beya. "That's why we posted the note on your door."

"I didn't read it. I was half asleep." She smiled at the officer. "Thank you."

"Welcome." He walked off blushing.

Dawn closed the door. "Aww, he was flirty."

Beya poked her on the arm. "He has no idea I'm a widow." She went to read the note on her door. It told her the address. "Is this like in that book?"

"Yup. We got it from a Xander that's a Weasley."

"Interesting." She went outside. Now she could see the building. She went back to her room to put up her new shampoo and soap then went to get the kids. "Come. We'll go work on things."

"Help Etta and Caro workbooks?" Philip asked.

She smiled. "We can do that, yes." He cheered and danced around. She got them together for the daycare and brought them, staying in there to help. Miss Nancy was good but she was even better with the children.

Dawn came out in her bra, panties, and stockings.

"Thong?" Clint suggested.

"It'll show, dear."

"Pity." She kissed him, leaning against his chest. He groaned but she handed him a slim tube. "I can put stuff on the nibble marks."

Dawn grinned. "It won't make them fade but it'll make one quit itching." He laughed and smoothed it over all of them. She did his chest since it did itch, then she made sure she was dried off so she could put on her dress and heels. Clint moaned. That dress was body hugging in the right way. Dawn looked amazing in the stretchy ribbon dress. The jacket overtop of it was a bit different but Natasha made her change. That one worked better and they all left for Stark.

***

Tony heard something from Pepper's office bathroom and paused to listen. "No, Clint, not that spot, the other spot. Please?" The sound of a moan. "Your fingers are godly." Clint laughing. Tony was wincing. Dawn was having sex in Pepper's bathroom. She just let out another loud moan and then a yelp after the sound of a light swat. He could hear clothes being moved and sighed. Pepper would giggle but he couldn't let that precedent settle in. He knocked sharply on the door and opened it. "Guys?" Dawn had her dress up around her stomach and Clint had his shirt unbuttoned but he was smoothing some sort of cream or salve on what looked like bite marks. "Do I want to know? I thought I was going to have to have the 'no sex at work' talk, Dawn."

"No, boss," she said, trying not to blush. "He's just putting on some anti-itch stuff." She closed the door.

Tony walked off because Dawn and Clint had just both moaned. He'd tell Pepper, let her talk to Dawn about that rash of bite marks on her back. He pulled her out of the caf to hiss in her ear.

Pepper smiled. "Dawn likes to bite him."

"They're on her. They're using your bathroom."

"I guess that's fine. I'll ask her about them later. Especially since it looked like Clint dressed her this morning." She went back to her lunch then upstairs. "Dawn?" she asked as she walked past her desk. She came out of the file room. She motioned her closer, looking at her back. "Ow."

"It was good."

"Clearly he was hungry?"

Dawn blushed but shrugged. "Growling. I like possessive, growling Clint. And he tastes good."

"I'm sure he does." She stared at her. "You were doing what?" she hissed, pulling her into her office.

Dawn closed the door and let her see her lower back. "The big one on the left itches. He was putting on some anti-itch stuff."

Pepper was blushing. "Wow, he was really hungry." Dawn blushed brighter and put down her dress again. She stared at the younger woman. "Whose idea was that?"

"Mine."

"Okay. I won't say a word, but do it before a day off?"

"I don't have one of those this week. I did have the morning off."

"I noticed you haven't sat since you got here," Pepper said with a grin.

Dawn moaned and shivered. "He went a bit primal but it was so good, Pepper. Clint's just a god at it."

Pepper was now blushing more red. "I know that feeling but Steve doesn't nibble and Tony would never even think about biting."

"There's a specialness that comes with sharing that sort of thing." She shrugged. "I've gotten him a few times. Last night was the first time he'd really nibbled on me."

Pepper nodded, smiling and blushing so hot she could tell without looking. "That's great, Dawn. Want Sunday off?"

"We're going to be on the way to Chicago for that meeting."

"I forgot." She looked at her schedule. "That's going to interfere with a meet Callia has."

"They're the persnickety, dangerous sort."

"Oh, them. That figures."

"I'll make sure after the meeting. Right after I check on Benji?"

"Go for it." Dawn smiled and went down to check on him. Pepper sat down to check over her schedule for the next week. She didn't have a day off for three weeks either. Damn it!

Dawn strolled into the infirmary, kissing Aaron on the temple. "Feeling better?"

"Much. Thanks, Dawn. You look nice today."

She grinned. "I let Clint pick what I wore today." He laughed. She kissed Benji on the temple, waking him up. "Did you get lunch? I can get you something."

"I got some soup." He looked at her. "Is that a hickey I see, Dawn Summers?"

She blushed but nodded. "Possibly." He stared in open mouthed shock. She shrugged. "I'm tasty as well as flirty." He burst out laughing and she had to help him sit up so he wouldn't choke. "It's all right. I'm sorry I startled you that way."

He hugged her. "You're still like my sister but I don't think any sister of mine would ever get into kinky things like hickeys." She patted him on the back. He laid back, staring at her. "Don't you have stuff to do today?"

"Of course. There's ten million things I could be doing." He smiled. "I'll check on you before we go home. Make sure you get some dinner." He nodded. She tucked him back in and patted him on the hand. "Behave. Don't startle the nurses too much, they're new." She smiled at the nearest one.

"Um, should we maybe have a talk about preventative things?" she asked delicately.

Dawn stared at her. "What?"

"Is your partner perhaps a bit stringent?" she asked quietly.

"No!" Dawn shook her head with a smile. "Honey, I bit Clint last night. He just helped himself to me being tasty." The nurse squeaked. "I'm not ashamed of how good Clint is. Or how good Natasha is." She shrugged and smiled. "But thank you for worrying. If you ever need it, I keep a list of people and places to refer people to. Including a link to the domestic shelter that does male abuse survivors and one that takes in families."

"I didn't know there was one," Aaron said.

Dawn nodded. "And a need for more. Usually people joke about it but it's just as common." He nodded he could see that. "Unfortunately there's only one shelter in the city for them." She looked at the nurse. "By the way, I'm the senior assistant, Pepper's PA." The nurse smiled and nodded. "If you need things, you let me know. I take all your orders for stuff and if you can't get maintenance to handle things you let me know."

"I can do that. Are you sure...." She pointed at the hickey. "That looks a bit...disturbing."

"No, it's just a hickey." She smiled. "I liked it." She nodded and went to talk to the doctor. Dawn and Benji shared a look then Dawn left to hit the bathroom before her meeting. She'd share that tidbit with Pepper on the way in so she could stop herself from laughing if that nurse brought it to her attention.

***

Tony walked into the gym and paused. Natasha was having Bucky look at a bruise on her back. "Did he get you too?" Tony huffed.

"He was a bit primal last night. I normally wouldn't let him mark me but he was playful." She looked over. "You should see Dawn's back."

"I did. I thought they were having sex in Pepper's bathroom and broke it up." He scowled. "Want me to have his teeth pulled out?"

"I believe Dawn would probably gut you for that," she said, putting down her shirt.

"I worried because she said that spot was sore," Bucky said. Clint came out of the changing area. "You did a number on her."

Clint smiled. "Good. I like me in a possessive mood." He kissed Natasha until she moaned then walked off. "Sparring, Nat?"

"I was going to use the machines." She stared at his back. "Jealous showoff," she said in Russian.

Clint paused long enough for Dawn to translate for him then looked at her and shrugged. "This is news?" He grinned.

"Not really," she sighed, going to the machines to work out.

Tony watched her walk then looked at Clint. "How many vitamins do you take a day?"

"Good clean living, Stark," he said with a smile. "And a wiggly Dawn." Natasha moaned and nodded. "Dawn is the fountain of naughty, hard sexual gratification."

Tony actually blushed as he walked off. "Mine's Pepper." He slammed the gym's door but he was pouty and he knew that.

Clint grinned, moving to the heavy bag to work against it.

"That was mean," Natasha said.

"Pepper needs more pouncing."

"Hmm, yes she probably could. She's perkier and has better skin and hair when she's getting him regularly."

"So do you, Nat," Clint joked. She threw something at him and he tossed it back without looking. She huffed but went back to her workout.

Bucky was now blushing. "I don't need to know, guys. I'm not used to such wild girls." Natasha kicked him. "You didn't used to let anyone kiss you on the lips, Natasha."

"That got broken when we were on a mission and he had to because we were pretending to be swingers," Natasha said dryly. Clint shot her a grin. "I spent a lot of time attached to his mouth." Bucky let out a moan as he walked off. "Sorry."

"No, it's good for you to be so happy." He went down to his apartment to sulk. Natasha was still his ideal woman but she was clearly taken. She would've killed him if he had marked her that way.

Clint stared at her. "He's pouting," he said quietly.

"I will talk with him in a few minutes."

"We like you guys being friends. You don't have enough of them," Clint said. He went back to his workout. She went down to Bucky's apartment to comfort him. Though Bucky did kiss her Clint didn't rush down to pound his head in. Natasha handled it gently and soothed him. He was less pouty but sulking that he couldn't win her back. He'd snap out of it and find his own version of happiness. Clint's were both going to drive him nuts today because they both looked very sexy and he was still in a mood. Maybe Dawn wouldn't mind paying that fine for sex in a closet? Natasha finally came back up so he kissed her on the nose, making her swat him with a snort but go back to her workout. "Some day he'll find his version of Dawn."

"I hope she's less fashionable. Bucky would never put up with that." She smiled. "But perky and nice would be good for him. He has seen too much darkness."

"Athena's single again."

"Did she finally kill the last husband?"

"Yup."

"Huh. I'll call her later. See if she would like to meet him. He tried to kill her once but didn't manage it." She set up the machine and got back to working on her arms.

Clint straddled her hips, pushing the weights up so he could stare down at her. "Our anniversary is in three weeks. I checked the calendar on my phone." She smiled. "What special thing are we doing?"

"I would leave that up to Dawn. She has arranged the best of the other ones."

He smiled. "I could like that. What if she wants to do something really mushy?"

"I can see my way into some levels of mush. I'll ask her later."

"Sure. Let me know if we have to make any special arrangements or buy new handcuffs since ours are all broken." He let her control the push bar again and went to his own machines.

56: Old Ones In Limbo

Philip's becoming a big boy with big boy questions, even though he and Chris are sometimes a bit odd. There's another group with a plan against Dawn, or maybe it's the same ones but they're now working together. Heavy R for an attack at the end of the story.

Natasha moved up behind Dawn while she was doing a last diaper change before they headed home from the tower. "Clint wanted to know if you have plans set up yet for our anniversary?" she asked in her ear, earning a shiver.

Dawn smiled back at her and finished snapping Mira's clothes back up. "Not yet. I'm waiting to see if that Hong Kong trip is going to happen or not."

"Hmm. If not?"

"Then we unfortunately might have one in Saudi Arabia and I'd have to stay home but be virtually there instead." She turned to kiss her. "I don't want to put myself in that sort of danger."

"I agree," she said. "What about when you're free?"

"It'll have to be the day before or the week after. We've all got a day off scheduled in there for recovery time." She smiled. "And I have an idea but I doubt you'd let me do it."

"You do not know that until you ask."

"You balked at any of it before."

"Hmm. We will talk about it later." She picked up Lexi, letting Dawn get Mira. "Philip?" Miss Nancy, the daycare worker, pointed at the closet. "Why?"

"Not sure but he's not upset."

Dawn knocked on the closet. "Go 'way," Philip called. "Having quiet time!"

Dawn opened the door. "Wouldn't you rather have quiet time at home? Why are you looking at that?"

Philip scowled. "Mommies are girls! Girls no see Philip naked!" Miss Nancy choked.

Dawn shrugged. "We'll talk about what you think you're doing at home, son. C'mon." He straightened himself out and she wiped his hands off, checking the closet. "What were you doing?"

"Having quiet time!" He pouted at her. "Mean."

"Don't start," Dawn warned but she was smiling.

"See Grandpa?"

"I don't know what Grandpa and Grandma are doing tonight." He found her phone and called Grandma, babbling at her. "Mom, he wanted some Bruce time," she said next to the phone. "I wasn't sure if he'd have time to see why my son was partially naked in the closet or not." Philip smiled and handed her the phone. "Yeah, really." She listened. "You sure? Because I know you guys need private time." She laughed. "Sure, Bruce has been hiding. Thanks, Mom." She hung up. "We'll go check with Grandpa Bruce." Philip cheered and bounced around them. "Elevator." He ran for it, pushing the up button. Grandpa had to be in the labs if Grandma wasn't home. Dawn got them to Bruce's lab, knocking on the window before they walked in.

Bruce smiled at them. "Such pretty lab assistants can only make the science reveal itself easier." Dawn swatted him on the arm. "What do I owe the pleasure of this visit to?"

Dawn pointed at Philip. "He wanted Grandpa time and Mom said to ask you."

"Why did you want to spend time with me? I'm not doing anything exciting today."

"Need Grandpa Bruce time," he said, blinking up at him. "Pwease?" he begged.

Bruce hugged him. "How about we have a few hours then you go home?" Philip beamed and nodded, cuddling him. Dawn hissed in his ear. "That's ... okay."

"I have the feeling it's connected since he asked for you right after I found him."

"Sure, we can talk about that. Come get him for bedtime."

"Sure. Thanks, Stepdad." She and Natasha walked out with the babies.

Bruce waited until they were gone to look at Philip. "Why were you in the closet?"

"Needed quiet time like Daddy has with Mommies."

He pulled him up into his lap. "Why did you need quiet time?"

"Why I different?"

"From what?"

"Chris."

Bruce blinked. "I almost expected to give Chris this talk like I did Callia." Philip grinned; he loved being compared to Callia. She was smart and pretty like he wanted to be. "Well, that's kinda complicated but some boys have that stuff on the end of their peepees and some don't. It depends on the parents having them trimmed."

"Why?"

"That's a really complex thing," he sighed. "You know how much you have to clean that?" He nodded slowly, staring at him. "Boys who have had the surgery like Chris did don't have to clean that way."

"Oooh?"

"Slightly, yeah." He kissed him on the head. "We'll talk about it after we get dinner in the caf." Philip squealed and hugged him around the neck. "I like you too, little guy." He took him to the caf so they could eat. They ran into a pouty Tony. "What's happened?"

"My daughter's a smartass shrew." He stabbed a potato.

"Liz or Callia?" Bruce asked handing him Philip so he could get their dinners.

"Need 'roni," Philip reminded him loudly. "Pwease, Grandpa Brucie?"

"If they have some." One of the cooks nodded, getting him some. Bruce smiled back. He swiped his card and brought their dinners back to the table.

"Liz. She told me I was bad and a slut."

Bruce took Philip to sit him in the booster seat. "How did she learn that word?"

"Mommy Pepper and Dawn were talking about a slut in the news," he said dryly. "She decided I'm one too. She called me it in front of the interview I did earlier."

"You gave all that up. The reporters know that."

"I hope so. Still isn't right." Philip waited until Bruce sat down to eat. "Very nice manners, Philip. Thank you." Philip smiled with his mouth full of half-chewed food. "Mouth closed." He chewed and sipped his drink then went back to it. "What's with him?"

"He had the same question that Callia had that time. I'm almost amused it wasn't Chris that had it first."

Tony winced. "The circumcision one?" he muttered. Bruce nodded. "Great."

"Had quiet time but Mommy 'rupted," Philip told him. "That's mean."

"It is," Tony agreed with a grin. "You're too young to have quiet time though." Philip pouted. "That's for married couples."

Philip quit eating to stare at him. "Nah-uh. Girls have quiet time. Diana does. She not married. She say eww."

"Not at your age," Bruce said. Philip went back to pouting but did eat. "We'll talk about it after dinner." Philip had to be happy with that and the fact that Uncle Tony let him have dessert.

***

Clint walked into Bruce's lab. "Goddess bless Maria Hill for finding my million and one typos since no one else will," he complained. Bruce laughed, handing him the almost asleep kid. "Thanks. What was his issue?"

"He was having 'quiet time' to figure out why he wasn't circumcised like Chris is."

"His mom." Bruce grinned. "Thanks, Bruce. At least someone can fix the evil little minds to be around here."

"No, I still haven't fixed Liz."

Clint grinned. "She needs something to do like Dawn does. Imagine how Dawn would be without things to do."

"We need to start her on classwork," Bruce decided. Clint smiled and nodded, leaving him to text Stark on that plan. He had heard a rumor that Liz had come out as a glowy ball of baby, just like Lexi. Which meant that somehow she was a lot like Dawn in a few different ways. Hopefully not the flirty way but you never knew.

***

Diana looked at her dance teacher with disgust. "Excuse me?"

"It's a common move."

"So you want me to slide down my brother's body, touching his dick and all, for a *show*? How perverted are you, woman!" The teacher glared. "Goddess be damned, even Frigga couldn't come down and make me do that!" She stomped off. "Eww."

"Agreed," Sean said, heading for the changing room. "I don't want my sister anywhere near that part of me. Ever. I don't want to touch hers. I don't want to know if she has one that works. That's just...sick!" He slammed the changing room door.

"Well," the teacher huffed. She could hear Diana screaming at someone and sneered. "She'll never do this correctly."

Diana went to the athletic department's secretary to rant and complain. "You have *got* to stop that dance teacher before she forces me to do more than touch my brother in an awkward and sexual manner. Please!"

"Calm down," the secretary said. "Which coach?"

"I'm in dancing. It's an easy PE and I took it for footwork."

The secretary nodded. "Some of the basketball team did as well. What's happened?"

"I'm Diana and you've probably heard from mine and my brother's aunts, uncles, grandparents."

"I have talked to a few people about her."

"Was it about her making me do sexy, smutty style dances with my brother?"

"Yes, I believe they were."

"Today she wanted me to *slide down his front* to the point where I ended up on my knees in front of him. This is my *brother*! I don't like him like that! We've complained all semester about her and her perverted ideas of incest! Can't you do something!"

"You could have dropped."

"I'm a first semester freshman."

"Oh, no, then you couldn't."

"So's my brother."

"Ah." She stood up. "Let me talk to the head of Athletics and then we'll go talk to her."

"Thank you! All we wanted was not to be put with each other and she's seriously needing a troll hammer to the head."

The secretary smiled. "We'll see what we can do." She knocked on his door and walked in. "The dance teacher?"

"I've heard a few complaints from the basketball coach too."

"Is that because she puts them with the really short girls who in one case barely comes up to his belt line?" Diana asked from the doorway. "Or was it my relatives over being forced to do sexy, smutty things with my brother?"

"Both."

"You ever see that video about love in an elevator?"

The coach coughed. "I have. I have that song at home actually."

"Our dance class looks like that. All I wanted was a partner who wasn't my brother. I even offered to dance with one of the spare girls we had. I have no idea why she's into incest but it's really gross. I'm feeling physically slimy each time we have class and I can't do this anymore. Sean either. He had to go to a frat party after last week's class to get it out of his head."

"It is gross," he agreed, taking her and the secretary back to the gym. He paused in the doorway to watch what they were doing. "What is that?" he demanded.

"It's very popular. Don't you watch the show?" the teacher demanded, sneering at Diana. "You will never pass."

"Yay? Flunk me now if it means I don't have to look like I'm fucking my brother on a dance floor." A few of the guys laughed at that.

The secretary patted her on the back. "Calm down, dear. We'll try to resolve this problem. What is that on your back?"

Diana unhid her sword with a smile. "I have fencing and sword practice after this. My sister may have taken the formal training but Sean and I got a lot of it too and we have to stay in practice. The fencing coach is really good at helping us since we're too used to each other. I wear it to this one so I can keep my back straight instead of trying to wiggle away from Sean. Sean!" He came out of the dressing room redressed and with his sword in a tube that looked like it should hold plans. "Where did you get that?"

"Uncle Tony found it." He let her see it.

"I need one."

"You've got one coming for Yule."

"Cool." She smiled and handed it back.

The head of the Athletics department looked at the various couples and shook his head. "Ladies, let's group by height. That way some of you aren't in...compromising positions?"

"Thank you!" a few of the girls with the basketball players said. "It's really hard when she wants us to hike our hip up over his to look like we're 'tilting our blossom for his touch' as she put it."

"What?" the secretary demanded. Diana took one of the jocks and showed them that dance. She was fairly good on her feet. "I can see you did take this for footwork, dear. Watch your back one," she ordered. She blushed at one of the moves. "This isn't that stupid reality dancing show!" she told the teacher. "Our students are not here to look like they're advertising for sexual relations!"

"Mom, please, chill?" one of the basketball players begged.

"You should have told me."

He nodded. "I went to the coach. He said he'd talk to someone."

"He did," the head of the department said. "I thought it was a bit strange and turned her to the faculty board to redo her background check and things." He looked at her. "Hell no. Sorry. Fired. We don't support incest. We don't support making the kids look like they're having sex on the floor. I don't really want to see one of our top gymnasts dancing into one our power forward's belly buttons. It sets a very bad image for our sports people." She grabbed her wrap and huffed off.

One of the girls looked at him. "We were supposed to show off at some charity thing, Coach. I don't know when. That's why she made us all get fancy dresses and the heels."

Diana looked at her feet then shrugged. "If I wore the heels she wanted I'd be taller than all the boys in here." They grinned at her. She flapped a hand. "I'll gladly take anyone but Sean. Please not my brother again."

The coach shook his head. "I don't think that's a great idea either. Calm down." Sean sighed in relief and looked up to say a silent prayer to Freya. Diana did the same to Frigga. "I'll see if we can find out where she was going to be having your group dance and if we can find another instructor. You're a once-a-week class?" They all nodded. "Okay. Give me until next week." A few of the girls ran over to hug him. He smiled and took his secretary back to their office.

"When those queries about those siblings came in I did ask her and she said she had learned how to dance with her brother," the secretary said quietly. "Apparently they were the wrong sort of close after all."

"Maybe. I'm not going to speculate." She smiled at him. "Figure out what charity event." She nodded, calling a few people who kept track of those things. He called a dance company near the college to see if they had anyone who knew about ballroom dancing and if not, who would. He found out the charity event, which made him wince. It wasn't a good one. She found out the same thing. "We'll do a fundraising one. Put on a spectacle of our non-traditional sports," he decided quietly. "The dance school up the street only does ballet but they know someone who does ballroom and they'll call her. I told her what had happened and she not only laughed, she apologized for her."

"I think she needs to make her own apologies." She left, going back to her desk. She would not wonder why the dance teacher was doing a charity benefit for a group that was known to be promiscuous and not picky about things like ages. Even the people at Hustler and Playboy thought this group was full of degenerate losers. It definitely wasn't someone the college wanted to be associated with. She passed along a note to the president of the college's secretary so she could give him warning if it came out in the press.

"I was going to his open house tonight," he called from his desk.

"I warned his secretary."

"That'll help." He came out putting on a jacket with a tie around his neck. "I'll see you tomorrow as long as I don't die from boredom."

"Look at all the cheer you'll get to spread. Our president will finally get some color in his cheeks," she said with a smile. He laughed, heading to the president's house. She typed up a memo to all the other staff about that class being excused for the week due to the teacher being let go. It was more polite than 'we shoved her out the door and kicked it shut' that she wanted to put but she had to be polite and subtle.

The head coach walked into the house, smiling at the president's wife. "Ma'am, I have to ruin your husband's temper," he said quietly.

"Did an athletics booster get caught by the NCAA?"

"Worse. But funnier."

She pointed. "He's in the kitchen doing a meatball demonstration."

He nodded, going that way. Their president was a good cook. He waited until he was done to hand him the bottle of heartburn medicine that had been on a counter. "We need to tell you something."

"That sounds horrible." He let him to his study so they could talk. The whole house heard him burst out laughing and then swearing. They decided the head coach had someone do something really stupid. Better to hear it now than in the papers in the morning.

***

Clint laid down next to Dawn that night, once Mira had *finally* went back down. "So I hear you have an idea for our anniversary?" he asked, teasing her stomach with a few fingers.

She flipped over to look at him. Nat was in the tub. She had started her cycle and she usually spent the heaviest day in there if she could to fight the cramps. "Remember when you comforted me at the ranch?" He nodded. "I..."

"You want to do that again?"

"I ... Have you talked to Phil or Xander about how they do things like make their cabin sentient?"

"No, I haven't really wanted to. I figured it was god stuff."

"Kinda. See, they go to elemental form and it's really amazing according to Xander. It's like the most special ever. They're kinda merged and it's like whatever they're doing to the other is felt by both." She captured his teasing fingers then looked up at him again. "I wanted to try that in there."

"We got flashes of each other during it just kissing."

"That's about as close as we could ever get. I know it'll change some things. It'll push scary boundaries and things, but I'd like to try just the once. It's supposed to be super special and the most amazing ever."

"Would sex after that be a let down?"

"Not according to them. They do all sorts of things without it and in it."

"Let me think about that."

"That's why I wasn't going to mention it."

He kissed her. "It sounds interesting. I wouldn't mind going back to that state. It was comforting. I heard a lot from you that you never tell or show us." She nodded she did the same from him. "Nat would freak out."

"Yeah, she didn't want to join us then." She shifted to cuddle up on his shoulder. "If not, we can plan for something after those two trips when I have a day off in there."

He kissed her on the head. "We can do that. You're not going to Saudi Arabia though."

"No, I'm not. I've scheduled a talk with Tony tomorrow about that. He should be in a good mood. Pepper's planning on pouncing him tonight. Steve's home early. The kids were all going to Grandma's." She smiled. "Joyce offered."

"Then he'll probably be a happy guy." He cuddled her, letting her wrap herself around his chest. "It does sound really interesting." She smiled against his chest. He laid there thinking about it. Just kissing had opened her up to him in ways that they had never touched before. He had seen the tiny little fears she had and the bigger ones. It had been touching and hellishly sexy at the same time. It was also scary and would probably change a lot of things. Definitely something to think about.

***

Dawn walked into Tony's lab the next day with a muffin plate for him.

"I ate breakfast," he said with a smile.

"Great but it's a bribe."

"Need a day off?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Need to skip a business trip." She sat down on a stool. He stared at her, nibbling on a muffin. "Saudi Arabia."

"That family won't come near you."

"JARVIS, please pull up the articles I found earlier?" He laid them out around Tony's head so he could look at them. "This one and this one were actual bloodline families," she said with a point. "That one just read tarot cards."

"Fuck," he said. "I didn't even think about them putting witches to death."

Dawn nodded. "And they do know. I was told they knew before I had to prove why I wasn't stepping foot over there for the trial." She handed over a letter she had gotten when she was eighteen. "I don't want to set a bad precedent of having to escape a country. I also don't want to look bad on the company when they arrest me."

Tony grimaced. "Did I know about this?"

"I showed Pepper and Gloria. I would've shown you sooner if we had something going on over there. The judge had a copy of that same letter and so did the lawyer."

"Fuck." He sat down, rereading it. He banished the news articles. He looked at her. "Work around?"

"Virtual system?"

"We might be able to make a portable system."

"We have one. It's before the Expo board. Actually, you need to hire Pepper and you both a heavy set of bodyguards and Clint's helping Clay look for you. There's people there who think you're the Anti-Christ due to being Iron Man. That you took over God's place. There's plenty of silent supporters in the higher ups for the people that took you hostage. There's more than one that hates Pepper for being a female CEO."

"So it's really not safe this time." She nodded. "Okay, when were you going to bring this up?"

"I asked Pepper if she was sure she wanted to go over there for that meeting and she huffed at me. Then I reminded her that sheik has controlling interest in the company we're making the agreement with." She rolled her eyes. "She had a meltdown. Which you calmed her down about."

"I saw that. That was last week."

"Things are being finalized this week. Pepper is adamant that nothing will happen. Ever. Not to me, not to her, not to you."

"No," he said, shaking his head. "I agree. Too much danger. JARVIS, can you ask Pepper to come down here? Pull back up those articles too." She came in a few minutes later smiling but scowled at Dawn. "Did it occur to you that the same people that kidnaped me are based there?"

"No," she sighed. "It hadn't. What're those?"

Dawn pointed. "Bloodlined witches. White side families. That one was reading tarot cards."

Pepper read them, shuddering. "I didn't even think about that." Tony held up the official letter. "Or that." She looked at Dawn. "I was having a bad day."

Dawn smiled and patted her on the arm. "We all have them." Pepper punched her on the arm and looked at Tony. "We have to finalize details."

"We do," Pepper agreed. "They won't come over here."

"Clint and Clay are looking at guards for you two. I'll test the new virtual system if we want."

"No, I'm not really raring to go for that one anyway," Tony said, looking at Pepper. She shrugged. "You're in just as much danger. There's some that would kill to take out a well known female with power."

"JARVIS, that video please," Dawn said quietly. "This was last year. Someone showed it to Clint the other day." A news report about a group of conservative clerics was shown. They were ranting that women in power were the reason they were failing on the path to righteousness. The translated text was under the window so they could read it. Pepper shuddered. They had mentioned her by name as a heretic who was forcing Allah to be disappointed in them. They had mentioned a few others, including two other computer company executives who were female and one who was gay. Then he went on and on about the 'epidemic of those who take the place of God'. Meaning Steve.

Tony finally flipped it off. "Are they forming a group?"

"I'm still tracing it back. One of the lesser clerics has some sort of family tie to the company we're meeting with," Dawn said. "I can't find where or how. They share a last name and it's not like it's a common one." She restarted the video and pointed. "Him."

"He's got to be related. They look alike," Pepper agreed, frowning. "I was talking to him recently."

"Also, boss. You might ask what you're supposed to do over there without the armored suit." Tony stared at her, mouth open. "Would SHIELD allow that? They didn't want you to bring it to Hong Kong for that seminar."

"No, they didn't," he said. He found his phone and texted Steve. Who sent back a hell no he wasn't allowed to bring it and he wasn't really fond of the trip either. They had been going to talk about it that night after he and Joyce talked. "He agrees with you."

Dawn nodded. "I asked Mom the rules for you traveling with the suit. She said you're not."

Tony snorted. "My suit, not SHIELD's."

"Yeah but dangerous if someone gets their hands on it," Dawn said with a grin. "Like someone breaks into the hotel room. Or the car." He winced. "So how do we want to do this? Hong Kong barely got approved as long as you take Natasha and at least one other SHIELD agent with you and Pepper."

"We do?" Pepper asked. Dawn dialed her mother and handed her the phone. She walked off talking to Joyce about that. They needed to know those sort of plans. "Dawn, why do you have a safe house there?"

"It's Natasha's."

"Oh." She went back to making plans with her. She finally hung up and came back to put the phone back on the charger. "She's right. Predictive analysis thinks that someone will at least try to get a good look at the suit. We'll have an agent guarding it and one guarding each of us. I'll have Natasha as my assistant. She said you're staying, Dawn."

"She's wrong," Dawn said dryly. She rolled her eyes. "We can handle that one. That one I'm not worried about. Half the underground in Hong Kong won't do more than grin at me." Tony gave her an odd look. "Did you know the head mafia-like boss there is into art?" He groaned and thumped his head on the workbench muttering about photographers in Rio being the death of him. She grinned at Pepper. "They all think I'm sexy. You should see the pictures of me with the swords and knives."

Pepper whimpered and shook her head. "Is that going to cause you problems?"

"He knew who I was. He's well enough connected to know who I was and asked me. I told him I needed to feel sexier for a bit because I was having a pouty time." She grinned. "Those are in the safe in New Zealand."

"I called your farm manager and had him make copies for Clint and Natasha," Tony said, smiling at her. "Damn!"

Dawn laughed, smiling at him. "Thank you. Did they get them?"

"They're in the safe." He pointed.

Pepper went to get the envelope. The one on top had Dawn covered in red bodypaint Kanji script letters, her back mostly turned toward the camera though you could see a hint of breast under the katana she was holding. Her hair was up in a traditional geisha hairstyle. She was wearing heels. It was an interesting mix of traditional Japanese art and modern styles that they were moving toward. "Him?" She held it up. Tony spluttered and choked.

"Yup, that's one of his. Me with the daggers and the sais was him too."

Pepper found that one. The crossed sais were covering her nipples as the drape of cream patterned silk didn't do more than move between her breasts before wrapping around her waist. Her hair was loose and she was holding the weapons. It looked a bit awkward of a hold but the next one she looked like she was lunging. The silk had been tied like a sumo wrestler's but he had left a train down her thighs. Still bare on top. Hair in motion since he had taken the picture in motion. She looked directly at the camera, looking very deadly and calm. Like she was a sexy death coming for you. Pepper shivered and tucked them back in there. She closed the safe and walked back to where they were talking. "He has a good eye."

"He had a fantastic eye. The ones he kept are fantastic. Especially since he has one of me and another woman that were in geisha makeup and open kimonos that's so damn sexy, Pepper." She smiled. "It's been loaned temporarily to an art museum there." She looked it up on Tony's tablet so she could see it.

Pepper stared at it. It wasn't overly sexual but it was very sensual. Dawn and the other one were surrounded by trees. Their kimonos were totally open in the front. They looked like they had gotten caught stripping off to soak in the river behind them. With the way the fabric laid you could just barely see a hint of breast and stomach, with the other woman's bare thigh peeking out. Pepper licked her lips and showed Tony. He walked off to the bathroom. "I need to get into that habit," Pepper said. Tony let out a loud, extended moan and they heard the bathroom door thump close with what sounded like a kick. Pepper hugged her. "Very naughty yet very tasteful, Dawn."

"Thank you." She grinned. "Since the agents busted my other identity I'm debating admitting to it. I got a request the other day."

"You have a day off," Pepper said with a smile.

"Not really." Pepper laughed. "I don't!"

"Me either." Natasha and Clint walked in with Steve and Bruce. "Tony's going to be a few minutes. He got the rest of the pictures from the safe in New Zealand." She showed Bruce that picture. "That's by the guy who runs the mafia-like people in Hong Kong."

Bruce blinked. "That's Dawn."

"Yes, it is," Natasha said, staring at it then at her wife. Who smiled. Natasha didn't usually sweat outside of a fight. Clint looked and kissed her after shutting the file. Steve was looking at Dawn like an artist did. Clint took the envelope from Pepper to look over. Steve moaned and went to find Tony. They could help each other.

Natasha looked at her wife. "When is your lunch?"

"Sometime." She looked over then smiled. "I like the other version better."

Clint flipped through them to find it, blinking at it. It was Dawn with fruit. A lot of fruit. She was buried in deep red apples and cherries. Her hair had strawberries. You could see under the fruit was what looked like chocolate sauce covering her. "How long did it take to wash that off?"

Dawn grinned. "If you had been there I would've let you lick it off. I went to the spa for a scrub instead. They were amused and got one of me without the fruit." She found it and showed him with a smile. They stared. The chocolate only covered her front but little trails moved over her sides and down over her hips. Delicate little dark brown trails begging to be licked off. Dawn's hair was up so they could see the trails on her neck, begging to be nibbled on. Dawn was wearing a brown thong but the way it fit her showed off how good her ass looked so after Philip was born. One arm was over her breasts but it wasn't like they were hidden. It looked like she was still nursing.

Clint made himself not whimper. He put those back into the envelope and kissed Dawn. "Stark, are you going to be more than ten minutes?" he yelled.

"You still can't do it in ten minutes," Natasha said dryly. "It takes you twelve to fifteen."

Clint glared at her. "I can practice and get faster." He hauled Dawn off.

"Guys, no sex in the building," Pepper said quickly, capturing Dawn's arm. "She has a lunch break coming up and you guys have a car."

"Yes, we do," Clint said, staring at his wife. She kissed him and adjusted his vest zipper since it was slightly undone. She even snapped his collar for him. "Won't save you."

She laughed a warm, throaty sound. "Why would I want saved, Clint?" He growled. She winked. "I should show those to Benji."

"Ethan can help me steal anything in a museum," Natasha said dryly. Steve and Tony came out looking much calmer. She opened her mouth but Tony held up a hand.

"Do not share, Romanoff. Ever. Dawn's like my daughter half the time and I don't need the dirty thoughts about her. I have to replace her image with Pepper's and then it breaks me for a bit." He sat down. "Why are we meeting?"

"Hong Kong," Bruce said.

"Oh, that." He rubbed his forehead, looking at his wife. Who kissed him. "That helped." He looked at Natasha. "Who's coming?"

"Me, Coulson. Two junior agents he'll have hold of. He's your assistant, I'm Pepper's. Dawn may or may not go but Clint is backing us up as a secondary security level so unless Joyce can babysit that might not be possible."

"I can watch the kids," Steve said. "I'll be watching ours." Pepper kissed him on the cheek. "Callia loves to teach Philip."

"He thinks she's great," Dawn said with a smile. "She's his personal goddess."

"Maybe I'll get him into science too then," Tony quipped. He regained his composure. "Are we more worried about the suit or someone trying for me or Pepper?"

"You definitely," Natasha said, pulling up the predictive scales that had been done. "The armor probably. I would've switched those around but having you means you can make them armor. It would be the Chinese government."

Tony nodded, looking at Pepper. "I can go without you."

"You'd still have to have me," Natasha told her. "You're a high profile kidnaping target to get Stark to do something."

"Good point. That's one reason why I always travel with Dawn." She looked at Dawn, who shrugged it was up to her. "Why are we going?"

"Component materials," Tony reminded her.

"Oh, that. The one in Saudi was to give them the shield technology that filters for water?" Tony nodded. "We can do that here." She looked at Dawn. "When they're here, you're to be with me or with someone on the team. Just in case." Dawn nodded that was reasonable.

"Why?" Steve asked. Tony handed him the letter. "Oh." He handed it to Clint.

"Saw that." He let Dawn have it back. "Did you show him the clerics?"

"Yeah." She let Steve see that file too. He was grimacing.

"No suit, no going at all," he said quietly, staring at Tony. "They can come here. You can break your foot or something." Tony nodded. He flicked that file off before it got worse. He looked at Pepper.

"That's what we were talking about before we asked if Dawn would have any problems like that in Hong Kong."

Tony looked at Dawn. "Is there any more trashy?"

"Two. One's in a museum in LA and the other's in Amsterdam or Brazil. Not sure where he's showing." She called those files up for him. One had her on a bed of what looked like real lips and tongues. She looked like she was writhing and mid-moan while her hands stroked her sides and stomach. Tony stared, just blinking. "I liked the composition but I thought the colors were washed out. He said it was to make it look like a dream image." She pulled up the other one. By the same person. She was in a skin-colored thong. It matched exactly. It was seamless. She was on her stomach, one leg pulled up so you could see her crotch but couldn't see anything because of the thong. She had baby wings on her back and her hair was blowing in the breeze, strands of gold tinsel in it. "It's titled Innocence."

Clint stared at it then picked up his wife. "She's on lunch, Pepper." Natasha followed. "We're using a guest suite."

"Sure," she agreed, turning it off before Tony started to drool.

"It was a nice, artistic composition but fairly dirty," Steve said. He shook himself. "I'd love to draw her and you together some day, Pepper." She smiled and kissed him. Tony took his own and walked off hauling Pepper and Steve with him. "Guys, meeting," he complained.

"After lunch," Tony said firmly. "That's in an hour. I doubt they'll be done any sooner anyway." He took them to his crashing bed in the lab.

Bruce blushed and walked off to go see his wife for lunch. She was downtrodden by the paperwork but he could help her relieve some stress. JARVIS had nicely even saved down those files for Joyce so she could be a proud mother.

***

Clint walked into the infirmary after he was done with his Dawn lunch, handing Benji the envelope. "If you see any others with her, let me know please?"

Benji smiled. "Saw the one with the wings finally?"

"Yes! And the others!" He flopped down with a sigh. "I'm exhausted."

Benji grinned, opening the envelope. "Mother of God," he said, blinking. "Or mother fucker, choose your religion." He looked through them. "Aaron, you should see these." He handed over the ones he had seen. "That's what Dawn does when she wants to feel sexy."

"There's a few in museums so if you see them please let me know so it can't bite me?" Clint asked. "I just saw those today. I can see why she hid them."

Aaron handed back the first ones, shaking his head. "I shouldn't think about Dawn that way."

"She enjoys being a huge tease," Benji said with a grin. "We need to look up the museum ones."

"JARVIS did for her," Clint said, staring at him. It got displayed in front of Benji on a virtual screen. He heard Aaron whimper and looked over, nodding. "Yeah. I didn't know either. I'm staying in here so Dawn can finish her work day."

"I guess that's one way to make sure she can sit," Ethan said as he walked in. He paused, staring at the projection. "That's Dawn."

"That's Dawn's way of feeling really sexy," Benji said with a smile for him.

"She accomplished that goal." Clint closed them. He looked at the other pictures and walked off shaking his head. "I'll be back when those are hidden."

"If you find more of them in museums, let me know," Clint called after him.

Aaron nodded. "Definitely."

"One's in LA but Gamble never goes to museums," Clint said. He sighed, looking at his phone. JARVIS pulled up the link for him so he sent it to Gamble to make sure it wasn't stolen somehow. He got a whole page of swearing back for it. He told him why and to please make sure it wasn't stolen by a Dawn wanter. He offered to give Dawn a few scars to make sure they wouldn't want her as much. Clint pointed out she had one on her neck, hadn't helped. Gamble swore at him again. "Apparently he's drunk," Clint quipped, sending that to him and turning off his phone since Dr. Pigalli was staring at him. "What? I need backup for this situation."

She patted him on the shoulder. "Viagra?"

He snorted. "No! Not necessary, Doc. I just wore her out for lunch. She told me she was doing another one in a few days." Benji leaned up to pat him on the head. "Thanks, Benji."

"Your wife enjoys being the biggest prick tease ever," he reminded him with a smile. "This just proves it." He laid back and looked at the pictures again. "Great composition. I wonder if there's other artists around here."

"John Sheppard. Steve. He said he wanted to draw her and Pepper." John appeared, scowling at him. "I didn't rub your lamp," he quipped.

"What?"

"Aren't you a wish-granting genie?" Clint asked with a grin. "We got the rest of Dawn's modeling portfolio."

He took them from Benji when he held them up, blinking at them. "I really need to get back into that hobby." He kept going. Anyone looking could tell he was thrilled with the images. "If she was single, I'd fix that," he quipped, handing them back to Clint. "Where's Stark? Rodney sent me to fetch him."

"Barely out of bed with Pepper and Steve thanks to these."

"I'm heading there after I've fetched." He walked off, going to find Stark. He got him to Atlantis then found someone willing and happy to help him calm down. If you squinted really hard she could be compared to Dawn. She was young, perky, brunette, and had a fantastic ass. She could also squeal in three keys and sucked cock like it was her version of oxygen.

Clint looked at Benji, who was grinning. "How many of those did you know about?"

"About half. She's always very happy and feels very sensual when she's done one. The one coming up is a slimebag who'll push his luck."

"I was watching over her shoulder as she set up details of her shoot. He wanted to watch her shave. He hated that she's married to me - a jealous, possessive spouse. He didn't like that she said did sensual, not sexual, and definitely not porn. She sent back the outfit he had sent her to wear for it. She saved down the chat room transcripts in case he tries to set up a fuss." He looked at the pictures again. "I really need a leash for her when we travel to South America."

"The guy who did the jewels and the feather pictures died. Got shot."

"Jealous husband?" Aaron asked from his bed.

"No, some gang thing. There were a lot of mourners. I think Dawn sent a tasteful set of flowers and a personal note to the wife."

"He was married?" Clint asked.

"Yeah, his wife helped him set up shots. She and Dawn chatted a few times I think," Benji said. "During the later ones."

"Did he have her kidnaped like he did Dawn?"

Benji grinned and nodded. "She was his second favorite model."

"Wow." Clint nodded. "Weird but about normal on the Dawn scale. I kinda fell a bit for her when she knocked me out, tied me up, and sat on me to interrogate me and bitch me out for upsetting Xander."

"You did?" Aaron and Benji asked. Clint smiled and told them about his first few meetings with Dawn. Aaron went 'awww' at the end with an evil smirk for him.

"Mr. Cross, there's a phone call coming in for you from a young woman who said you met her recently when you saved her life. A young research doctor?"

"Can I take it in private?" he asked the AI.

"Yes, of course. It'll be transferred to the phone beside you." He picked it up and limped off to talk to her.

Clint and Benji shared a grin and Clint got up, taking the pictures with him. No one else needed to see those unless he decided to torment Gamble some more.

***

Brian Gamble was doing something he hadn't done before. He was in a museum. He was looking at art in a quiet room that was keeping the kids across the hall out of it because it was a collection by an artist that did some pretty inflammatory things. He didn't look anywhere near underaged but they had asked to see his ID to prove his age it was so hot. So here he was, staring at three pictures of Dawn. He took pictures to send to Clint. The one he had noted was behind him. These three.... So much better. If he could kill Clint to take Dawn, and not have her kill him for it..... He'd be a lucky guy even if she did kill him for it as long as he got her first. He felt someone move up beside him and glared at the leach, well reporter, standing there. "What?" he asked quietly.

"We watch you because Barney's been stalking you," she said quietly. He groaned. "That's Dawn, isn't it?" He pointed behind them and she turned, gasping. "Oh. I have a husband," she muttered over and over until she got control of herself. She would ignore the former officer laughing at that. "Not like we can't tell," she told him.

He shrugged. "She's a pretty girl who likes to get noisy." He looked at the other ones. He found another one, had to be Dawn with that bone structure. He took that picture to send too. Clint sent back a growl. The guard was glaring at him. "His wife didn't tell him about these. Clint's a bit growly."

The reporter squeaked. "Clint growls?"

"Yes. A lot," Brian complained. "And Dawn's noisy." She was bright red as she walked out. She got copies of the pictures in the gallery, and one other that was in the gift shop that wasn't in there. It was in the artist's book that was for sale. Her editor would reimburse her and kiss her for this. Gamble looked at the new message. He showed the guard, who walked off shaking his head. He looked at the last picture again. "Damn," he said as he walked off. He ignored all the little kids who thought he was Clint. "I'm not Hawkeye," he said when a few followed him. "I'm his half-brother." They squealed and he managed to escape thanks to the teacher reigning in her heathens. He went home to finish his drinking and maybe find a cheap, short term girlfriend. Perky, brunette, had a nice ass.... They had a lot of those in LA who were for rent. Or free ones if you hit the right bars at the right time.

***

Clint looked down at Dawn. She had kicked off her shoes while filing. He had snuck up behind her to grab her, making her take an automatic swing at him but he blocked it with a smirk. "In twenty years, is our son or daughter going to look at some of those pictures and be embarrassed?"

"No kid of mine will *ever* be embarrassed of their body, Clint."

"Uh-huh." He kissed her. "He had more than that one in the show in LA."

"Really?" She smiled. "I knew he kept the rights to about six of them."

"He's got five out there. Another apparently in a book. One of the gossip stalking reporters has been fixed on Gamble because of the last Barney clone. She spotted them." That got a slight blush. "What's wrong?" he asked with an evil grin.

"I'm not sure if he'd like me to be identified or not."

"I'm sure she'll ask him." He took a kiss. "I'd like to know when you do those from now on. Please? Maybe you and Nat can go together?"

"I have one that wanted me and another model." Clint groaned, resting his forehead against her head. She gave him a cuddle. "We'll look very tasteful."

"Dawn, I'm about out of self control for the month," he complained quietly.

"It's the guy that did the dog one."

He looked at her. He opened his mouth. "Is he going to flirt with you?"

"Just to make me blush. His husband enjoys watching from the sidelines with a cup of proper tea and his rose bushes."

Clint nodded. "Sure. If she wants to. Tell. Me?"

"Gladly." She took a kiss and smiled. "I have to finish the filing."

"I can watch you." She blushed again but got back to work while he watched her. If he didn't watch her, someone would take her again. Just like in Rio. Which was what started off all that mess. "The jewelry one was the first one, right?"

"Except for an amateur in high school who sucked, yeah. He made me look more awkward and gangly than sexy for his attempted project."

"Huh." He'd look that up later. Dawn smiled at him. "Remember when I wanted a leash in Rio?" She laughed and finished her filing, sliding back into her shoes so she could go back to her desk. He followed. "Pepper, fair warning, the show in LA has five and there's a sixth in his art book."

"Good to know."

"Not sure if he'll want me identified," Dawn said, sending him a text message. He said he had already admitted it was her. She said that was fine with her, she didn't mind, and her husband was getting all sweaty and possessive over it. He offered them a joint shoot, including Natasha, the next weekend since he'd be in LA. She looked at Clint. "Are we busy next weekend? The three of us?"

His mouth opened then he cleared his throat and swallowed. "No, not that I know of."

"Okay." She smiled and said they could be there, let her know particulars. She got back to work, answering a few emails from reporters.

Clint sat down against the wall so he could stare at her. He wasn't sure what was going to happen that weekend but he'd be there. Especially if this guy was another one who wanted a Dawn of his own.

Tony walked up the hall. "Barton, find a chair. It looks bad when you're hiding in the corner. Dawn, make it tasteful please."

"Of course, boss. He wanted all three of us." Clint blushed but shrugged he was fine with that. He did find a chair.

Tony shook his head. "You guys need to quit going into heat."

"And who needed an hour and a half for lunch?" Dawn quipped with a smile for him.

Tony smirked back. "I'm very thorough. Fulfilling full buffets over fast food, Dawn." He went into the office, smiling at Pepper's blush. He kissed her. "You are." He handed over the paperwork. "From the tax guy for some reason. It's in accountant and I don't speak that one."

She looked it over. "Your tax debt went up this year due to your profits being above the net gain cap."

"Huh?"

Dawn leaned over, which incidentally gave Clint a great view down her top. "That means you made too much so they're going to charge you at rich bastard rates instead of the lower modestly wealthy rates, boss. Probably because of the art sale." She sat up again.

"Oh, okay." He walked off shaking his head. Clint was relaxed in his chair, legs spread to give himself some room to grow. He looked casually sexy. Tony took a picture and sent it to that artist. Then one of Romanoff sparring. He said 'thank you, this will help me plan' and left it there.

"Shit, Harper's," Pepper complained when her computer beeped.

"Not here yet, your blue dress is in your bathroom and all pressed. So is your light green suit if you wanted it instead," Dawn said casually. "Both sets of shoes are in there as well in the shower so they're hanging up." Pepper sighed and went to change. "So is your curling iron," she called.

"Thank you, Dawn."

"Welcome, Pep." Clint chuckled quietly. Dawn grinned. "Some day I'll be doing it for the niece." Callia was coming up the hall scowling at something. "Pepper's changing."

She sat on her aunt's lap, letting her have the letter. "Did they turn down my patent?"

She looked and pointed. "They said it was already filed. Your name was on it as a secondary source." Callia sighed and nodded. "So they said it's a duplicate." She gave her a cuddle, smiling at the reporter that came off the elevator. "Pepper's in the bathroom, give her five?"

"I can do that." She smiled at Callia. "You've grown since I saw you last time."

"I keep growing. It means Mommy Pepper gets a lot of shopping time for us." The reporter laughed and patted her on the back. "Let me lead you to the interview suite." She took her down there, handing her father the letter on the way past.

"I'll have our patent guy make sure of that, Callia. Hey, Beatrice."

"Tony." Pepper came up the hall. "Pepper, you look stunning."

"Thank you. I had to avoid Chris and his drink just now but I managed to survive the kid accident." She winced when Dawn shrieked about something being cold. "She didn't."

"She's got stuff in her locker," Tony said, heading to help Dawn calm down. Chris was sniffly but yay. "Chris."

Chris grinned at him. "Pocket change!" He grinned and ran off before his aunt could capture him.

"He said someone paid him fifty bucks to spill stuff on her," Clint said.

"I'll find out who."

"Helena in Chem," Dawn said, looking at herself. "Eww!" She got up. "Have tech guys come clean my keyboard while I change please?" She walked off to do that. "Clint, all I've got is our going out dress." He moaned and followed to help her.

"No sex in the changing rooms either, Barton. Even if she does end up looking like a succubus." He called IT from her slimy phone. "It's Stark. My son got paid fifty bucks to dump something like an ooze on Dawn and her desk. Please come get her keyboard to replace. Thanks." He hung up and cleaned off his hand in Pepper's bathroom.

"Why does she use the old style keyboard?" the IT guy complained.

Tony leaned out. "She has to change languages now and then plus the virtual one is too small for her hands and at an awkward angle." He huffed but got her one out of storage. And a new phone. And a nice new monitor. The cleaning team came up to clean the rest of it up for her while Tony had a talk with his son about not helping jealous bitches. When he saw Dawn's 'going out' dress he had to blink and got her one of his jackets to put on over it. It was strapless, it was cold at her desk, and it'd cover up some of the cleavage he liked to ignore she had. She smiled and settled in on her new, clean chair to get back to work. Maybe Tony should go hide in one of the caf's freezers. He went to try that but the health inspectors were in and it might raise the temperature inside so they got cited. Once they were gone, he hit the freezer and pulled out his tablet to get something done now that all his blood was out of his dick. If he didn't have Pepper, Clint Barton would've never gotten near Dawn. Thankfully he had Pepper. And Steve. Who liked freezers too it seemed. "Dawn?"

"Pepper." He took a kiss. "They're deadly today."

Tony nodded. "Yes, they are." He took another kiss and got back to work while Steve helped control himself. Someone from HR found him to shriek about Dawn being too tempting. He looked at her. "Some slut in chemistry paid Chris to dump ooze on her. She had to change and that was in her locker. I gave her my jacket to help." She gaped. "Beyond that, I don't care! Not like she's using it on others. Her husband is sitting there staring at her." She huffed off to find Pepper. Tony texted Pepper to warn her. Then the head of chemistry to warn that slut. He didn't put up with that sort of problem.

Dawn leaned in ten minutes later. "She and I had a talk, boss, and she no longer thinks I got my job on my knees or that she had a chance to hit on you if I wasn't in the way of her knee pads. Mostly because Natasha and she also had a talk." She smiled at Steve. "You're blue. Smurf blue. Go get warm and take him to warm him up so his mind quits going odd places?" She walked off.

"I could like some warming up." Steve took him up to their apartment to share a warm shower and then cuddle. The kids were in the daycare. Dawn could handle everything else. No one was sure if Bruce had come back from his lunch at SHIELD 'helping' Joyce do her paperwork. So it'd be fine.

***

Clint came out of the tower that night, stretching up before putting on his sunglasses. It had been a long day of Dawn watching. "Agent Barton?" He sighed but stared at the reporter. "When are you and Dawn planning on having more kids?" the reporter asked with a smile.

"Whenever she wants one, she'll tell me."

"So you don't want more?"

"I'm not for or against either possibility outside of it not being soon. The girls are a bit much right now."

"So you don't want another son?" He stared at her until she went on. "It's been noticed that Philip being a bit...strange tends to upset you."

"Not really. Philip's a bit weird now and then but so are all toddlers. He'll grow into a good guy because that's the parents we are. And if he wants to be goth as a teenager we'll deal with it."

"Oh. So him being in a kilt doesn't bother you?"

"I'd rather he not wear them every day. There's a lot of stuff you can't do in a kilt and I think it's more important that Philip play right now."

"So no future plans for kids?"

"If one of my women wants a baby, she's more than adult enough to come tell me. That's the great thing about being with a full adult, they make decisions." She frowned. It had been her that had gushed over a May-December romance that had led to the older guy making all her decisions, including what she ate for dinner by the film someone got. Dawn came out with the kids. "I thought Beya had them. Give me one of the girls." He took them and she smiled, kissing him. "The gossip wench wanted to know if we needed another son."

Dawn smiled. "My next one will be like Gomez Addams." The reporter huffed off. "Bye!" She grinned and waved at her back, cracking Clint up. "Okay, Philip, walk between the two carriers, holding onto them, and we'll head home." Another reporter came up to gush over the newest movie they had been spotted at. "Yeah, I adored it." She smiled. "I had to look away at the vomiting and bug eating, I have a touchy stomach about that and I'd end up getting sick too."

"Mommy, pooping," Philip said. "Both sissies."

Clint looked down. "Another olympic qualifying run, girls?" The reporter laughed. "All toddlers secretly hold an olympic event in this. They're working on their synchronized pooping." He stared down. "Think we can make it home?"

"Not likely," Dawn said. "Bathroom?" He nodded, taking Lexi with him. It was a well known fact by them: if Lexi did or got anything, Mira had to have the same or do the same. She was a jealous little girl. Dawn cleaned her up and handed Philip the diaper bag. "Take it to Daddy in the other bathroom." He carried it over there.

"Thanks, Little Phil." He cleaned her up. "Do you feel better?" Lexi kicked her feet and squealed. "You know, if you don't do that so often, Mira won't." He got her cleaned up and redressed, meeting Dawn out front. "We've got to break the jealousy thing."

"We do," she agreed. She took the diaper bag back. The reporter was still hovering. "Mira always demands to have whatever Lexi just got. It makes for some interesting feeding times when I'm alone but Philip likes to help."

"Mira jealous bitch," he said.

Dawn stared down at him. "What was that?"

"Oops?"

"Can you say 'corner' when we get home?" He pouted but nodded. "Just because I swear doesn't mean you can swear, son."

"Yes, Mommy." He huffed but got between them so they could walk home. They tried to walk at least three times a week. "We get stroller?"

"We have a stroller. It's a pain in the ass," Dawn said. "It doesn't like to unfold."

"Oh. New stroller?"

"We'll see," Clint promised. He hated the stroller Natasha had chosen too. It was bulky, it was difficult to maneuver. "I still say she got that one so we wouldn't have to take the kids out." Dawn laughed but nodded. They were a block from home when Philip announced they were pooping again. He looked down. "We'll never make it home in time."

"It's only a block." She looked down. "No, we won't," she sighed. Clint picked up Philip so they could walk faster. The reporters at the door of the club up the street from their house, since they couldn't see the house any longer, tried to get them. "Guys, have to change the girls. They're going to explode soon."

"Too late on Mira," one quipped, getting out of the way. "Guys, she's starting to run out of the carrier, get out of the way." The reporters got out of the way before Clint offered to let them change her again. It had driven off some reporters the last time too.

"Wow, they sure poop a lot for a block," Philip complained. "Mira, no be jealous of Lexi pooping! You don't have to do better than her at it!"

Clint laughed. "No, she doesn't. We'd all appreciate that." He put him down. "Go start bath water for Mommy while we change them." Philip got the elevator first while they checked the mail then they went up. He was helpfully running them a nice bath. Clint looked in there. "You're too old to take a bath with the babies, Philip."

"Shoot."

"You can have one after them," Dawn chirped, smiling at her daughter. "Eww, daughter. Did you have to do that?" She got her stripped down and wiped off, taking her into the bathroom. Clint brought in Mira then he and Philip laid out jammies for them. She looked at her girls, shaking her head but smiling. "I know you can't help it but one more like that one and you're getting medicine."

"Yucky," Philip said, coming in to help her. He frowned and looked them then at himself. "Mommy? Why they not look like me?"

"Because girls don't look like boys."

"Why?"

"Because they're not supposed to look like boys. That's how little girls are made, Philip. Go ask Daddy."

Clint muttered since he had heard that question. He looked at his son. "Girls have innies and boys have outties, like belly buttons."

Philip looked at his belly button then at him. "I have innie, Daddy."

"It's not related to the bellybutton but it's like how some people have innies and outties, only it's all girls have innies and all boys have outties." Philip still looked confused. "You can ask Uncle Tony tomorrow." Philip smiled and nodded, bounding over to turn on PBS. Clint hated kids tv but it was good for Philip. Even if he ended up mumbling the stupid songs. Dawn came out with the girls to change the channel then took them back to the bath. That was slightly better. Dora was at least not singing stupid songs and it wasn't Spongebob time yet. They'd already broken Philip's Spongebob habit. He sent up a silent prayer for that blessing. He loathed Spongebob. The only fun thing was watching Natasha's eye and cheek twitch as she tried not to kill the tv for playing Spongebob.

Dawn leaned out to smile at him. "Some people think it's allegorical to the nuclear testing the French used to do. That they're post-test or post-nuke people." She went back to the bathing. Lexi was squealing happily and Mira was making pouty noises. Then Mira made happy noises and Lexi was splashing her sister apparently. "Quit trying to drown her, Lexi. I'll rinse her off just like I do you, dear."

Clint shook his head. He did use Dawn's tablet to look that up. When Natasha came back from SHIELD he showed it to her.

She read it and looked at him. "Must you?"

"Dawn found it." He let her taste the sauce.

"Needs basil." She went to kiss Dawn and get the girls out to dress them and feed them while Dawn got Philip his bath. The small tv in there that they used to watch movies in the tub came on with Dora. "Must you?" she called in Russian.

"Yes, he must," Dawn called back in Chinese. "And more than that."

"Great," Clint complained quietly. Natasha smiled at him. "Can we donate those language DVD's to the daycare, Dawn?"

"We have, dear."

"Thank you!" He heard Philip babbling something in Greek and shook his head. None of them spoke Greek. Not even Dawn. Though, Dawn was answering him so maybe they were both learning. "Is that part of your dissertation?"

"Dissertation?" Natasha demanded, looking in the bathroom.

Dawn grinned. "What?" Natasha glared. Dawn grinned. "If I'm not careful and don't think about it I'm going to take pre-med next because we might need it." Natasha huffed off. She smiled at Philip and they talked about Dora in Russian for a while to make Mommy Natasha feel better, he insisted.

"Dawn, who's teaching Greek on tv?" Clint called. He hoped they weren't on Nickelodeon. He'd like to bomb their station most of the time. It was like PBS turned Twilight Zone on crack.

"Callia's taking it and using teaching it to the daycare as community service hours," she said, coming out with Philip wrapped in a towel. "Pepper and I have both been helping her and learning it at the same time. Never hurts to be fluent in languages in business." She took Philip to dress him in jammies. "Feet or no feet tonight?"

"No feet!" He grinned because Mommy tickled him and helped him into his jammies then he ran out to watch Dora on the big tv. "Sissies need Dora too."

"We made sure you were over a year old when you got it, son," Clint said. "They can get it then." He pouted. "You can watch it with them but babies don't really start to talk until after they're a year old."

"That reminds me, we need to figure out which office we'll be at for the holidays," Dawn said, texting that to Pepper. She had noticed Philip's eyes had lit up so she pulled over his photo album. "This was your first holiday season." She smiled. "First ones are always special. They get a lot of clothes but not a lot of toys because they can't play as much."

"I get clothes," Philip said.

"You will from Grandma but you'll also get toys." Philip smiled at that, doing a happy dance. "The girls will get all the huge amounts of clothes. They need it because they grow really fast."

Philip nodded. "They do," he agreed. "We shop?"

"Soon." He grinned and hugged her.

"Mira get jealous?"

"No. We'll make sure Mira has just as many presents as Lexi does." She kissed him on the cheek. "You can't get jealous if they get more."

"Philip not need clothes." She smiled at him. "I get toys!" he shouted and ran around the couch a few times. "Hey!" He looked around. "Loki, Tsa!" They meowed from their hiding spots. "Play me!" He ran for them to play with them. "Or else Philip borrow war puppy." Loki hopped down to let the baby pet him like he deserved. Philip was usually gentle with them. Tsarina stayed out of range and meowed at Philip, making him meow back then giggle.

Dawn changed it to the tv guide channel, looking at what was on. "Ooh, there's a local dog show, Philip." She turned it to that. They were doing the pre-show profile on breeds and past winners.

He carried Loki over to sit and watch it while petting him. "Ooh! War puppy! Mommy!" he said while pointing and bouncing.

She smiled. "That is the same breed as the war dogs, that's very smart." He beamed. She pointed. "That's a wolf hound. Sirius needed to be one of those to chase Lupin through the woods on the movie."

He beamed and nodded. "Hagrid puppy!" Loki huffed so he cuddled him and petted him. "They not come live with us. They slobbery and big, Loki kitty. Mommy Nat would not like slobbery puppies. They mess up clothes. Callia say Xander puppy drools on her clothes."

"Tsarina drools enough," Natasha said, kissing him on the head. "The war puppies have to stay with Uncle Xander." He shrugged.

"Purse dog, eww!" Philip complained. "Ugly, yappy thing. Callia say loud."

"Dogs like that were meant to sit with kids like you and protect them," Dawn said with a grin. "That's why they bark so loud. That way people would hear that babies with the dogs were having problems."

"Oooh." He stared at her. "You smart." She smiled and he grinned back, blowing her a kiss. "Ooooh! Bee'hoven!"

"That is a St. Bernard like Beethoven," Natasha agreed with a grin. She still had nightmares about a dog like that coming to live with them. Callia had talked her into being the responsible adult while all the kids in the group had a movie night. They had watched three of the dog movies back-to-back. She settled in on the other side of the girls to watch the dog show. She could tell Philip about dogs. He grinned and shifted over to sit in her lap with the cat. Dawn pulled the girls over so she had more room. She told them why working dogs were called working dogs and how hounds helped people hunt. He adored that and he liked animals anyway.

Dawn smiled, settling in to enjoy Natasha being a teaching mommy for the night.

Clint grinned too because he could understand dogs even if he didn't know their language.

***

Philip climbed up onto the big bed that night. Clint blinked at him. "Nightmares?"

"No. Sleep you?"

"Give me a minute to make Mommy put on a shirt."

Philip shrugged. He flopped over onto Natasha's stomach, waking her up. He carefully covered up her naked parts. "Mommy?" She blinked up at him. "Why Mira no," he made sucking faces, "on boobs?"

She sighed. "She couldn't because she has to be gone for work so often," Dawn said through a yawn and stretched. Clint handed her a top to put on under the sheet. "If she had been home all the time she might've fed Mira that way. The same as I tried to feed Lexi and she wouldn't let me."

"Did I?" He made the same sucky face.

"Yeah, you did until Mommy got really sick."

"Tick?"

"Yeah, sick. I got sick for the same reason you run screaming from the mail, son." She pulled him over to cuddle. Natasha got a top.

"Seen boobs," Philip reminded her.

"Don't call them that," Dawn said. "They're breasts. Who taught you to call them boobs?"

"Uncle Bucky calls them that."

"I'll yell at Uncle Bucky for teaching you that word tomorrow." He snuggled down on her chest, letting her cuddle him.

"Feels nice." He yawned and fell back asleep.

"You used to be in that position a lot, kiddo." She yawned and went back to sleep.

Natasha looked over at Clint. "He's growing up."

"He is. That's his third sex related question in the last month."

"We'll see if that's normal." Clint nodded he could do that. She'd ask Joyce, he'd ask Pepper. In the morning since it was barely two. "Philip, did you go potty?" she asked in his ear. He groaned but got up and went potty then came back to nap with them. They made room for him because even big boys needed cuddles sometimes.

***

Dawn looked at the pediatrician that took care of all the kids, shrugging some. "I don't know why you think Lexi has a problem. I haven't noticed it. Is it a visual one or what?"

"No, she's got a great focus for her age."

"Okay. Is that a problem?"

"I'd like to have someone evaluate her for autism but I don't think it is. It doesn't look like their version of focusing."

Dawn considered it then pulled up a file on her tablet, letting him see it. "We had to rescue her that once."

"I heard about that." He read the notes. "That's what they were giving her?"

"Yeah. We had someone say that it might increase her IQ a bit when she was older."

"I'm not sure if it would or not. I've never seen this." He looked at her. "You still work at Stark, right?" She nodded. "Have him check?"

"I was going to if it ever came up." She grimaced. "Steve said he thinks that's the first step they used in the super soldier formula."

"Which changed him mentally and physically," he said. She nodded. "Have we done anything like a CT with her?"

"No. Frankly, I wasn't going to even consider it unless something came up."

"Have them do that."

"Okay. I'm also having the guy that does vision research screen both girls and Philip for that. We think Philip might."

"Tell me if they do so I can talk to the doctors there about how to handle those."

"Migraine meds and some adrenaline," Dawn said. "A few days of lingering headaches." He smiled at her. "I've had plenty. They're working to find something to block them."

"I hope they can." He let her pick up the baby. "Let me know if that would affect her mentally so I can keep track of that and if I need to have her evaluated for autism." She nodded, shaking his hand. "When am I getting the other one?"

"Next week. Pepper and I decided it was easier if we scheduled the well baby stuff separately. The insurance company balked but then they understood why when we pointed out having three or four kids in at once would cause you problems."

"Yes, it does." He smiled. "Have a good day and let me know, Dawn."

"I will. Thanks." She picked up her bag and the diaper bag, taking Lexi to check out and head back to the lab. She sent a call at Clint and Nat, who were doing paperwork. They'd meet her there. She got them into the hired car. "Hey, Jose."

"Mrs. Barton. She okay?"

"Pretty good. Just a routine thing. Next week he gets Mira and then the next day he gets Philip for shots." She smiled. "Clint has to go to that one." The driver laughed and took off once they were both buckled in.

***

Clint walked into Stark's lab, interrupting the kissing going on. Tony blinked at him. "Didn't I make you guys a hanging out area?"

"Dawn's bringing Lexi back from the baby doc," Clint said.

"Is there a problem?" Tony asked.

"She didn't say. She said to meet her here," Natasha said.

"So maybe," Steve said. Dawn strolled in carrying Lexi. "Is she okay?"

"The doctor wants to have us figure out if the stuff she got from those people that had her would make her have a focus he described as kinda like the one autistic kids have but not exactly." Tony winced. "Asclepias said she'd be kinda smart."

"Steve does have super focus when he needs it," Clint said.

"We also have to pull the vision team in to do the DNA search," she told him. "On all three."

"Yeah, we do," Tony agreed. "We're pretty sure Philip has it thanks to what Xander said." He took Lexi to hold, and she was staring at him. In the eyes. Not making any noises, just staring at him. "Liz did that but we got told she's got light Asperger's they think," he said quietly.

"I've been known to stare at something for hours while thinking," Steve said, taking the baby. She squealed and hugged him. "Hey, princess." He cuddled her. "Tony, do you have the reports?"

"Yeah, I do. I have them locked down. We can look at what it does."

"Would it matter if it wasn't the first set?" Dawn asked. "If it was supposed to be a later step?"

Tony and Steve both shrugged. "No idea, Dawn," Tony said. "If so we'll tell you guys." She nodded. "Let me get the vision guy down here." He found swabs to take cheek swabs for him, noting who they were on the envelopes. The head researcher who was finding how to stop visions walked in. "DNA cheek swabs from the kids?"

"Thank you. I wasn't going to ask," he told Dawn.

"Xander thinks Philip does," she said quietly. "Also, if you note anything anomalous about Lexi, we need to know. With that one kidnaping we're not sure."

"I can do that." He smiled at Lexi, who stared at him. "Autism?"

"The doc says it's not the same as they show."

"No wonder. I'll run hers first, Dawn. Be a few days." She nodded and he went back to his lab.

Dawn took Lexi back. "We need to see if she's got anything like a gift," she told Nat. "Because if this has made her more flexible, stronger, whatever, we need to know how to protect her and others from her."

"I'm not sure how I'd test that. I'll ask our people to see if they'd know." Dawn smiled. "Mira could use the same to see if anything passed on from me," she realized. Dawn nodded. "Do we think so?"

"Yup," Clint said. "Mira's got a much better grip than Lexi does. She's also got stronger legs. I tested them pushing light things and Mira kicks like a mule."

"Maeve does too," Tony said, looking at Steve.

"We were never sure if it'd pass on," Steve said quietly. Dawn hugged him. "I'm not upset. I don't want people to hound the kids if that's true."

"Not like we're going to share that," Dawn said dryly. He smiled at her. "But we've got to figure out how. Nat, go to my gym and ask the head trainer. The one that was helping Callia." She nodded, going to do that. "They could evaluate them for magic too because I'm not sure Lexi's is going to come out. Or if Mira has some."

"Why would she?" Tony asked. "It's bloodline, right?"

"Not always. Willow didn't have any in hers."

"Oh!" He blinked. "Being around magic might make it more prevalent?"

"Don't know. Sunnydale didn't have a huge percentage of witches but the ones there were stronger than normal. Andrew said something that made me wonder."

"It's a good wonder," Steve agreed. "We need to see where Liz needs training in that. If Chris needs it." Dawn and Clint both nodded. "We sure?"

"Chris tried to blast the former head of accounting out in the LA office when she was upsetting Dawn," Tony said. "Yeah, he does."

"Have you noticed that most magic people we know heal a bit faster?" Clint asked. "Dawn heals faster than most normal people. So does Tara. So do Liz and Chris."

"That's something to find out," Tony agree, making a list. He looked at his system. Then at Steve. "We'll figure it out and keep it very quiet."

"Outside that one lady's kid?" Clint asked. "The one that daycare lady wanted?"

"We've helped her some," Tony said. "He's latent from what we could tell."

"There's nothing that says it'll stay there if he thinks he's in danger," Dawn said.

"True. If others hear he'd probably break out to help himself." He made another note. "I'll talk to her later, touch base to see how he's doing." He looked at Lexi. "She's sleepy."

"She's going back to the daycare to nap." She smiled. "Let me know when." She walked her off after kissing Clint.

Clint watched her walk off then looked at Stark. "Since we seem to be building the mutant empire, does that make you Magneto or Xavier?"

"Please! I have better skills than both of them," Tony snorted with an evil smirk.

"So you're the White Queen?" Clint joked, getting swatted by Steve for it with a head shake but a smile.

"I'm pretty sure someone photoshopped me in her outfit to put on a dartboard because I kept turning down his ideas," Tony said. Clint laughed but left it there.

Steve kissed him. "Go eat. You're obviously going funny from the hunger." He went to work to talk to Bruce since he was at SHIELD today. Bruce would be the guy to know about if the kids had gifts. He pulled him out of the lab and up to the roof to talk about that. Bruce called Natasha and Tony to talk about what and how they were looking for things. That was his new project. He was not going to let the kids go through what any of the adult Avengers had went through.

***

Joyce walked down to Bruce's basement lab that night, running a hand up his arm. "Dinner's nearly ready."

He shook his head. "Not tonight, Joyce." She stood between him and his white board, making him look at her. "The baby's doctor thinks the girls might have a gift," he mouthed. He wasn't sure his little sanctuary wasn't bugged by someone. She stiffened and nodded. "With that kidnaping and other things, we're figuring that out."

She kissed him. "Let me know when I can help. I'll bring you down dinner." He smiled and hugged her. She brought down both their dinners and she settled in to help him think. Sometimes it helped him to talk out loud. She also brought the bug scanner Steve had given her run over the lab space. Two bugs. Bruce stomped on both of them. They'd have the official SHIELD team come scan tomorrow. "We need to detect magic first of all. That may make a difference."

"It could. We're not sure if they're layered or if they did have magic would it matter." He made note of that. Then he put down weapons skills/flexibility like parents.

"Clint got his at the circus. Natasha got hers from her early training in dance and gymnastics."

"They were both highly trained athletes or had the qualities to make one. It's possible that sort of trait is genetic," he agreed, adding that off to the side. Barely anyone could read his scrawl anyway. "A lot of athletes have athletic kids but I'm not sure if that's nature or nurture."

"Not like Dawn's going to stunt them that way. Philip's been enrolled in a baby martial arts for self defense."

"I saw and agreed. He needs the self defense. There's still idiots out there." He considered it. "Visions." He added that to the list. "We need to test against a few normal kids."

"Caro and Etta?"

"No, not normal. There was a subspace link up above their lab and both girls are looking a bit better than Etta's baby brother is."

"Hmm." She sipped her tea and went back to her dinner. "Tara's?"

"They're older but they could possibly use the test to see if they have magic." He noted that too. Tony probably hadn't thought about them. "How many kids in the same age range as the group at SHIELD?"

"Sixteen total under five."

"So maybe we'll test that way?"

"Maybe," she agreed. "Agents do get into some of the stupidest situations sometimes." She ate another bite. "Would it manifest already?"

"Probably. Depending on what it was."

"Hmm." She ate another bite and chewed then pointed at something. His laptop's camera light had come on. He put a post-it over it. She texted Tony, who said he was hacking them back. The light went off and they got back to work.

***

Dawn got the bad call from Craig at the ranch in New Zealand and winced, sending a thought at Clint and Natasha about how to handle it. They were both busy with the trainees, who seriously needed to be straightened out. Clint had quit using the nerf crossbow to do that and was now on real ones with exploding tips for two of the trainees. She looked at Pepper. "The pony died," she told her. Pepper winced. "Got any ideas?"

"Don't mention it?"

"He says about nightly that he wants to visit the pony."

"Ummm....." She considered it. "With Buffy?"

"That might work." She got back to work, thinking about how to tell Philip that bad news. He had loved the pony. She was sweet and Craig was finding them a new one. She smiled as Thor came off the elevator. "How's my great-niece?"

"Loud. Very, very loud."

She smiled. "It's called colic if she won't quit crying."

"That too. She squeals."

"So does Lexi. Then again, so did Buffy." She smiled. "Is my son following you around already?"

He pointed at his back and turned so she could get the limpet known as her son off his uncle's back. "He demanded my goats."

"He's going to be a bit unhappy." Thor smiled. "Tony's doing an interview. Steve's having a headache on their couch because of the trainees. One of them actually decided he was going to spar against Cap without warning and picked up a hammer. A regular hammer." Thor shook his head, going to check on him. She looked at her pouty son. "You can see him in a minute." She settled him on her desk, moving the keyboard out of the way. "Craig called."

"My pony?" he asked, looking scared.

"Well, she's decided that she wanted to move to Asgard, to Valhalla with your Auntie Buffy. She's up showing the pegasi how to act better since some of them have no manners."

He pouted. "Me no have pony?"

"Craig's looking to see if there's another pony that needs adopted. Like a shelter dog, like on tv?" He smiled at that. He had seen the shelter's telethon to raise money the other day and had begged for them to rescue the shelter. All of them. "So he's looking for a pony from them for you."

"Me visit pony and Auntie?"

"No, you can't visit Valhalla until you're really old. Sorry." She hugged him. "You'll get to see your pony some day, Philip. Until then, you'll get a new pony to love and ride around." She looked at him. "I know it hurts," she said quietly. "But we'll figure it out and hurt together." He nodded, cuddling her. Tony gave her an odd look as he dropped folders on her desk. "His pony decided she had to go teach the pegasi at Valhalla manners, boss."

"Oh." He blinked. "Better than I could do," he mouthed.

"Thor's upstairs."

"I'll see him in a minute." He patted Philip on the head. "She's still loved." Philip nodded, looking up at him. "Maybe you can find a pony locally to love sometimes." Dawn gave him a dirty look for that. "Not always, but maybe." She was still giving him a dirty look. "Why don't you go hug Uncle Steve. He's got booboos."

Dawn wrote out a note. "For Uncle Thor." He nodded, heading up there. "Boss!" she whined once he was out of hearing. "Damn!"

"Sorry," he said. "Just a pony ride in the park?"

"The last time he tried to bring them all home."

"You'll figure it out. You're really smart and a good mom, Dawn." He hurried into the office.

Dawn looked at her phone when it beeped a text message, answering Steve back. He'd stick up for the good, gentle, heroic pets go to Valhalla story. They could use it when and if one of Callia's pets died. Thor was helping by explaining how great Valhalla is for the fallen warriors. Philip decided he wanted to go there some day too but Thor assured him he had many years before then. He had to become a man, he had to do great things, and he had to live up to his pony's gentle nature. Philip hugged him and told him about his pony. And the other horses of course.

***

Clint came off the elevator smoking. Dawn stared at him. "Bad day, dear?"

"Definitely." He put down his bow and took off his arm guard. "The sprout?"

"He's coloring pictures of his pony that went to help the pegasi in Valhalla."

He wince. "Oh no."

"Thor told him how great it was and how the pony had earned her time there by being so gentle and good."

"Yeah, I think it's great that good ponies, kitties, and dogs go to Valhalla to live out a long time of peace and happiness." She smiled and kissed him. "Nat?"

"Not back yet."

Natasha came off the elevator. "You could have waited, Barton."

Dawn looked at her. "You look weird, what's wrong? New mission?"

"Letter." She put it on the counter. The Make A Wish Foundation was the return address.

"Mom and I put around that Make A Wish should send all inquiries to me or her instead of to SHIELD's people. The PR department tends to get bitchy. I'm guessing they followed it?"

"They tried that first and then wrote Joyce." She stared at it then at Dawn. "I...."

Dawn looked at the letter. "You don't have much time to make a choice, Nat. She's in her last month." She let her see it. "Would it hurt?"

"No. No, it would bring comfort." She looked at the enclosed picture, smiling. "She has the wig from my Halloween costume on." She sniffled. "I will go tomorrow." Dawn texted her mother that and got agreement back. Natasha went to pick out what she would wear.

"Wear your uniform," Dawn called after her. "You look different in street clothes."

"I can do that." She went to check on the girls, who were napping, and Philip, who was drawing stick figure ponies. "That's a very good horse, Philip."

He pouted at her. "Our pony went to help the pegasi in Valhalla."

"I'm sorry." She cuddled him. She wouldn't correct that assumption. He was too little to know better. Though she would talk to Dawn and Clint about such lies.

Dawn leaned in and stared at her. "Don't you dare," she mouthed. "He's too damn young. It'll stand until he's older." Natasha rolled her eyes but nodded she could agree with that. "Philip, what're we having for dinner?"

"'Shrooms and 'roni?"

"Pizza?" Dawn asked with a grin. He smiled and nodded. "Okay, we can have pizza." She walked back to the kitchen. Clint was calling it in. "He wanted mushrooms and pepperoni."

"One of yours for you and him, and Nat can share mine. Nat, supreme?"

"Cheese," she said patiently. "You know that." He ordered her a small one and what he wanted, making Natasha shake her head.

"That reminds me, I need to order a video," Dawn muttered, looking it up. "I can't find our copy." She found it online at Amazon and ordered it to be delivered. Clint looked at her so she showed him the title.

"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus?" he asked, looking confused.

"For when they're told there's not one," she mouthed. "It explains it better than I can. Liz is that mean to Chris."

"True, she is." He kissed her and went down to wait on the pizzas. He was starving. He had been beating sense into the trainees since he had gotten there that morning. He hadn't had time for even a bathroom break. This class was so bad.

***

Phil appeared at the temple that night, staring at Xander. "You may not get a single one from this group, especially if Barton or I kill them all."

"Bad day at work?" Xander asked, holding up an arm. Phil sank into his side. Xander cuddled him while reading. "How bad are they?"

"They have no sense. One ran into a wall because he wanted to jump, which we encourage. He knew it was a tight landing area against a wall and the track went to the right after that. He knew it was a two foot gap, easily hopped over without any extra effort. He was so busy showing off that he ran full tilt at it and jumped over it, clearing about five feet into the wall. Then he pulled himself up off the floor to complain. We had the trainees walk the course first. He knew what it looked like. Then he did it again later. Just as hard and as fast. Then complained again.

"Clint looked at him and asked if he was stupid. Did he not remember the first time that day? He huffed and said he was prejudice. Clint told him he was against stupid agents. Everyone else was fine with him. The others all agreed it was our fault for not personally reminding each and every one of them that it was only a two foot gap. So we had to have a talk about what agents got instructed for in the field. How they didn't get that sort of orders. They were expected to have sense and able to make decisions in the field based on their training and what was in the briefing. They tried to file discrimination charges against all of us." Xander snickered. "Really, they did."

"I heard Clint praying for patience."

"So did I. That's why I went to help the preliminary training team. Thankfully we tape all training for later evaluation purposes." He sighed and cuddled in better. Xander wrapped himself around Phil and read the new fantasy novel to him. Phil smiled. It was a sweet gesture.

Clay walked in and paused. "That bad?"

"Worse. Clint started to use real explosive tipped arrows on some of them."

"Hey, a few easy months," he decided. "Put them in the simulator sooner."

Phil smirked. "That's not a bad idea." He sat up to text that to the head trainer then laid back down against Xander. Xander went back to reading to him. Phil put up the new Xander kitten video, making Xander grin. It was a great thing.

***

Joyce and Steve both got called down to the training level the next day. "What's wrong?" Joyce asked.

The head trainer smiled. "We're going to put the trainees in the simulator for the first time. I thought you guys might like to evaluate how it's going to go."

"I heard," Steve said.

"Oh, so much worse," she mouthed. She pointed. "All right, line up!" she shouted. They shuffled over. "We are going to attempt to teach you to use the field work simulator today. It is a part of your training. It is based on prior field missions. Your job is to listen to the briefing, decide on your course of action, and then enact it. It is a full body system. So if you need your person to move, you'd better move them. We'd normally do this next week but I think you all have a very warped view of what we do here." A few pouted. "First, you open the map with your left hand. Flick your pinky up and it opens. Your right thumb calls up your gear profile so you can pick your weapon. You will have a plastic gun in your hand. It also opens your briefing packet."

"We're going to be doing an armed simulation?" one of the women asked.

"Yes. One of the simulations is taking out a well known terrorist as he comes out of his house, before he leaves to rendevous with his cohorts." She blanched, shaking her head. "Sometimes we do shoot in the field. Not always. Depends on your job. Sometimes it's surveillance. Sometimes it's not. Some agents end up on action teams and had to do things like free hostages, including shooting the hostage takers if they think it's necessary." A few shuddered. "You'll get to experience all those and more." She pointed. "First one step up."

"It's a video game."

"It's a learning system," Joyce corrected. "Based on real prior missions. Stark built it for us when we kept getting trainees who couldn't meet the goals and didn't know how to think in the field. It is a quarter of your scores." They sighed but moved to the system. The first one stepped up and looked at the trainer.

"We don't repeat instructions," she told him. "We don't in the field and we don't in here. I told you how to open what you need. If you didn't listen it's your flunking grade." She pointed. He considered it for a minute then opened things. She watched him.

"You should be inconspicious," Steve said. "Walk normally." The trainee huffed but walked. "He's really going to hate the stamina course if he passes on," he told the head trainer.

Who smiled. "Xander will make sure they're up to spec, sir. In more ways than one." She pointed. "Your bad guy's getting away."

"We don't do that," he said, stomping off.

"SHIELD does, kid. So pack," she ordered. He glared at her. She stared back. "That's what we do in the field. Pack." She pointed then looked at the others. She hit the reset button. "Try it." The next one stepped up and read the mission and nodded, heading off to do that. He didn't quite make the target in time to slow him down but he had managed to follow him. "Bad but workable," she said, pointing off to the side. "Stretch to cool down. Sip some water, don't drink too heavily or you'll cramp up." He nodded, moving to do that. Others got into the system and a lot of them had no idea what to do.

"Can our bosses do it?" one of the trainees that had flunked sneered.

"I'm still working back up to shape to run a marathon," Joyce said, staring at him. "If you have two brain tumors you can take that time too." He shrank back. "As for Steve, yes, Captain America can do it in record time because he knows how to get into position to stop the bad guy before he goes too far." Steve nodded. "We don't let him hold the records. Only trainee agents are listed on the records tally. Regular agents don't need this, they've already done all this in the field." She strolled off. "Dear, quit gulping it," she ordered. "You're going to end up making yourself vomit." He ignored her. She called for a medical team. He was going to spew like a vomit fountain soon. They came down to get him and he did end up vomiting. "He was in the system."

"We'll check him, ma'am." They took him up to the infirmary to check him over. They let him rest and cool down then brought him back with the head doctor.

"Agent Silvers?" She looked over then walked over to the doctor. "What's the rule for diabetic field agents?"

"It has to be under good control, your A1c has to be under 7 most of the time. You have to be within other general health parameters. If you're having neuropathy pain in any extremity you have to get medical clearance every six months. Every two if it's extensive or dangerous."

"That's what I thought." He looked at the trainee.

She looked at him too. "You have promise. Are you within those goals?"

"My A1c is high," he admitted. "I had a problem with my insulin this last week."

"Are you on a pen or the stuff you keep in a fridge?"

"The refrigerated type."

"You need to switch to a pen for field missions," she said. "They don't need refrigerated and they're damn handy." He nodded at that. "It solves a few issues. I won't lie and say you'll be on high profile, heavy traveling targets in the field. The few agents we do have who are diabetic are on a lot of surveillance work with minor action."

"I'd like that anyway. I'm not sure I could shoot someone."

"Sometimes it only matters after the fact because you're the one who survived."

He nodded. "I get that. I'd like to still continue."

"You need to switch your insulin."

"I can talk to his doctor," the head doctor said. "We can work on that. He's got no neuropathy that I could tell. His A1c was a bit high but not tragically so. All the training should bring it down."

"Good." She stared at him. "Medic alert?" He shook his head. She nodded. "At least the cheap kind that has the wallet card. Lists that you're diabetic and what you're on." He nodded. "You don't have to put your name on those."

"I can do that, ma'am. Am I still allowed?"

She nodded. "Get that settled tonight if possible. I'll let you off base to get your prescription filled. Return to training tomorrow."

"Yes, ma'am." He went to his room to call his doctor's office. They could handle that switch over.

She looked at the head doc. "Any others?"

"Not that I'm aware of. None of the medical records we got point at any really huge issues."

"Good." She walked off. She sent a note to Joyce and to security. They could help him find the pharmacy since he wasn't a local boy.

***

Later that night, their head HR person had her in her office. "Why did you force a trainee to switch his medicine?"

"Because insulin that you have to keep refrigerated isn't practical in this agency or in the field." The head woman stared at her. "I didn't do more than make him switch to a pen delivery system, which can sit at room temperature for at least a few weeks. Not like he can haul a mini fridge with him in the field. We do allow diabetic agents as long as they are handling their needs and they're within good health guidelines."

"That smacks of discrimination."

"No, it's reality. Fridge insulin has to be kept within certain temperatures all the time until use. He hasn't had access to a fridge because he never told us and went off his insulin, which caused medical problems earlier. A pen version of insulin can sit out between two weeks and forty days, depending on the brand. All he'll need to refrigerate is later pens. Which his handler can probably do if necessary and it's going to run that long. He'll need screw-on needle tips, readily available in most countries. As are the insulin pens. He was informed of the medical guidelines he'll have to keep up. He meets all but one and is working on that one."

"We have guidelines?"

"Yes. We've had type one and type two diabetics on field teams in the past. It's worked well, the guidelines are built on common sense. The trainees have to learn to deal with field agent thoughts, not just training ones. If they graduate they turn into field agents."

"We have a very high turn down rate."

"We have very high standards," she corrected. "We need them. They're realistic in the field."

"Surely agents can work up to it."

"How?" she demanded, staring at the woman. "If they're not ready to start field work when they graduate training then they're of no use to the agency."

"Military basic training leads to advanced training."

"You get that in ours but you still have to be able to work field cases. You get your advanced training by going into the field with your mentor. When you're back here you get the more esoteric subjects given to you. The ones on the assassin track are tracked to an assassin mentor who teaches them the specialist skills they need. Very few have come in that haven't needed the mentor but we evaluate their skills and fill in any shortcomings and offer them extra training that they feel may be warranted. The last one of those was Agent Romanoff. Before her it was Agent Barton and before him it was the guy who finished rounding off Agent Barton's training for three months to make sure he had all the skills beyond what he thought he had."

"We have agents who go out to sex up people for information?"

"Do you think they just have tea?" she asked dryly. "Sometimes it takes that approach."

"That's not legal."

"It is legal. We're a counter terrorism organization. We fight them on whatever level we have to. Whether it's shooting them because we have to, or sexing up someone to get information, or whatever. That's the job."

"That's illegal."

"Then take it up with the bosses." She walked off.

"I'm not done with you."

"Yes you are before I punch you in the nose." She went up to warn Joyce and Steve, finding only him. "Sir?" He waved her in, putting down his pen with a sigh of relief. "Don't sound so happy. I just got told by HR that us having agents like Agent Romanoff was illegal. It was unfair that I made a recruit switch his insulin to something he could use in the field, and that apparently reality isn't working for her."

He winced. "Joyce was wondering when that would happen. Who?"

"Head of HR. The dyed redhead."

He nodded. "We'll talk to her tomorrow. The revised training guidelines?" She pointed at a file. He got up to get it, reading it over. "We lowered them?"

"The running one and the lifting with your legs and hands ones," she admitted. "We had to. No one was passing." He grimaced. "The military has the same problem, sir."

"Great." He looked at her. "How many are going on?"

"Maybe three, including the diabetic one."

He shook his head. "Xander's going to be bored."

"Probably, sir. Though it's nice that I have one that wants to be an assassin and can't climb anything." Steve smiled. "What do you want me to do?"

"Do they meet the original ending guidelines?"

"Yes. Xander kept his steady."

"Good. If we only send three then it happens I guess. We have high expectations and needs. If the recruits can't match those then they need to find another agency to work for. That's blunt but reality. We had new agents saying they weren't prepared for chasing down someone in training exercises because it had been too long of a run."

"I heard that and congratulated Mr. Cross on outdoing all of the class. It did let us break up that pack of arrogance that they had going and let us separate the last few into training areas." He smiled and nodded. "Any orders coming our way?"

"No. If you only pass on three, start the newest class sooner?"

"I can do that, Captain." She saluted and left. He had smiled, he always did when they saluted him. She saw the lady from HR lurking and shrugged. "I told on myself. It's what an adult does."

"We'll be talking to the HR representative tomorrow," Steve called. "As I'm about to go home." He came out putting on his leather jacket. "Joyce said we're free at ten. Show up then please." She nodded stiffly and left. He looked at the head trainer, shaking his head. "How did the sim go after we left?"

"Two more passed it."

"So that's five, six?"

"Six, sir."

"It happens," he sighed. "See if Agent Coulson can up that somehow? Also remember to include the new training on what an ascension is and looks like and things like demon apocalypses. It's been too long since we had one."

"I can do that during class time tomorrow." He smiled and went down to get his motorcycle. He'd have a forty-five minute ride around the city then make it home for dinner and kid time. It let him calm down and not scream about how bad things were at the office when he lost his mind.

***

Phil walked in the next morning. "I'm Senior Agent Phil Coulson."

"You're gay," one of the male agents said.

Phil stared at him. "I'm also one of the agents above your training, happily married, and if you try to piss me off again you can be expelled now instead of when you continue to flunk the physical goals." The agent ducked his head down. "We are here today because we are going to go over demonic ascensions and demonic apocalypse battles. Both of which the average SHIELD agent is on to help with. Some of you will be moving civilians and some of you will be fighting, depending on which unit you're in." He turned on the first film. "This is a young woman during her final ascension rite." He let them see it, seeing who flinched and who didn't.

"Sir, that's what was in DC," one of the female trainees said.

"Yes it was. There were three in DC. There's one that may be attempting it in six months during the next eclipse. This stage can only happen during an eclipse."

"Can we capture them?" another trainee asked.

"No. There is no known way to change them back. They did this of their own free will. They can and do eat humans, and anything else that they find that's alive. At the largest version they can eat up to ten people an hour. The only known way to kill them is to take off their heads or to manifest an instant volcano." He smiled slightly. "We have evidence that one was happening when Vesuvius erupted to bury Pompeii. What methods do you propose would be useful if and when you run into one?

"Run like hell and hope that I don't leave a brown river behind me," one muttered.

"You're a SHIELD agent, we only use tactical retreats," Phil told him, making him shudder. "That is an urge you will learn to fight. It's a healthy one in most people but not for agents in situations that are dangerous but must be cured. We have all had that urge and had to fight it to complete missions." They all nodded at that. He looked around. "Any others?"

"Stringing wires across a street and luring it that way?" one suggested.

"That would damage the head. It might slow it down. They don't slither backward very well." She nodded. "Any other ideas?"

"We could rig up something and bait them into it. Is that happened to that one slayer's graduation?" Phil nodded. "They baited it and blew up the school right?"

"Yes."

"What killed the ones in DC?"

"Mystical weapons thanks to the Valkyries." They all groaned. "No, they're not a common solution and probably not one we'll ever have again. So when we see one in six months, what do you think is the proper course of action?"

"Call in the Avengers since big stuff like that is their job, sir, and then move civilians."

"That's a wise course of action but if you have to, you may have to shoot at the demon to get it off the civilians." He stared at him. "Or if you're on an action team you may be the bait or the moving force by driving them away from some civilians or buildings." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Beyond that very sensible solution what others can you see?"

"Get higher level weapons to fire at the head and neck," one said. "Artillery grade? Can we call in the military?"

"If something like that happens, you report it and we'll call in the SGC and any other attending military units," Phil agreed. "We have had agents that have commandeered a jet and used the weapons on it at one in Spain." They all nodded. "Beyond that, what else can you do?"

"Hope like hell Alexander gets there," that sensible one said.

Phil nodded. "Always a good idea but he tends to feel those happening and shows up." He changed the video. "This is the last demonic apocalypse we had, which happened because they were scared of the ascension that you just saw. It was demons panicking and rioting to get away from her father, who had done it first, and her. Solutions?"

"Public announcements and water hoses?" one said.

"That blue one is allergic to water. It'll melt and kill them."

"The red one is shooting things at humans."

"His fingernails. We asked him why he was doing that when we put him on trial, he said he was driving the humans off so they weren't in the way as they all ran for the border." Phil looked at them. "Any other ideas?"

"Channeling them into an alley and yelling at them until they calmed themselves and told us? Did we know it wasn't like the one before then by that time?"

"No. We were not aware. There are methods for them to tell us so we are made aware. There were then, they did not think to use them in their panic." Phil looked around. "Anything else?"

"How did it get cured?"

"We had the LA office and the LAPD put up nets around an area and herded them into it then used knock out gas. We have a recipe that's useable on most species safely. Including their young. Because killing their children will cause a real riot." They all nodded at that. He changed the video. "This is the first demonic problem in LA." He looked up with a frown, sending a thought at Xander, who was figuring out what it was.

He tapped his phone's screen to get a number. "It's Coulson. What is going on in Washington State and downtown?" He listened to the current reports. "Send Secreva up to Washington. All the Avengers are on this coast. If Dawn wants to go, she may, yes. Or Tara." He listened. "That's bad." He hung up and sent a yell at Xander. "We have a huge demon of unknown origin coming through a portal downtown. For now, go to the gym and up your stamina. You're all presently not passing your physical benchmarks."

He left, heading down there in an agent SUV. He loosened his tie as he got out of the SUV. "I am Senior Agent Phil Coulson. What are you doing invading our realm?" he demanded calmly but quietly, using his powers to translate it. The demon bowed to him and said something. "Of course we'll take the human hostages you've found during a war. People, get them some medics. They were having a battle against an enemy and found they had humans captive." They called that in and got paramedics. The large demon handed over the humans and said something. Phil stared at him. "If she wishes to stay and your people don't care, we don't. If not, we would appreciate her back as well. She could call one of you to come get that child if you wanted." The demon turned to tell them that. She got walked through, being respected as she walked. "'Ma'am, I'm Senior Agent Coulson with SHIELD."

She smiled. "I would stay and give birth to the baby there but it's likely it will kill me and I'd rather give them the safe heir."

"We can arrange that. How can she get in touch with you later?" he asked the demon. They handed her something and went back home. He led her over to the SHIELD SUV. "Right to our infirmary. She's carrying their heir to the throne and needs human help until she delivers. Then it's up to her if she goes back with the child." She smiled and patted him on the hand, accepting his help into the seat. The agent drove her back and he sent a message to Joyce to help her. She'd do good with that. He walked over to ask about the others. "They didn't mention anything about poisons."

"We're not seeing many, just slave labor injuries mostly, Agent Coulson." One of the paramedics looked at him. "They're all going to NYU's quarantine unit in case they had germs we don't. You can come get statements there."

"Agreed." He pointed at a few agents and then the paramedics, getting nods back. "As they can," he ordered. "Inform us then the families."

"Yes, sir." They followed the ambulances. Phil waited until they were all done to go to Washington. He walked up behind Tara, who was crying. "Did you upset her?"

"Her kind is an unholy abomination."

"Then leave this plane," Phil said simply. The demon sneered. "You're creating a dangerous, pushy action that will mean we will fight you and destroy any of your people we want to. Did you mean to do that?"

"You are ours." Phil shot him and he died.

"No, I've got an owner. Her name's Melissa." Tara laughed, hugging him. He called in more help so when the portal opened everyone was there to fire on the demons as soon as they stepped over. A few were whining but yay.

A child ran out. "Stop it!" Phil made sure nothing hit them. "What are you doing?"

"The first one through was hostile and made sure we were going to kill any invading people."

The child stared at him. "We did not mean to invade. We need refuge from a great disaster happening. He was to ask for refuge."

"He told us we're all his," Phil said dryly. "Captain?" He stepped forward to talk to the child. Xander appeared and opened a portal then pointed at someone and there. He came over and the child screamed, hiding behind Steve. "Xander?"

"The great disaster is known as Zeus's offspring." He glared at Zeus. "Must you?"

"I sent him away."

Xander pointed. Zeus looked at their world and groaned, going over there to stop his son. Xander and Phil revived the killed demons. All but the first one. The child started to cry and grabbed someone to cry on. Xander tipped her face up. "My name is Alexander. I am the God Protectorate of Humanity. If you yell for me from this plane I will come. Or whoever talks to you will summon me." The child nodded. "Pick a better messenger."

"I will. I'm sorry he alarmed people."

"We've had a few demonic and other realm invasions that were harmful. We're a bit jumpy," Xander said with a smile. Zeus came back. "Is he stopped?"

"I chained him up." Hera appeared and looked then blasted the bastard she had always hated more than Hercules. "Well, doesn't matter now," he decided. "You're free to go home."

Hera looked at the child. "You did a brave thing. Some day, lead people better." She left.

Xander rolled his eyes, making the child smile. "Hera and Zeus."

"We've heard stories," he said quietly. "We will go home," he said loudly. "They have taken care of their disaster." They went to check then the rest were allowed back. "Thank you for your help."

"Next time, just tell us first what the problem is and we can solve it without harming anyone peaceful. We love peaceful relations," Xander said. He nodded and got carried back. Xander closed the portal once the rest were over there, including their lone dead body. "Well, that's a good outcome. Two for two today being peaceful." He looked at Phil, who smiled slightly. "You're making dinner."

"Talsa's off with the Valkyries again?"

"Music festival in Berlin," Xander muttered. "Unless you want stew?"

"Dinner at that diner?"

Xander smiled. "I'd like that." He disappeared. A few of the junior agents went 'aww' but Steve glaring made them stop.

"Let's clean up," Steve ordered. "We have things to do back at the office." They cleaned up their mess and left it in the hands of the local State Police. "Agent Coulson, write a report."

"On his date?" one of the junior agents quipped with a grin.

Phil looked at him. "If he wants to know about my date, he can ask. Try for some professionalism. Joke on your lunch."

"Yes, sir," he said, blushing and looking down.

"If I wanted to know, I'd ask Joyce because she still makes sure Xander's very happy," Steve told him. Phil smirked at that. "Trainees." Phil went that way. The HR woman was screaming at Joyce so he went to stop that. "That level of discontent should be solved by someone retiring," he ordered, staring at her. "We are not the sensitive people police, ma'am. We're agents. We deal with people who kill others for their views on how the world should be, and some who do it because they think it's fun. I don't rightly care what you think should happen. SHIELD is run the way it does because it's practical, reasonable, and reality for us to run this way. We're not going to change so we're coddling agents, babying them, making them be more sensitive. We hunt down bad guys and handle them. That's the entire job description. We can't do that when we're worrying about offending an agent by making practical rules. If you think that's unfair, have a great time in your new job."

"That's not legal. It's not within government guidelines."

"Ma'am, we're outside government guidelines. I'm more polite than half the agents in this agency because of when I grew up. I'm very certain any of the female agents in this agency are able to back me up if I'm in the field, the same as all the other agents should be. I may hold open doors but I do respect the female agents we have. They have rules for their safety and comfort in the field. So do the men. So do any with long-term health issues."

"You force women into uncomfortable sexual situations."

"No, any woman or man sent on those assignments has volunteered for that duty knowing what it entailed, has been trained to handle things reasonably well, and if something they didn't expect happens they're all experienced field agents so they can solve the issues. We don't send new agents out on that," Joyce explained.

"It's only been in the last twenty years that women were sent out as more than molls, secretaries, and other menial people," Steve told her. "Most of that is now up to the agent."

"You force men...."

"They know what they're being asked to do," Joyce assured her. "They're trained for it and they asked for that training. We don't demand, we don't send out unprepared people." The woman glared at her. Joyce stared back. "My infant granddaughter is more fierce." The HR representative huffed off screaming they'd see that she was right. She looked at Steve. "Congress?"

"President. Have to report on the portals anyway." He got beamed to DC after he changed his shirt. The president's assistant looked up at him. "Ma'am."

"Captain, he said you'd probably show up. He's in a meeting with his wife over his daughter's new boyfriend."

"I can wait. Means I don't have to do paperwork for Congress." He sat down to read the paper.

The president came up the hall. "Captain, why did we unshoot those demons?"

He looked over. "Because their messenger misrepresented their cause. The child that got us to stop told us what was going on. We solved it, it was a humane gesture by Alexander."

"That's good to know." He stared at him. "The other one?"

"They were at war with another group, found human slaves when they invaded. One human is carrying their noble heir and she's requested medical attention to help her deliver because it's looking bad for her health. Then she'll decide to go back or not. Joyce had her in the SHIELD infirmary and I think we've given her a room near it so we can keep track but also debrief her about that war and the peoples involved."

"Good idea. Again, humane." He stared at him. "You look peeved."

"Someone in HR just told us we're evil because we have agents who sometimes have to use sexual methods, we're insensitive to the agents, we're pushy and make arbitrary rules about things like long-term health management in the field agents, and that we're basically against her laws."

"Ah, you ran into one of them," the president said. "Come tell me about her. I'm sure she'll complain to some news people somewhere."

"Frankly, we told her to find another agency to work with." He folded the paper and followed him into the office. Joyce sent the tape from the office to his phone so the president could hear it.

"Diabetic?"

"They were told to use an insulin pen since they don't require constant refrigeration and they had to meet certain medical goals."

"Sounds reasonable. I can look those over just in case." He shook his head. "I've known you have other agents that do what Agent Romanoff used to do. They're trained?"

"Yes, and they've either requested the duty or if someone in training thinks they have the right makeup they're talked to about it and allowed to make a decision."

"Sounds reasonable to me. Sounds perfectly legal too." Steve relaxed and smiled. "You'll find a lot of them. They're the children of hippies that thought we should all get along and get stoned together. You'll find some things like that to make you wonder about the modern world. Like that woman who sued because her coffee was hot."

"I asked about that. She got second and third degree burns, sir. How are you supposed to drink coffee that hot? Which was the point of her suit and apparently she was only suing for medical reimbursement until they got painfully stupid."

"Figures. I've done that a few times but I've never burned myself that much."

"Dawn found pictures, sir. She had some really bad, really ugly burns."

"Ow. My wife would've ripped them apart with her nails for skin grafts. Then sued." Steve smiled. "If any complaints are filed we'll look at your rules to see where Nick Fury screwed them up."

"I think Joyce made the diabetes rule but I'm not sure."

"Still sounds logical and good to me. Go back to those forms. Congress gets pissy when you don't give them all that they want."

"I'm glad it's only once a year." He got sent back. Joyce was already holding her head while talking into the phone about her. "The president said it sounds logical to him and if she's filed any charges or complaints they'd look at them case by case as they came up." Joyce repeated that and hung up. "Press?"

"Yes. Fox News."

"Great." He sat down to get back to his half of the paperwork. Joyce's desk looked a lot cleaner than his. She took half of it to work on for him, making him smile. "Thanks."

"Welcome."

***

Dawn finally spotted Bucky and walked up to him, swatting him hard. He scowled at her. "For teaching Philip to call them boobs." She walked off.

"They are boobs."

"They're breasts, Barnes. Not boobs, not 'mammary food sources'. Breasts. The same as I don't want you to teach him any cutesy names for his dick. It's dick, cock, or penis please."

"Whatever," he complained, shaking his head. He gave the woman he had been talking to a slight shrug and a grin. "I don't know. Dawn's picky that way."

She smiled. "I guess some mothers are. I know one that taught her daughter to call her parts 'hoo haws'."

Bucky smiled. "I've known a few of those. Including Stevie's mom." He heard a yell and looked, scowling as he headed for the mess. "What the hell are you doing!" he shouted as he stomped. "Get away from her!" Security teams were coming out to help. Dawn could fight some but she didn't want to kill them so she couldn't really fight the civilians or whoever they were. Bucky shoved some out of his way. The crowd tried to disperse but NYPD was there too; they always kept people around the towers to keep down protests, adoring fans, and people who hated Dawn. The security teams had tossed shielding units up to contain the crowd once they got to Dawn. Bucky helped Dawn to lie flat the ground, checking her pulse. "Guys, we need Doc." They called that in.

"Goddess fucking move, people, before *I* kill you," Stark said over a PA system. The group parted for him and the doctor team. "What happened?"

"They gathered and decided to stone her," Bucky said quietly. He pointed at them. "There's something solid in the center of the foam of the few I walked on."

Tony squished one. "Real rocks padded by an eighth of an inch of cheap foam. Great." He helped him lift Dawn onto the stretcher, letting the doctors take her back up to the infirmary. Tony looked at the nearest officer. "Any idea why they did this? Though I would've liked Dawn to have blasted them all to pieces for it."

"They're church people from what they're praying." They gathered up all the rocks they could and took the crowd off. The officer stopped in front of Tony. "Tell us if we have to up it from simple assault and battery," he said quietly.

"You'll hear when they all die," Tony promised. "I can't hold off her wife."

"Try, sir, please." He left with them. That warning was a good one. Agent Romanoff was sneaky and fit in anywhere. As proven by her taking statements from one of them. He walked her off. "Ma'am, please let us."

"I wanted to know what they were thinking with as it clearly wasn't their brains."

"Still, let us do it so the arrests are legal." Natasha tipped her head. "She's in the infirmary."

"I will return to see what they were thinking." She looked at one. Who shrank back from her. "What were you thinking that would accomplish beyond angering many people?" She walked over, staring down at him. "I will know or I will pull it from your soul."

"She's showing people the godless paths," she said, her voice shaky.

"Hmm. You sound like a member of the Taliban. Are you?" she asked.

"I'm nothing like them!" she shouted, hopping up.

Natasha stared at her. "You might reconsider that answer. Because you are." She looked at an officer, breaking the hand that tried to hit her. She looked at the crying woman. "Your god is not one that anyone else wants. You may be the American Taliban but the rest of us worship a different God, one who is much less arrogant." She walked off. "I will let you know if you need to adjust charges."

"Please announce it without use of weapons, explosives, or poisons, Agent Romanoff," one of the officers said. "We wouldn't want to lose any officers."

She quirked an eyebrow while staring at him. "Do you think I would be that careless?"

"I'd hope not," he said. "But we do tend to run toward emergencies and might get caught."

She tipped her head and smiled slightly. "I will take that into account should I decide to use such methods instead of more subtle things." She walked out and found a cab waiting, smiling at the officer holding the door for her. "Thank you."

"We'd like you to keep Stark calm, ma'am. We can only imagine what he could build to destroy them. Or his daughter."

Natasha smiled. "I will attempt that." She got into the cab. "Stark towers."

"Yes, ma'am." He drove off. He waved off the fee. "The officer paid me."

She paid him anyway. "I make a better salary. I'll make sure they're reimbursed." She got out and walked inside. "Stark, we have been asked to not poison, blow up, or kill them in the jails so we do not harm any officers by accident and I was asked to stop you from building something with your eldest."

"I'm trying to keep Callia from doing that. I'm not succeeding very well. She stomped off crying and vowing to kill them." Clint walked in with Callia, who wasn't crying. "Hey." He took her to cuddle.

"She knows if we're going to do something she's too young and can be creative in other ways that won't possibly injure innocent thugs or officers." Clint plopped down next to Dawn's bed. "Doc?"

"Huge concussion. No fracture," Shivs said. "Bloodwork is good. All her numbers are good outside the concussion. We'll move her to a private room in a few, Barton. Sit, Romanoff." She sat on the foot of Dawn's bed. She took Callia and let her climb up to hug her aunt. That calmed her down.

Tony smiled. "She reacts like her aunt when things happen," he said quietly. He looked at the doctor. "How long before she wakes up?" Shivs shrugged. "Okay. Anything we can do to help, anything we need to help her?"

"We need to update the CT and MRI machines."

"I'm working with the medical people on a smaller, faster version," Callia said quietly. "They needed someone to scan."

"I'll see what we can do," Tony agreed. Shivs nodded. "Did you put in an order?"

"I figured we'd see what you guys had built. The rest are about what we have." Tony nodded. "Did you find a problem with the scanners?"

"You have to reset after a thousand people and recalibrate it. Which is three times as long as the others. We put that out in the literature."

"I never read the instructions since you guys set it up," he said dryly. "Give us an hour to monitor her in here then we'll move her." Natasha and Clint nodded. "Guys, kids?"

"Daycare," Tony said. He pointed. "Has anyone told Joyce?"

Clint winced and pulled out his phone. She expected the bad news from him. "Anastasia, has Joyce or Steve been told anything about a mob trying to stone Dawn?" He winced. "Bruce is hulked out because of it and he's trying to calm her down. Tell them Dawn's just got a concussion. A bad one but just a concussion. We think she'll wake up tonight. The kids are in the daycare and we'll grab them in a while." Callia laughed. "Just yell it wherever they are. One of them will hear. Thanks, Anastasia." He hung up. "It's not good. Steve nearly hulked up."

Tony nodded. "I nearly hulked up, Barton." He sat down with a sigh. "Okay." He looked around.

"He's at home until the second surgery," Pigalli said. "Cross is at the temple finishing his healing with Jason."

Tony nodded. "Okay. We can wait."

***

An officer on duty by the tower to make sure nothing else was going on stared. There was the Hulk. He was following his wife promising to smash whoever Joyce wanted. He thought his friend in the LAPD was funny when he said that the Hulk was less scary than his wife. "Ma'am, she's in the infirmary," he said with a point. "They're all under arrest."

"Good," she growled. "It'll mean less area I have to hunt them through." She looked back. "Bruce, I could use you. Really. Before I lose my temper and turn green too." He started to change back. As soon as he could he picked her up to hug her. She calmed herself down and they went inside once Bruce fit through the doors.

The officer sighed and said a quiet prayer of thanks. He called his boss. "Sir I just saw the Hulk trying to calm his wife down. He barely managed it. Clearly there's a reason why they gave the nice, motherly sort the helm of SHIELD. Because I think she could take over somewhere that the Taliban has and make it more mannerly and more happy." His boss asked him something. "No, sir, not drinking anything. She ordered him to change and he did, sir. Yes, I'm sure it was the Hulk, sir. He was ten feet tall and green. Who else would it be?" He calmed himself. "In the infirmary." He hung up when he spotted someone watching. "Making a report, ma'am."

"We're all amazed too. We just thought Joyce Banner had manners and class. We didn't know she had a temper." The reporter walked off. They had film of that. She had used her phone once she had spotted the Hulk stomping their way. There was no way anyone would believe that Joyce had that much control or anger. She uploaded it to her magazine's site without pausing to ask. Her editor started to yell then he watched it. He thanked her and told her to get out of there before something exploded and killed her. She took her coffee to their office to write a story to go with that video.

An hour later, the officer's phone rang. "Yes, sir?" he answered. "Yes, sir, that's what happened. As I told you. Infirmary, sir. They haven't come out yet. I can do that, sir." He hung up and went into the main tower. "Our precinct Captain asked that if he's going to stay Hulked up could you please warn us," he asked the security guards quietly. "So we can clear an area?"

The guard nodded. "We'll call." The officer smiled and went back to his post. The guard sent that up to the infirmary. They could probably use some levity at the moment.

***

Tony Stark walked into the Mayor's office a few hours later, looking highly displeased. "Let me guess, he's one of them?"

"What are you talking about?" the Mayor asked. "Did we have an appointment, Mr. Stark?"

"We're talking about your head DA." He turned on the tv to show the on-going news coverage. The Mayor winced at what they were saying about his appointee. Tony looked at him. "So, what are we going to do about this?"

"That is not my decision."

Tony gave him a look. "Bullshit. I've been around more than long enough to know how the political dance works. Beyond that, he's your brother-in-law. Do you think they won't crucify you as well? Especially since it's an election year."

"I know it is."

Someone knocked and walked in. "Stark, the president wants to talk to you about them charging those people in federal court instead since Dawn is technically an adjunct SHIELD agent." The Mayor winced again. He stared at him then at Stark again. "I'm told the Chief of Staff went jogging up the halls of the White House when he heard about this."

"I'm just glad I didn't Hulk out," Tony said. "We sure they will?"

"Yes, they will be. The head of the local Federal Prosecutors will be at the infirmary in an hour to have both spouses sign papers to get her medical records for this incident."

"Good." He looked at the Mayor. Then at Coulson. "Let's go."

"If you remove the towers to North Dakota, it'll create a lot of stress on Pepper."

Tony grimaced. "She probably wouldn't mind and we could create the sort of compound we wanted in LA but Dad said wasn't always practical. I could even create an area for the kids to destroy things and roller skate safely."

"Yes, and the cost of living is lower so the scientists like that more," Coulson agreed. "But Dawn couldn't be quite as flirty out there."

"Possibly true."

"If you want to sell the land around under the towers, it'll go for a good bit," the Mayor said.

Tony smirked. "And with it would go over three thousand jobs." The Mayor did wince. "Plus their taxes from their incomes. Beyond that, nothing that got put in there would ever equal Stark International." He walked off with Coulson. "Anything else to note?"

"She's going to wake up," he said quietly. "Her mind's ... she's basically hallucinating right now. She'll be fine and wake up with a headache and a strange dream."

"When?"

"Within a few days."

"Good. By then we might have Joyce calmed down." Phil shook his head. They went back to the infirmary, finding Xander there reading to the kids. Joyce was sitting stone stiff and silent with Bruce beside her. Tara was there with the sets of twins and Maria was there reading a report on her PDA. Tony walked in. "Did we miss anything?"

"Federal prosecutor," Bruce said quietly. "Very happy to put hate crime laws to good use."

"That'll be good and hopefully he shames the local DA," Tony said. He looked over as Pepper came in. "Problems?"

"Few. The local DA is an idiot." Tony nodded. "The Mayor just went on air saying you tried to apply pressure."

Tony smiled as he walked outside. He found a few reporters hanging around. "What did he say?" They showed him the video on their phones. "I did go down to talk to him about his moron. I have no idea why a prosecuting attorney won't press charges against a group that stoned someone in New York City."

"He said they didn't mean harm," one of the reporters said.

Tony snorted, looking around and finding one of the stones that hadn't been picked up. He walked over to pick it up, testing it. He tossed it at them. "You tell me."

They felt it. "It's padded around a solid core." They cut it open and found a large rock. "Really." Tony nodded. "How is Dawn?"

"Bad concussion. We'll be lucky if she wakes up tomorrow. We know she will but not when." They nodded. "Joyce is barely able to get words out."

Xander walked out. "Stark, want me to take her kids tonight?"

"If you and Coulson want, Xander. I'm sure they won't mind."

"Clint's clinging to Philip and Lexi. Mira's complaining that mom's hugging her."

"Then ask them," Tony said. Xander nodded. "She'll be fine," he said quietly.

Xander nodded. "I know. If not, she'll be in the warrior's hall. I'll let you guys visit all you want. Though, if she dies, not even Phil will be able to make me protect that DA and others. I'm actually having a doubt that parts of humanity are worth saving and that says something coming from me." He disappeared back to the infirmary. "Guys, want me to bring them home with me?" he asked quietly.

Clint looked at Philip. "Want to go home with Uncle Xander tonight?"

"Girls?" he asked.

"You, Tara's kids and mine, and the girls," Phil promised. "You guys can bug Jensen." Philip gave him a shy grin and held up his arms. He took him to cuddle. "We'll go read and play with the war puppies." Philip nodded, leaning down to kiss Natasha on the hair. Xander took the girls and the diaper bag, taking them home. Phil came back for the other kids and they settled in to play.

Jensen leaned in. "Clay wanted to know if we're having a night off. Hey, guys. Clay, the kids are all here," he called. "So we've gotta lock the doors."

"We can do that." He came up behind Jensen. "Hey, guys. Oh, Philip and the girls too."

"Mommy tick," Philip said. "Bad guys got her."

Xander hugged him. "Your daddy and mommy are going to get the bad guys if I leave them any." Philip smiled at him.

Jensen came in to play with the kids. They all adored him. "I'll be back after bedtimes, Clay."

"We can handle it," Phil said quietly.

Jensen looked at him. "It's cool. They can help me." He smiled at the kids. "I'm going to call my niece on the computer." They smiled and helped him call her. She babbled at them and got happy he had kids around to play with. The kids asked her all sorts of questions about what it was like where she lived. Melissa even sighed in pleasure at having tiny schools and a lot of grass to play on. She'd like that more than the city schools. Jensen hugged her too. They all got happy and then the kids spotted the Xander kitten videos on the wall. They watched them while Jensen talked to his niece. She finally had to hang up so she could go to bed. He hung up and went to help get the kids ready for bedtimes. No one complained because it was the temple and there were plenty of dogs to help them sleep. Even the youngest two got furry guardians who were highly overprotective.

When Philip started to have nightmares and cry, Xander went in to comfort him. They could cuddle and talk. Xander looked out at the barking going on. "That's one of the puppies. Stay here."

"Bad guys?" he asked quietly.

"Better not be. I'll make them chunks of bad guys." He walked out carefully, looking in the girls' room. Yup there was a bad guy. Xander walked in and held a gun to the back of his head. "Put Mira down."

Philip looked in. "Dumbass. You stole Lexi that time, not Mira." He huffed off to wake up Uncle Phil. No Uncle Phil. He ran to the next temple, which was John's, but it was locked. He found the temple the Losers had and climbed in a window, tugging on Roque's arm. "Bad guys tried for sissies!"

"Fuck, I'll kill them all," Roque growled, stomping over there. "Xander?"

"Dead," he noted. "He's very dead. Mira needs a bath." He looked over. "Why did he get you?"

"No Daddy," Melissa said from the doorway. Roque blocked her view. "I've seen Mommy Tara beat some idiot breaking in with a frying pan."

"Phil?" Xander called. No answer. "Huh." He searched their bond. Phil was unconscious. "Melissa, go get your siblings. Bring them to John's temple." She nodded, running to get them up. "Roque, he's unconscious," he said quietly. "I'm going to lose my shit."

"Good. We can help with that." He got the girls moved there. Jensen got Philip moved in there. The kids got most of the war dogs outside of Xander's personal one, Hellion. Clay's team armed up and they went to get them back together. One of the SGC guys they trusted came up to watch the kids and the dogs.

Melissa looked at the open doorway and peeked through. "That's 'Lantis." She walked off, finding a guard and tugging on his sleeve until he looked down at her. "Uncle Xander and Uncle Clay's team went to find Uncle Phil since someone knocked him out and someone tried to steal Mira again. We're at Uncle John's temple with the war puppies. Can you let him know so he can go help them?"

"I can do that. Let me make sure you get back there okay, young lady." He walked her back there, nodding at the SGC guard. "Bad?"

"Yup. Very. Xander took Hellion and the Losers. He looked pissed."

"I'll tell the Colonel." He turned and found Rodney there. "Where's the Colonel?"

"On a date." He looked over and went to help. "Here, I'll clean Mira up. Melissa, can you help me change Lexi?"

"They have poop 'pic medals," Philip said. "Really gross and 'splody."

"I'm sure they do have pooping olympic medals," Melissa agreed. "Craig and Danielle used to too. Mommy was not amused when they did it at the same time."

Philip nodded and pointed at his sisters. "Mira jealous."

"Huh." She helped Uncle Rodney change their diapers while he cleaned the blood off Mira. They all looked up at the loud scream of rage. "Oooh, someone hurt Hellion."

"I'm pretty sure Xander can handle it," Rodney said. "You guys all snuggle in for the night." They all found beds and snuggled in. He got a few of their guards to help. Something felt wrong and the shields around the temple were shaking. He could see them trembling. He looked out. The one for the whole compound was solid. Thor's goats were staring at one direction. They were too calm. The last time he'd seen them that calm, Thor was showing up to hitch them up so they could hit a battle.

Loki appeared, taking a deep breath. "They were trying to make my son-in-law produce more offspring," he said quietly. "My son is not amused. Especially when someone shot at Hellion. Ares has healed him but Xander is going to destroy part of a city."

"New York?" Melissa asked. "I have to warn Mommy."

"No, in Tunisia."

"How did they get them there?" Rodney asked quietly.

"I believe we'll...." He had to stop and wince as a powerful bolt went across the universe. "Well, I believe they'll need to nominate some of their many immortal offspring for that war god position and there should be another one coming." He looked up. "They have a lot of daughters who could fill in." He went to note that. The other god died and Loki winced at how brutal it was. John came out of nowhere to help. "Abath," he said, nodding at the senior goddess coming his way. "They took my son-in-law hostage. Xander still has a temper. Perhaps a female war god?" He walked over to wake up Phil. It was the only thing that was going to stop his son from destroying everyone. Phil blinked at him. "Your husband is going batshit insane," he said pleasantly.

"You are not the one I want to wake up to." He heard the new blast of power. "That was John." He sat up with help and looked over. "Xander?" he called. Hellion was down. He got up to check him. "Shit, Hellion."

"Ares healed him," Loki said. "I'll send him back to the kids, shall I?" He did that.

Phil stood up and got between the warring gods. Not that it was much of a battle. He stared at Xander, who stared back. "I'm okay."

"They disrespected not only my marriage and us, but they were trying to harm you by making you father children."

"I'm snipped, Xander. They can't do that." He put a hand over his, absorbing the power ball he had in his palm. "We need to go calm down the kids." Xander looked at him. "We do. They'll worry." Xander looked over but Phil tipped his head down. "We can deal with them formally," he said quietly. "Please?" Xander shivered. "Xander?" Xander leaned over to sniff his neck. "It's still there. I covered it earlier when I was outside because I keep getting burned there." He removed the covering over his mark. Xander tasted it and relaxed, slowly hugging him. "We'll go soothe the kids," he said quietly. "We'll deal with them when we're calm. Especially since they nearly hurt some friend's children and my mortal children." The elder goddess glared. "The offer of me not calming him down stands," he said.

"You are not meant to lead."

"Yet I do. I lead many things." He blasted her and the others around into nothingness. "I won't have you disrespecting Xander."

Xander grinned. "You destroyed someone for me."

"I did. They needed it." He took a kiss. "Let's go calm down the kids and check on Hellion."

"He's fine," Loki promised. "Ares did heal him." Xander looked at him. "Melissa is trying a healing spell." They went back to stop her and show her how to do them properly by doing it for her. Loki sighed, looking around. The first of the immortal children appeared. "They disrespected Xander's relationship. He lost his temper."

"The last time he created a bald spot," one of them complained.

"Hasn't much changed," Loki admitted. "Then Phil did for trying to harm Xander and the children they have, plus a few friend's children." He stared at her. "They were trying to force Phil to father a child."

She shook her head. "None of us would carry one."

"You need to replace some people. I suggest you go to Hestia peacefully when you've made those decisions to register them." She nodded and walked off to summon the others home. Loki went to check with Ares, who was showing Melissa animal healing spells. Craig and Daneille were about four and a half so they were showing they had gifts by helping their big siblings.

Callia appeared, pushing her hair back. "I love our beaming satellite." She looked at Hellion and added power. That finished healing his injury and he lapped all the kids then whined at his human until Xander picked him up to hug him. Callia looked at the adults. "What happened?"

"Bad idiots," Xander said. "They're gone."

"Great." She looked at the girls. "I see Mira got messy."

"Bad guys," Philip told her.

"Auntie Dawn's going to wake up and kill them all."

"Too late," Clay said from the doorway. "Xander, you good?"

"Thanks, Clay."

"Welcome." He looked at the kids. "I'd have you guys come to ours but we've all been drinking." He walked off. "Jensen, go help with the kids with Pooch." They walked over to John's temple to help the kids settle in again. John stayed to read bedtime stories. The kids liked the sleepover and it was better.

Xander was still hugging Hellion and carried him to bed with him and Phil. His dog barked and lapped him but Xander loved his dog. Phil understood and hugged Xander from behind so he could cuddle his war dog.

"Me cuddle Loki kitty like that," Philip told the adults, who smiled at him.

"I'm glad Loki kitty lets you cuddle him. The adult Loki never would." Loki glared at him for that. "Not like you're cuddly."

"No, I'm not." He disappeared, sending some of Ares' guards down to protect the children. For an Asgardian, being a godparent was a serious thing. Much more than symbolic. He wondered if Dawn had realized that meant she had promised Philip to his later service but the child was a first born of a source of chaos. Just look at all the problems that went on around his mother. He wouldn't even have to make Philip a minion, he'd cause a lot of pretty hell without his help. And he'd get to reap all the rewards of it. Then again, if Dawn and her spouses fell, he would have the right to claim Philip as his sworn son. That particular side effect would get Ares on his ass in the unfun way but he could definitely see Philip some day ruling the world for him. Or at least a good portion drooling on him.

Phil showed up to stare at him. "Of course she knew. He needed a balancing power before he went all the wrong way. Clint doesn't like it and he'll still kill you, but Dawn told them both." He smiled. "And Philip will be allowed to grow up to do whatever he wants to be. Because that's where the highest source of your power will come from. Prompting it in any way will negate a lot."

Loki scowled and looked. "She did," he realized.

Phil smirked evilly. "Dawn's very sharp, Loki, and she's seen the best manipulators in history, demonic and not. You're good, but are you as good as someone like that demon that called her into being?"

Loki called that demon's biography into being, reading it. "No, I'm not. He was much worse by the time he was a near-adult." He looked at Phil. Who smiled. "Huh." Phil went back to the temple. Loki finished reading that biography. He could learn tips from that one. He hadn't even wanted to run the world, just a tiny corner of it.

Ares looked over his shoulder. "Him and his wife were the boogeyman that a lot of people still fear." He smiled. "His wife was mean and the queen of bitches. Even Mother said she was the queen bitch." He walked off. "Bed?"

"I can read this in there." He went to put his feet up and get comfortable. Ares banished both their armors. Loki looked at his Batman pajama pants then at his husband. "Must you?"

Ares smiled. "Yes, I must." He had on Joker ones.

Loki switched them and they laid down to relax for a while. They both felt Gaia be banished back to her valley when she had went to talk to Xander and Phil about what had happened. "Someone beyond his husband really should learn how to soothe Xander's temper. I doubt his spouse will manage it tonight."

"Xander has to handle Phil's," Ares reminded him.

"True." He turned the page. The book got banished to the study along with all the lamps in the bedroom. Loki sighed but laid down. "Fine, I'll sleep."

"Thank you." Ares made one light reappear and a fan to blow, like most nights.

Loki looked at him. "What is with the light and the fan?"

"Attacks usually come when it's totally silent and dark," he said.

"I had not thought of that." He got comfortable. Ares was always warm to nap next to.

***

Clint was staring at Dawn. "You should've just blasted them, Dawn. A sleep spell, something," he said quietly.

"The idiot DA probably would've tried to charge her," Natasha said just as quietly. "He has shown himself to be an imbecile."

"Yeah." He watched Dawn sleep. They could tell she wasn't in pain, beyond the few bruises on her torso, and she was dreaming something they couldn't touch. Otherwise it looked like a sleeping Dawn. "She really needs to wake the fuck up before I lose my temper and can't get it back," he said.

"You are an adult and in control of such things," Natasha chided. He stared at her. "I'm more than willing to help you kill them all but we cannot go out like the Hulk."

"The hell I can't," he said simply. He considered it. "I could probably even get whichever of the Barney clones is left to help me."

"Probably." She shifted closer and put a hand on his shoulder, kneading it since it was so tense. "She will wake up. They will pay. If they do not pay, we will make them pay. Their whole misbegotten group can pay." He nodded, making himself relax. "You are turning scary," she said, staring at his eyes. "You need to calm yourself."

"That's not going to happen until she wakes up being okay."

"She'll be fine and I doubt she'll have even a touch of amnesia. If she does have PTSD, we'll help her through it again." He nodded, trying to relax. She settled on his lap, which helped them both. Neither of them was the sort of person to ask for a cuddle but this helped. They saw the doorknob turn and pulled weapons. The nurse waved the clipboard before coming in. The weapons were put up. "Any change?"

"Not yet. I've got the bruise cream if you guys wanted it." Clint nodded, taking it from her. "There you go. Light coating." She left them to sulk and stare at their wife in the near dark. Not that she'd be doing anything different if it was her husband.

Clint looked up. "Your light's a bit bright for that environment. Didn't you learn anything?" he demanded. The light moved off. He and Natasha shared a look. She went up to nag Barney while he put some bruise cream on each of the ones she had. They each got a kiss and a tiny bit of cream. It took most of the tube. The security tapes showed that the first one had hit her temple and stunned her so she couldn't put up a shield around herself. It had taken less than a minute and a half. Clint had memorized each and every single face. If they made it out of prison, they wouldn't make it much longer before they had to justify themselves to their God in person.

57: To Dream A Mighty Dream

This is Dawn's 'dream' while she's under the concussion. It's just a dream, she knows it's just a dream, but she's also aware that she's trapped in it for some reason.

Dawn walked down the hallway to her first class. She was in high school, the nice preppy high school Howard had enrolled her in. She smiled when she met up with Pepper, who was her best friend. Their lockers were near each other so they could hit there before home room. They saw a few of Pepper's jock friends, who Dawn mostly tolerated but a few were okay, harassing someone and Dawn grabbed the girl to put behind her. "Neanderthal, go back to your time period. You definitely don't belong in this one if you think that's the proper way to talk to girls." She walked off with the quiet, kinda shy girl Natasha. She had just transferred in and tended to watch everyone instead of interacting. "Hey, I'm Dawn, this is Pepper."

"Natasha. Thank you. I could have handled them but it might've gotten messy when I broke their noses."

Dawn smile. "They need to learn manners anyway. They're so beneath real, live girls. I'm guessing their blow up dolls and dildos at home must hate that they cheat on them." Natasha giggled. Pepper laughed and swatted her. "They must!"

"They probably do." They got to their lockers, with Natasha's up the hall. "Eat lunch with us, Natasha?"

"I can do so." She smiled and went to her home room.

Dawn put up her homework from last night and pulled out her morning books, looking at Pepper. Who shrugged and they went to home room. Pepper sat down next to Steve, who was a jock but a really nice guy. "Dawn had to save that new girl Natasha from a few of your football team."

"I'll talk with them later." He looked over as Tony, who was Pepper and Dawn's boss's son, wandered in reading a thick engineering textbook. "Tony, class," he said quietly. This teacher tended to sneer at Tony. Pepper took the direct route, she took the book, shut it, and handed it back to him with a pointed look. Tony looked a bit sloppy. His tie was undone, his shirt was untucked and the top two buttons were undone. He looked like he had rolled out of bed and pulled on whatever he grabbed first. They had seen that Tony could and did dress very nicely when he wanted to or was interested, but school wasn't interesting him and he resented having to waste time by coming here.

Dawn looked over. "Your dad's back tonight," she said quietly. Tony blinked at her. "Yes, yours."

"Why?"

"The trip got cut short by them getting food poisoning. Apparently Howard laughed a lot since he wouldn't eat the haggis with them."

"I don't blame Dad. I don't like eating organs either." He grimaced. "Eww." Dawn smiled. "Thanks for the warning, Dawn."

"Welcome and get a haircut on the way home?"

He ran a hand through it. "You're right, he'll nag if I don't." The rest of the room trooped in, a few smiling at Pepper and Steve. The girls tried hard to flirt with Steve but he never seemed to realize it. A few tried to flirt with Tony and he flirted back but he'd never touch them because he knew they were only after his wallet. His father would kill him if he brought home a girl he had knocked up and make the kid his heir instead. Not that Tony cared, he was just as good as his father, but still not something he wanted to deal with.

The last guy in the home room walked in looking a bit messy. Clint was new to the school this year. He was a joker but he tended to be a bit more respectful than most of them were. He never did more than nod at Dawn and Pepper. Though Dawn had gotten one of the whore patrol off him once by pointing out he wasn't her gardener and she should slum to a lesser version instead of this one's finer qualities. Clint had grinned at her for that but she had just smiled and said she'd hate to see him infected with whatever she had that week and went to class. Homeroom only lasted a few minutes, then they were off again. First was gym. Which she and Pepper hated. Today it looked like they were on the bleachers for some reason. They sat with Natasha, who was behind them, then Tony, Pepper, Dawn, and Clint a big space down from Dawn.

The instructor looked at them. "All right, we have to talk about adult things today. Don't know why *I* have to talk to you about them, and in a mixed group, because it wasn't like that in my day, but we do."

"Maybe so guys understand what a period really is," Dawn quipped. "That way they don't think we're bleeding some sort of anime monster." She looked at a few.

"No, you just turn into one," one of them quipped back. Dawn threw her shoe at him. "Ow!" He threw it back. "Meany."

Dawn smiled. "Me? Mean."

"Summers, sit down," the coach ordered. "We're not going over that part. We figure by now most of you have that information. We're going over safe sex."

"Safer sex," Pepper corrected. "There's still a small chance and herpies can be carried on more than the penis or vaginal area. The only really safe sex is your hand."

"Or your sock puppet," Dawn quipped. "As long as you don't share them." The coach was giving them a dirty look. "Some guys are like that." Tony was laughing against Pepper's arm. "I had one in the club the other night offer to share his roommate's blow up doll since I refused to give him a blow job."

"Some of you are downright nasty," the coach said with a glare.

"I haven't even seen a cock in person yet," she said dryly. "When do you think I have time to fulfill all those nasty rumors about me? Between here, work, and helping my mother, I have *no* time for dating or anything even close to it. When I'm out of here, I'll have a whole summer to go explore the dicks of the world and see if I want to deal with any of their owners. Until then, it's great art but doesn't do it for me," she finished blandly.

"We're still trying to figure out what sort of magical device you use to fit all that into one day," Tony told her with a grin. "How is your mom?"

"She's....they just changed her treatment again. They're not sure." He reached over to squeeze her wrist. "Thanks, Tony."

"Your mom's in the hospital?" Clint asked.

Dawn nodded, looking at him. "Brain tumor. That's why Howard took me in as his perky assistant sort." She smiled slightly. "I'm learning a lot. I just never have free time."

Clint patted her on the arm. "She'll get better."

"I hope so. I can't stand to lose mom yet." She patted his hand. He gave her shoulder a squeeze and let go.

The coach stared at her. "You work?"

"Yeah. I make a pretty good salary, pay my own tuition, pay for my own uniforms, shopping, all that, put away for my college, pay very minimal rent to Howard for my apartment, and buy my own groceries. And I still manage to buy designer clothes. I'm set up to at least get three years out of the way without help. Which is about all I should need to finish if I'm doing it the right way." The coach stared at her, mouth slightly open. She smiled. "I'm fantastic. What else is new?" He huffed but went over safer sex, which most of the students tuned out anyway. They all knew about condoms. Most of them had used them.

Pepper raised a hand. "We all remember that there's a morning after pill in case something tragic happens, like the condom breaks, right?" They mostly nodded. "Health department, personal doc, whoever. Get the prescription." A few took down that note. The bell rang so they got to flee. Clint walked with their group. Pepper grinned at him. "We're going to business math."

"I've got shop, which is on the other side of you guys." He looked at Natasha and Steve. "Where are you two heading?"

"Literature," Natasha said.

"Art." He grinned at her. "I wanted in literature but I couldn't read the foreign ones."

"I have most of them in both English and Russian. I'll lend you a copy."

"Thanks." He grinned and jogged off. Art was halfway back to reality and he never made it on time if he didn't run. The girls peeled off, Natasha and Clint having the longest together as shop was right behind the english classrooms.

Dawn sat down, putting her books under her desk and pulling out a pencil. They had a test. Pepper grimaced when she got handed it but they both knew everything on it. They used it most days. Dawn stared at hers. She raised a hand. "Number 12, which rate are we using?"

"I thought I told you that the other day, Summers."

"If you're talking 7.6, it's not the state rate currently. The book says 4.3."

She looked at the book. "It does. Use 7.6. It's went up?" Dawn got into her purse and found her check stub to show her. "Oh, that has." She handed it back. "Payday?"

"That's a direct deposit slip. I haven't emptied my purse in a few days."

"You make a nice salary." Dawn grinned at her, tucking her purse back under her seat. "Get to it. You only have an hour." Dawn was three questions from the end when the door opened and the principal leaned in. The teacher came over. "Dawn, the hospital called."

"Give me five to finish this," she said quietly. The teacher told the principal, who grimaced but nodded. It was quickly done and checked then Dawn walked out. "I wouldn't have time to make that up." She stared at the principal. "That bad?"

"Your mother's taken a turn for the worse and they want you there. You were going to make her wait?"

"My mother would skin me alive for flunking a test to rush to her side. She made that very clear." The principal just gave her a dirty look. "Let me talk to my science teacher. I have a test there later, and then I'll go." She walked off, tapping quietly on his classroom window. He came out. "The hospital called. Can you fax it to my desk?" she asked quietly.

"I can. I hope it's nothing, Dawn."

"Me too." She left, stuffing everything but her purse into her locker. She walked out, calling a cab. The security guards gave her a pointed look. "Hospital called for me."

"Sure, Summers. The principal told us. Good luck."

"Thanks." The cab got there and she got in. "UCLA's medical center, oncology building please," she said quietly.

The cabby looked at her. "You sure? That's awfully far."

Dawn handed him a fifty from her wallet. "I shouldn't drive and I didn't this morning." He nodded, driving her off. She relaxed and watched the city roll past. This was going to be bad. Mom had a few bad spells before but only one had called her out of classes and that one had nearly killed her. She got out and walked inside, going up to the right floor.

One of the nurses stopped her when she found her mom's room empty. "We moved her because the exhaust fan quit working. She's across the hall, Dawn." She pointed.

Dawn smiled and patted her on the arm, going in there. Her mother looked very pale, and very fragile. The weight loss from the ongoing cancer treatments made her look almost skeletal. Dawn sat down to hold her mother's hand. She looked over as the doctor came in. "When's her next scan?"

"We're doing one in a few hours." Dawn nodded. "We don't know what she caught beyond an infection."

Dawn looked at her mother then at him. "Like MRSA?"

"No, nothing that huge. We think it might be the flu." Dawn nodded. "But you can see she's gotten pretty weak."

"I know how badly off she is." She pushed her hair back then pulled out a band to pull it back. "We'll handle it." The doctor nodded and let Dawn have some time with her mother. She tapped out a text to Howard's phone about not making it to work until later tonight. Howard showed up a few hours later. "They said she caught the flu or something."

"I hear that happens in hospitals. She's a strong woman, Dawn."

Dawn looked at him. "She is, usually." She sighed, getting him out of the way of the orderlies. "MRI or CT today, guys?"

"CT. It's faster." The nurse came in to help them move her IV and other tubes. "We'll be back in a half-hour."

"Okay." Dawn looked at Howard. "I'll do that test that got faxed when I get in tonight."

"You could wait."

"I need something to take my mind off this."

He nodded. "I get that." He patted her awkwardly on the arm. "You'll handle it, Dawn."

She nodded. "I'll try a whole lot." He snorted. "Tony's probably going to be late. Pepper told him he needed a haircut."

"That's fine. At least someone gets through to that boy."

Dawn stared at him. "All it takes is talking to him for us."

"That's because you're a girl and I'm not."

"Or it could be that he's still highly pissed that you missed an important birthday," Dawn said.

Howard frowned. "No I didn't."

"His sixteenth was last month, Howard."

"It was?" She nodded. "Damn. No wonder he's been pouty."

"No, he's been downright angry. He's been forging something by hand again." Howard muttered something and shook his head. "Just a gentle nudge."

"I'll talk to him. Think he wants a car?"

"I think he got a car. His mom took him to get a car."

"That's good of her." He frowned when the doctor came back. "Is it that bad?"

"Howard." He shook his hand. He put a scan up on the lightboard in there. "It looks like it's filling with fluid," he told Dawn.

"It looks like it's pulling away from the brain," she said, looking at it. She pointed. "Here, that's not connected."

He stared then got her old ones to look at. "You're right, they are." He looked at her. "It's a huge risk."

"I keep having nightmares about having to run in and yell that her heart monitor just came unplugged, she didn't die," she told him, taking the paperwork to sign for the surgery.

"I can make sure," he promised, smiling at her. "Come to surgical waiting?"

"Sure." She walked Howard that way. "I need some strength," she said when Howard looked down at her.

"I can do that. Keeps me from hearing the wife nag."

Dawn paused. "Doc?" He came back. "That's Xander, he's a friend of the family." She looked at him.

"We wondered why he had the same sort of tumor since your mom is not like any we've seen in the last fifty years." He went to check his records. He called that doctor to talk to him. "Dawn, we'll talk about that later." She nodded, taking Howard down to surgical waiting. Xander went into the CT and his was pulling away too so they could get him into surgery too. His doc was a good one.

Dawn made one more pause when they ran into a doctor. "Doctor Ranjipur?" He smiled at her. "I'm Dawn Summers, Joyce Summer's daughter, and I wanted to ask a huge favor and have you look at Mom's treatment schedule to see if your new set of treatment mixes could help her. She's under Doctor Alliven."

"I've seen your mother's chart in department meetings but never took a good look at it. How did you know about that?"

She smiled. "I take all the oncology journals in case I spot something that could help her."

"That's a good daughter. I'll talk to him tonight."

"Thanks. They're going to be removing part of it today I think."

"I wish her well, Dawn." She smiled and walked off with Howard. He was impressed, it wasn't many young women who took an oncology journal, even with a parent on the ward. Or who could understand it. He went up there. "I just ran into Dawn Summers."

The nurse smiled. "She's a wonderful daughter. She's in each day after dinner to help care for her mother. Even if Joyce fusses she should be dating or doing homework, Dawn helps her with her daily bathing and all that. She's taken a lot of stress off us."

"That's wonderful." He took her chart to look over. "I've never seen one of those."

"Neither has Doctor Alliven," the nurse said quietly. "We have two now. Dawn identified the other as a friend of the family."

"Environmentally caused?" The nurses shook their heads, showing him the latest scans they had. "That's... what is that?"

"We're not sure and neither are they."

"I'll go down to help with the surgery," he decided. His coworker wouldn't mind. He'd probably welcome the trained hands. He leaned in. "Want me to help? I ran into her daughter in the hallway and looked when she asked nicely."

"Help with the other one. He's having it removed and he's got Offis doing his."

"I can do so." He went to that surgical theater and scrubbed in, getting a smile from that doctor. "I talked with Alliven's patient's daughter."

"I heard they're the same. I'm stumped."

"I've never seen one in that shape before."

"Her daughter's nice. I've ran into her before."

"This one's family since he looks like a teen?"

"Walked away after they transferred him and gave him to the state."

"I hate parents sometimes." They finished their prep and went in to look at what was going on. Dr. Ranjipur looked at all the cords, as his usual habit went. "Secure this heart monitor extension cord out of the way." The nurses did that. "Thank you. Don't need to trip with my fingers in a brain."

"They need to finish redoing the updates in here," the other doctor complained. "The other one's worse. It keeps blowing the breaker."

***

Dawn was nearly snoozing when she heard someone coming up the hallway. They had light steps but they were noticeable. She stared at the guys in dark suits. "Get away from my mother's surgical suite please."

"Miss...."

Dawn stood up and walked over, pushing one against the wall. "I'm real damn sure I realize why you're here. Get. Away. From. My. Mother." She took his ID case to look at, then sneered at him. "Now, Agent Sellers, if that is your right name." She pickpocketed the other two and stared at them.

"This is national security business," Agent Sellers sneered.

"If my mother's brain tumor is a national security issue, then you've clearly done something wrong. But don't worry, I've already told people about it." She smiled. "Including some reporters." They backed off. "Go. Away. Before I kill you. I'd hate to make the nurses more work."

Howard came up the hall with a cup of coffee and Pepper behind him. "Dawn, problems?"

"These nice agents just said my mother's brain tumor was a national security issue."

"Really?" Howard asked. "I'm Howard Stark." They fled. "Good!" He tapped and got a nurse out. "When they remove the tumor, we'll be taking it for exam at Stark Enterprises." His and Dawn's conspiracy theory was apparently right. That sucked since he had so many friends in the intelligence community.

"Yes, sir. Both of them?"

"Xander's in surgery and he has one just like Mom," Dawn told him.

"I've heard you talk about Xander. He's one of your sister's friends," Pepper said. Dawn nodded.

"Both," Howard said. The nurse nodded and passed that on. He winced when he heard the heart monitor start to go off but Pepper caught Dawn before she ran over him to rush in there.

"Just the breaker blowing," the doctor yelled. "She's fine, Dawn." Dawn calmed down, taking deep breaths. Pepper walked her off to the bathroom.

Howard sat down, making out a grant to the hospital to fix that shit before some other daughter got the wrong news. If it was his family, he would've killed the doctor and that was a waste of a good one that might save someone else some day. Dawn came back looking composed. "Who were they?"

"Agent Sellers, if that was his right name. NSA."

"Damn," Howard muttered.

"Yup." Dawn calmed herself down. The nurse came out with a glass jar that held a slowly melting bag. "Why is the tumor melting the plastic?"

"We're not sure, Dawn, and don't you worry. There's a blood vessel that was hard to cut and he's called for a vascular surgeon to make sure it's shut." Dawn nodded. "Mr. Stark, the other one's up the hall in suite 4." He went up to get it, staring at the tumor. "Just stay calm, Dawn. We've removed almost everything. He said he left a bit where they touched, mostly like a lesion. She'll be better when she gets out." Dawn nodded. "Go home, get dinner...." Dawn snorted and shook her head, taking Howard's forgotten coffee to drink. "Well, then get dinner in the caf. She'll be in recovery for a bit as you know." She went back in there.

***

Dawn came in later that night. "Mom's woken up, doesn't seem to have taken any harm," she said from the doorway of Howard's lab. "The agents never showed back up. Xander's doing good. His wasn't as large or as swollen." He waved her in. She walked over. "Anything I should worry about?"

"The tumor was filled with chemicals that weren't from her chemotherapy."

Dawn nodded. "Well, we had a hunch that it was started off on purpose. Though I'm not sure why," she said quietly.

He looked at her. "How did you know his name?"

"I lifted his ID." She put the photocopies on the table. "I dropped them in the mailbox after I photocopied everything in them. That way they can't accuse me of having things I shouldn't and I wiped down my fingerprints as well."

"Nice thinking." He looked at them. "That's NSA work." He grimaced. "I've got to tell someone." Dawn put down a list. "Who's this?"

"The ones I mailed packets of information to. So someone would look into it. I added a second one with their information and I was going to sneak and steal the reports to put in them."

Howard handed them to her. "Did you send it to anyone in Congress?"

"Three people. Two on the Intelligence committee and one that's a doctor." She ran copies and put them into the packets in her bookbag. She handed Howard one with a smile. "The original's in your office safe."

"Thanks, Dawn. I don't know what the hell they think they're doing."

"I don't know either but I was talking with Pepper and I think she talked to Tony."

"I do not want my son messed up in this," he said firmly.

"I didn't ask Tony." She called him. "What's up?" She listened. "Yeah, about that. Really. Huh. How would my mother have .... Great. Thanks, Tony." She hung up. "He farmed it out to one of the computer geeks he knows online. They have a base there."

"Base? The NSA has a *base*?" he demanded. He walked off, going to Tony's lab. His son had taken one over a few years back and had crammed it full of his little robotic projects. "Since when does the NSA need a base?" he demanded.

Tony spun on his stool to look at him. "Since they're torturing people and people-like-creatures." He showed him the pictures they had. Dawn copied them and put them into the envelopes then rehitched them. "Figures."

"Oh hell yes I'm telling people. If they caused that tumor in my mom and Xander, they're going to pay even if I have to find each and every single one the day after I quit here."

Howard smirked at her. "Not necessary, Dawn. He took the originals. "I have a meeting in three days." Dawn grinned back and walked off to send those packages priority mail. They'd get there in two.

Tony looked at his father. "Don't let them kill you for it, Dad."

"I'm not. Still sucks. The tumors were eating the bags."

"What was in them?" Howard got the reports. Tony looked. "That's a fertility med that's sometimes used in breast cancer treatments. That's ... That's Dad, that's part of the formula." He looked and Tony drew it out in chemical notation. Howard was an engineer, not a chemist. His old partner had been the chemist. Tony was taking chemistry this semester though.

"That is. That's just wrong." He took it and the paper Tony had used. "Don't let anyone, not even Dawn, know. That'll get them all hunted," he said quietly as he walked off.

"Sure," Tony agreed. "We can protect Dawn." He went to find Pepper and tell her. She had a room here at the compound and so did Dawn. Dawn was doing her science test at her desk. Tony looked over her shoulder. "Want help?"

"Nope. I can pass it without cheating." She smiled. "Thanks though."

"Welcome." He walked off to find Pepper. She could keep secrets and would be there for Dawn. She opened her door wearing pink fluffy pajamas that had pompom balls on the ties. He grinned. "Got ten?"

"I shouldn't let you in. Last time someone suggested I was sleeping with you." She let him in anyway. "What's up?"

"The tumor was caused," he said quietly. "She knows, but not some of it and we're keeping some of it from her because it'll mean more than the NSA shows up for her mom."

"Oh, no."

"Oh, yes. Dad's in a snit."

"Thanks for the warning."

He grinned. "You'd be the one she's cry on." She nodded, letting Dawn in when she knocked. "Telling her what we know so far." Dawn hugged him then Pepper then went to her own room. "I'm not staying, Dawn. You can have Pepper to movie night binge or whatever girls do when they need comfort." He got pinched by Pepper, but shrugged. "I don't understand what girls need."

She smiled. "Ice cream at the moment." He smiled and left. She took the ice cream over to Dawn's apartment, settling in with her on the couch to watch sad movies. It'd help.

***

Dawn got out of the limo the next morning with Pepper. They walked in together.

One of the jocks sneered. "Your mommy pass over?" he sneered.

Dawn punched him, knocking him into a wall. "No, they removed the tumor. Thanks for asking though." She stared at him. "Want me to make a joke about your stepmother dying?" He shook his head. "Then think before you speak, jackass." She walked off with Pepper. "Steve, I broke your kicker's nose for asking if my mother had died in a cutesy baby voice," she called across the lawn to where he was hanging out with Clint and Natasha. "Pity if you need him for a day."

"No, I don't," he said, glaring at the guy. He slunk off. Steve jogged over, walking the girls over to their group. "What happened?"

Dawn put her books down and sat on the table with her feet on the bench. "Mom's tumor filled with fluid. They removed it yesterday and agents showed up. So it might be a bit dangerous to know me for a while."

Clint looked at her knuckles. "You need to hit better. You used the wrong part of your fist." She smiled at him but took her hand back. "I can show you."

She grinned. "I'm in self defense lessons. Right after I went into protective custody with Howard, someone tried to kidnap me."

Pepper nodded and huffed. "Twice now."

Dawn snorted. "You're *way* behind the count, Pepper." Pepper glared at her. "I quit stressing about it. Howard threw a fit at me about it and I pointed out it was not my fault. I was wearing my school uniform in the mall and nearly got taken by some guys who were trying to rob the jewelry store."

"That's when he put her in self defense and nearly made me go too," Tony said as he walked over. "You finally reminded Dad of my birthday?"

"He said you were pouty again and I told him you were pissed off. And why." She smiled. "Did he apologize?"

"No, but he told me I could get whatever modifications I wanted for the car. I showed him the car I've already modified and he pouted. So we'll see." He hopped up on the other side of the table. "Gotta be a balance," he quipped. "Before it tipped over. Natasha's too light to hold it down." He looked at Clint then at Pepper. "Prom?"

She looked at her calendar and so did Dawn. "Business awards," Pepper said. "So two hours of boring in a fancy dress and then we'll be released to go to the club." She looked at Dawn.

"Sounds better than the prom," she agreed. "Not that I've been asked. Apparently me being an ice princess means they're not interested anyway, even if I had time to date."

"Sluts do have more fun," Tony said, getting hit on the arm by Pepper. "I know you're not! You work just as hard as Dawn does!"

"Not always. I take summer vacations." Dawn waved a hand. "I know, you'll get one later on."

"Yup. Though, Howard is vowing to get out of the office this summer so we might be in New York instead."

"No thanks," Tony quipped. "I hate the house in New York."

"You have a house in New York too?" Clint asked.

"No, we have a mansion in New York. It takes up most of a block," Tony complained. "It's cold, sterile, has no life, no germs, no dirt, no nothing. It feels like a tomb, especially after they fight about something in it. When it's mine, I'm selling that monstrosity."

Pepper rubbed him on the arm. "Maybe your mom will stay so she doesn't have to yell at your dad."

"Maybe. I'm still going to the beach."

Dawn looked at him. "Aren't you going to MIT this summer?"

"Oh, yeah." He grinned. "I am, aren't I." He smiled. "Next year I'm a college boy, Pepper."

"I'll see if we can find you someone up there to remind you about homework," she quipped with a perky smile. "So you don't have to become a flunked out college student who serves fries and burgers."

"Might help, yeah," he agreed, grinning back.

The bell rang for them to get to class so they walked in together. "Pepper, long or short for the business dinner thing?"

She considered it. "I don't know. We'll call Helena up the road and ask her. She'd know. She's been to tons of them."

"Cool. Let me know so I can have something altered."

"Altered?" Tony asked.

"Yeah! Anything I wear is always tailored. It either fits my chest or my shoulders, but never both, and if it fits my waist it's too long because they expect me to be a bean pole but I'm not. Plus *shoes*."

"I've heard you going off on having narrow feet when the gym teacher complained about your sneakers," Steve said, shaking his head quickly.

Dawn nodded. "I can't find anything but heels," she sighed. She got into her locker. The rest just went to home room. The principal was lurking up the hall so she looked at her. "We were outside the gate when I broke his nose for being a jackass."

"I saw. It's the only thing saving you from a day's in-school suspension."

"You mean I could sleep for a whole day? Damn, can I?" Dawn asked with a happy grin. "Please?" The principal huffed off. Dawn walked into home room. "The principal just threatened me with a day's in-school but I got happy I could sleep all day."

Pepper laughed. "You could use a nap."

"Mom told me not to come in tonight, no matter what. Even if she was about to....to die, I wasn't to show up tonight. I was to rest and hide from everyone."

Tony looked over. "Want one of my robots to guard you since they're going the security system upgrade tonight so it'll be blinking on and off?" Dawn stared at him. "It will be."

"I'll camp on Pepper's couch so they can't find me."

"Okay. I'll send one to guard you there." He turned back around. Clint was shooting him odd looks. "We've had people sneak in to get a Dawn of their own a few times. It's a long running joke that's not one. Mom had her at the mall, helping Mom get something for a business dinner, and Mom literally turned around from looking in a mirror to find someone dragging Dawn off after having knocked her out with some chloroform." Dawn sighed but nodded. "Mom was *not* amused and my mom can scream like a horror movie queen. Still took the LAPD an hour to find Dawn."

"They only looked in my phone, which has no numbers in it," Dawn quipped, flicking a hand in the air. "Not like I had Howard's phone." Tony snickered. "Or his."

"Mine won't let you into the contacts without a passcode," Tony said.

"So that's what happened to mine," Dawn and Pepper said, looking at their phones. Tony grinned. "Thanks, Tony."

"Can't help but protect my future super perky assistants," he quipped back.

Clint shook his head. Those three were strange together. Dawn did get in-school suspension so she went to nap all day. They let her out for lunch since she had to buy it. She had sleep messed up hair and looked exhausted. Clint stared at her. "You need to finish your nap."

"I have another three hours of napping." She pushed back her hair and braided it without a comb or mirror. "That helps." She dug in and then trudged back there to curl up in her warm spot under the window in the sun on top of the desks.

Pepper sighed. "Dawn pushes herself way too hard. She's Howard's assistant for most everything. He lets me do the things like the budget with her but I don't do half as much work as Dawn does."

"Are you in protective custody too?" Clint asked.

She smiled and blushed a bit. "I wanted to go into business stuff after college and my parents met Howard at something. They asked him how to help me get there and he offered me a paid internship because his last assistant had just run off to have a kid according to him. Promised I'd get into a good school to get to college from, all that. Dawn's in protective custody because agents had to rescue her and then they found out her mom was sick. One knew Howard and asked him to watch over Dawn. Who grew on Howard since she fussed over things while she was worried."

"Dawn never is without something to do. She really needs someone to take her focus off things," Tony said, giving Clint a pointed look. "Even Dad thinks she needs to date. Then he hates to give her time off."

Pepper nodded. "She's going to Singapore with him next month. I'm not. Which is good since we have finals then."

"It's Christmas. Dawn needs to be with her mom," Tony said bluntly. "I'll talk with Mom."

"Thanks, Tony. Though, Dawn'll probably sleep through it."

"Probably. She did last year. Mom checked on her way down and yelled at Dad about overworking her again."

Pepper smiled. "I heard." Steve shook his head but stuffed his mouth. Clint and Natasha ate, filing that away. "We need to go roller skating."

"I can roller skate," Tony quipped.

"I know, I taught you when you needed a day out of the lab," Pepper reminded him. She looked at Steve. Who shook his head, he didn't have skates. "Tony has extra. Dawn has a pair she hasn't used since the first weekend she bought them."

"Sorry, don't have any," Clint said.

"I do but I don't use them often; I'm not sure if they still fit," Natasha said quietly.

Pepper huffed. "That's her 'I'll fix that' huff," Tony joked with a grin for them. "When, Pepper?"

"Saturday."

"Meeting," he reminded her. "Even Mom reminded me of this one."

"Howard's still going to be in DC then," she said smugly. She found her phone to call him. "Are you going to be back in time for that meeting on Saturday? If not, we were going to go skating with our friends, Howard." She listened. "Yes, that one. I haven't seen the updated schedule. I'll get it from Dawn. Not sure if she did or not. She's in suspension because one of the jocks baby talked to her about her mom dying. So she broke his nose." She smiled at Tony. "No, she's sleeping. She slept all morning. Thanks, Howard." She hung up. "It got rescheduled. We have no meetings all next week because he's expecting to be in DC."

Tony grinned. "Movies?"

"Movies," she agreed, smiling at the others.

"Curfew," Steve complained. "Bucky's mom is kinda tough on that."

She flapped a hand. "At my apartment in the compound. I can make sure you get home at a decent hour or sleep over on Tony's couch. Clint, Natasha?" They nodded they'd go for that.

"Can I bring something?" Natasha asked.

Pepper smiled. "We have an amazing cafeteria in the building and they keep trying to feed Dawn up because she's too skinny." They smiled at her for that. So did Tony. They went to their next class. Pepper smiled at the science teacher. "Dawn faxed her test back. She's napping in suspension."

"I heard, and got it." He handed her Dawn's folded over. Pepper handed him the original from her bag. He looked and nodded. "It came through pretty well, even done in pencil." He handed it back. The rest got their tests back. "For the most part, I expected better of you." He looked around most of the group. "It's nice that we had three A's, and one B." They groaned. "You can do better and this is on the final, people." He got to the next lesson. Pepper took good notes for her and Dawn. Dawn had gotten the B and she had gotten an A, but they had two future biologists in the class so they were probably the other A's. The rest of the kids were kinda going to be trophy spouses or use car salesmen by what Pepper thought of them. Maybe a few insurance sellers. And a few strippers, because they were already doing the job.

***

Dawn took the test to look at. "Better than I thought." She grinned. "Thanks, Pep."

"Welcome, Dawn." She walked out to the limo with her. "Dawn, not ours." She paused her.

Tony walked past her. "I've got room for one and a half people."

"I can hide in the back seat," Dawn decided. "That way you can shift and grope Pepper's leg." Tony glared at her but grinned slightly. Pepper swatted her. Their driver got out of the limo. "When did we switch license plates?" she called, stopping Pepper.

"Earlier when the new ones came in."

Tony looked then at him. "That's not a legal one."

"Mr. Stark," he started.

"I'm getting them home by showing off my new car." The driver huffed but got in to follow them. Howard wouldn't have known anything about such a change. Dawn might've if she wasn't so tired. Pepper wouldn't have seen the new paperwork to have it filed, that went to Dawn. He let Dawn into the minuscule back seat. Tony put down the top and pulled out.

"I need my own car," Dawn decided.

Tony glanced back at her. "Fat chance Dad'll let you get one, Dawn. He'll think someone will kidnap you from it. Otherwise he'd have a normal car take you and Pepper to school."

"He doesn't complain when I take a cab in."

"He probably doesn't know. If he did, he'd complain." Tony grinned at her and backed out. He saw Steve waiting on the city bus with Clint and Natasha and sighed. "Dawn, pull the lever." She did and squeaked as the back seat slid backwards. The back half was expanding back. Tony grinned. "It helps." He drove up to the bus stop. "Get in!" he called. They hopped over. Steve hesitated but Tony stared at him. "Now, Rogers." He got into the back. Dawn wiggled closer to Natasha to give him room. Clint and Steve had the outer sides since they were bigger. Tony drove off. "Where to, gang?"

"I'm going to the library to study until Bucky's mom comes home," Steve said.

"I'm going home," Clint said.

"Me as well." Natasha looked at him. "You can walk from mine since it's only a block."

Pepper looked back. "We know, guys. Really. As soon as any new kids walks in the office secretary starts up gossip on who they are so no one breaks into her records again. That's why so many kids gave Dawn shit until she slugged one with a book. Which Howard yelled at her for but she pointed out she wasn't taking shit from a trained chimp of a human." Steve laughed, he knew him. "Yeah, she's the reason he's got that bump on his nose." She turned back around. "Just enjoy the ride." They relaxed and Tony dropped them off when Pepper told him where. Clint's foster home siblings all looked jealous. Natasha's people all gave them dirty looks. Pepper smiled. "We go to school with her and it's too pretty of a day to ride the bus." They drove off. Steve got dropped off at home since Tony took the long way and it was nearly dinner. Then they went back to the compound. Howard was waiting when they got back. "We dropped off our friends, Howard."

He shrugged. "Good. It's nice my son has human friends instead of robotic friends." Tony glared and shrank the car back down. "What the hell, son?"

Tony gave him a smug look. "It's very economical and great on gas mileage." He held the door for Pepper and Dawn. "Go eat, ladies. I'll drop stuff and join you in the caf."

"Your mother's cooking, son."

"She's off at the spa. Saw the limo there," Tony quipped. He walked in to drop his stuff, no mother, no dinner, so he went to the caf. No Dawn. "She asleep?"

"Yup." He got his dinner and sat down with Pepper to eat and go over the homework for english. He had no idea about it. She did, thankfully. Otherwise they'd have to ask Natasha.

Howard walked in and looked at Pepper. "The limo driver said you avoided him," he said quietly, staring at her.

"That's not our limo, Howard. It's got the wrong plates and the wrong back end." He blinked, going to look. It turned out the driver was missing. After dinner, they went to study in their own rooms. They weren't a couple, no matter how many times Tony flirted and Dawn nudged. Though, Pepper did look outside when she heard Howard complaining loudly - Howard said he didn't rant, he complained manfully at the top of his lungs. She opened her window, a luxury she had that Dawn didn't, and leaned out. "Howard, is there a problem?"

"Yes! There was sleeping gas in the car and a few other neat things."

"So it was someone who wanted me and Dawn, or just her?"

He looked at her. "Pepper, you're a nice girl, but date Tony, okay?" He walked off to have a scotch and complain at his lab's walls.

She rolled her eyes. "Not you too." She closed her windows and locked them, just in case. Sometimes it was like a fairytale that people wanted Dawn. And then she remembered the last time they had rescued her and Dawn had nightmares for two days that woke up half their wing and had sixty-one stitches on her sides. Plus a broken finger from beating someone to get free. Not so much of a fairytale.

***

Dawn walked into school late the next morning looking a bit upset. The principal stared at her. "Howard was late bringing me." She handed over her excuse from him. "Something company related." She went to her class, second period, and sat down. The business math teacher looked at her. "Howard needed something done very fast," she said quietly.

"Sometimes work interferes with other life necessities." She gave her the worksheet and Dawn pulled out her homework, handing it over. It had the same one. "You're the second one that remembered you had that. Though, you also got number 4 wrong."

"State employee tax rate just went up," Dawn said. She pulled out something to figure it up for her. "See?"

She looked and groaned. "I do. That would make that the right rate then," she complained, fixing Pepper's.

"I wrote the state tax people to get you the new business hand out," Dawn said, pulling them out of her purse. "They were in the mail last night. Which is when I found out Howard was paying New York taxes," she muttered but handed them over. Pepper heard her and looked over, wincing. She nodded. "Not huge but tiny change."

The teacher looked them over. "They couldn't have made that more complicated," she complained but put them up. "These are the official California forms." She went over how to follow them. She almost got lost but corrected herself.

Dawn held up a hand. "What is the purpose of the 'plus' column?"

"To make sure you get a refund," Pepper quipped, making the teacher smile.

"So they make sure you get enough taken out, Dawn," the teacher said. "Thank you," she said as the bell rang. Dawn nodded and they left to go to their next class. She shared those with the other business teachers. They had to teach the kids how to read the state forms.

***

Dawn came in that night, smiling at Howard's wife, Maria. "Hi."

"Dawn." She smiled at her. "I was looking for you and Pepper. The prom is coming."

"The business awards dinner is that night so we'll have two hours in fabulous dresses and then the club," Pepper said with a smile. "So much nicer than the students we like to ignore most of the time."

Howard's wife laughed. "I'd say so. If you want to do that instead, that's fine. Prom is one of those special occasions for young women."

Dawn grinned. "I'm not looking forward to any society events or a huge wedding so it's good for me to skip having to be ignored by everyone anyway."

"Hmm. No one's asked?" Both girls shook their heads. "That's stupid."

Pepper smiled. "Strong women have to put up with confused men all the time," she reminded her.

"Yes we do. Some day that won't be true." She patted them both on the cheek. "Is the dinner long or short?"

"We're not sure. Helena's out on leave," Pepper complained. "I'd ask Staci but she'd tell us wrong to embarrass us."

"So would Jocelyn," Dawn agreed.

"Dawn?" Howard called.

"Minute, Howard." She looked at her. "If you find out, let us know? I might wear that cream and purple dress, I'm not sure."

"You do look spectacular in it," she assured her, heading in there with Dawn. "We were talking about that business dinner that's conflicting with their proms."

"Nonsense. They can go to the prom," Howard told Dawn.

"I haven't been asked; no one's looking like they're going to ask me. I'd end up standing against the wall being bored, Howard."

"Fine, if you're sure."

"Pep and I are both pretty sure."

"She can take Tony."

Dawn stared at him. "Tony may flirt a lot but Pepper's not into players usually. Beyond that, pushing it means that your son will quit flirting with Pepper for good."

"Good point. We're going to the house in the Bahamas this summer."

"No we're not," his wife said.

"I said we are," he complained.

"Tony's going to college this summer, Howard."

"No he's not! He's not ready yet!"

Tony leaned in. "If you had been there, I graduated last year and only had to take a few extra credit hours," he said sarcastically. "Then again, you're never there for things so why would you know that."

"Do you want to not got college?" Howard complained.

"Trust fund."

"I can make it disappear, son. I am in control."

"I've had control since I graduated, Dad, and sure, you tell Grandmother Stark that you don't want me to go to college. I'm sure she'd *adore* that." Howard shuddered slightly. "Dawn, can I get you out of the crossfire?"

"Sure." She smiled. "I'll update my passport but with those agents....are we thinking they might try to interfere?"

"Yup. You want to stay here?"

"I can. Not like I'll be doing anything but the standard paperwork." She shrugged and walked off.

"Dawn," Howard's wife said. "You are not a slave. You have days off and I fully expect you to use them even if my husband does not. Therefore, you will use them today."

"I have to hit the hospital tonight. Mom's just had radiation this afternoon."

"That's fine. Tomorrow you have the day off."

Dawn grinned. "We were going rollerblading with the group."

"Good!" She smiled. "You need some sun. You're paler than my son. Son, go get some sun."

"Can't, Mom. The last time we got some tanning time in, someone snatched Dawn again." Dawn hit him on the arm. "Ow! Mean wench."

"Better a wench than some of the sluts we go to school with," she shot back.

"No, you'll never make the stripper core that we have."

"You know, they're offering pole dancing for PE next year," Dawn said with a grin. "It looks a lot more interesting than spinning or track and field." Pepper nodded that was true. Howard was choking. "It is the PE, Howard. I have to take one."

"Hell no!" he shouted. "How dare they train you girls in how to be strippers!"

"There's all sorts of classes in it," Pepper said. "It's the hot new workout with belly dancing."

"Hell no!" Howard complained. "No, fuck no!" Tony flinched at that. "I'll straighten that shit out!" He stomped off to yell at the principal.

"Hey, maybe a study hall next year," Dawn quipped.

"Maybe," Pepper agreed. "You can use it to sleep."

"Sleep is nice but I have to file and then go see Mom." She got to work on what she had. "Pepper, go nudge accounting about that tax thing?"

"Yup." She went down there while Tony went to his lab. She smiled as she walked in. "Guys, Dawn noticed something. Why are we charging New York tax rates on California employees?" They stared at her. "She looked because the business math teacher keeps forgetting what the state tax rate is. She ordered the forms but handed them to the teacher."

The head of accounting came out. "We're officially incorporated in New York, Pepper."

"Would that matter? The business teacher didn't think so."

"I can check. Thank Dawn for finding that for us." Pepper smiled and nodded, going back upstairs. She went to her desk to call them. A few minutes later, a memo came out to get sent around. Dawn and Pepper came to get them to hand out.

Dawn smiled at them. "I was worried but it's only usually a few extra dollars a month." They took them to the caf, starting with them. Half of everyone was in there. Dawn cleared her throat. "People, memo from Accounting. They've just realized they've been using the New York tax rate instead of the California rate for state employment taxes." She handed out her stack while Pepper did hers.

"That means basically a few bucks to most everyone," Pepper said. "Sorry, but they'll audit us and you know we'll never get anything done while they do one." They all moaned. It had the tax rate website on there, and most of their geeks knew how to use the internet. "We'll get the ones still in their labs and offices." They walked off to get the others. She and Dawn could remember who everyone was for a few hours.

"I already got a memo," one complained to Pepper.

She smiled. "On the tax snafu?"

"Tax snafu?" She handed it back with a smile. He read and groaned. "How much difference?"

"Few bucks we think."

"Great. This'll screw my budget up." She patted him on the arm and got the others. Those who were too engrossed to look up got it put into their labcoat pockets for later.

Dawn smiled as she handed them to the guards on the gateway. "Guys, tax snafu."

"Great," they complained. A dark sedan pulled up.

One walked out. "Dawn, he wants you anyway."

"I kinda felt I should be out here." She walked over. "Yes?"

"Miss Summers, it was said you had illegal custody of an agent's ID case."

"No, I did take one to see the name of the agent that was trying to kill my mother by interrupting her surgery to remove her brain tumor. Especially since he claimed my mother's brain tumor was a national security matter." She stared at him. "The last time I knew, my mother wasn't an agent or a threat to the government. So I wanted to know who I was talking to since he didn't introduce himself. If there were such things floating around I'm pretty sure someone would drop them in the mailbox, which the US Postal Service would hand to the FBI to hand back. That's their protocol as I found out because one trying to break in here dropped his when he was arrested. Our mail carrier guy told me."

The agent blinked at her. "You're a smart ass."

"Yes, but only when I need to be. Trying to kill my mother does tend to put me in a *great* and *wondrous* mood."

"I'm sure...."

Dawn held up a hand. "Yes, they were. She was in surgery when they showed up to interrupt it to demand the doctor hand over the tumor they were removing. And by the way, I've told *plenty* of people about how suspicious the tumor was. And about the agents that showed up."

"No one would believe a teenage girl," he sneered.

"You mean beyond the reporter that got killed looking into it? Which meant someone else is looking into why she died? I told her editor why she was killed. And a few others. Because I'm pretty sure that the 'rock fall'," she said, doing finger quotes, "wasn't one since there were no rocks in that area to fall. She was in the desert and somehow a landslide happened when there wasn't even a pebble near her."

"I'm sure people like that were scared off," the agent said firmly.

"Good, then maybe the senators I contacted and the governors of multiple states won't be." She smiled. "You have a great day."

"I can arrest you. I don't need a reason."

"Well, you kinda do. Even the NSA needs a warrant, jackass. That is the law. And if you illegally arrested me, that would mean I'd have the chance to fight back. I may not be great but I'm damn determined and very stubborn." She walked off. "Have a great day, Agent whateveryou'repretendingyournameistoday."

He got out and stood up. "I can still arrest you and should."

Dawn looked at her. "And then even more information automatically goes out to higher level reporters. Because I'm pretty sure that I still have people who would wonder. Including some of my coworkers who might starve if I don't remind them to eat." She smiled coldly. "I'm not an isolated person. Even if I don't count on anyone here, there's others who would know. A lot of others. Including the files I have with a lawyer." He pulled them out to put on the top of the car. "There's six more than that." He gaped. "I'm not stupid and if you killed that lawyer like you did the agents and that reporter, you really are dumb. Each one like that raises questions. Especially since one of them was *very* high profile." She grinned. "Anything else?"

"He's not dead."

She laughed. "Then you've made a hell of a mistake." He blanched and got into the car. Dawn gathered the files to see which one it was, calling him on the way inside. He was okay and making statements to the FBI. She had the files couriered over so he could hand over one of them. He sent the rest out that night.

Howard met her at the door. "That was bravely stupid."

"He thought I'd cry and beg," she said, staring at him. "I haven't begged in my life. And I only cry about my mother and dog movies. They didn't even kill the lawyer that was holding more packets to be sent to more reporters."

"That was dumb of them."

"He's talking to the FBI." She smiled. Howard shuddered. "Oh, yes." She walked around him. "I delivered out here, boss."

"Good." He followed her back to the office area. "I talked to a few people in DC. They're wondering why you contacted them."

"They're on the Intelligence committee. It's their idiots fucking up." She shrugged. "They can handle their own idiots before I have to defend myself some dark night."

He patted her on the back. "We'll figure it out. Be less open."

She smiled. "I haven't been open yet, Howard. Though people are wondering things like how a reporter died in the middle of the desert of a rockfall that didn't and couldn't happen."

"Her editor got told if he tried to find out the same thing would happen to him."

"And who did he tell that to?"

"A bunch of his reporters," he admitted. He blinked. "That's almost evil, Summers."

She smiled. "I hate that she died because I asked her to investigate but I can't let this go. What if they do it to someone else's family, or their kids?"

"Good point." He went back to his desk. She went to hers to get to work. "You have the afternoon off, Summers."

"No I don't or I have to work Sunday because your schedule is a wreck again."

"Do it and go see your mother."

"Yes, sir." She leaned in. "Can I get a car?"

"It's not safe."

"Neither are cabs or the limo apparently."

He stared at her. "We'll talk about it Monday." She smiled. "Tony or I would help you pick it out so it's not for sex or anything else."

"Howard, I haven't even seen a dick up close and personal yet. Please! Some of us haven't even been kissed! I'm not going to use my car for sex." She got back to work, bringing in his amended schedule. "How's that look? It moves Mr. Hammer Senior back a week, which will make him mad but DC is probably more important?"

"He can meet me in DC."

"He's in Geneva."

"Great. He can annoy them." He looked it over and tapped one. "Not that one." She changed it for the other one and he grimaced. "Why?"

"Don't know. You penciled them both in." She moved that other one to another open spot, getting a nod but another grimace. "Okay, let me call to make changes." She went to do that. Mr. Hammer Senior was a jackhole and a douchebag, and his son was about the same. He tried to flirt with Dawn but yay. She finally got the father and he agreed he could push that back since he didn't want to meet him in DC instead. Then he tried to brag about his son.

"No, Mr. Hammer, I'm not dating anyone but I'm also not interested in dating anyone until I'm in college. I have other commitments right now, including a mother that's on an oncology ward. I'm not going to have the time or energy to date anyone until she's out of there. Of course I'll meet your son that year. Actually, I've met him a few times at a few business meetings. No, the redhead is Miss Potts, I'm the brunette perky assistant Howard has." She rolled her eyes when Howard came out to grin at her.

"Yes, that one. No, I really cannot. Because my mother's cancer comes before anything like a dating life, Mr. Hammer. My mother is very important to me and anyone who cannot understand that would not be suitable for me to date. Some of us are *traditional* women, our families come first. No, I don't plan on having children actually. So, I'm really not suitable as he'd probably have to have an heir to carry on the business. You have a great day, sir, Mr. Stark just spilled his coffee on his schedule." She hung up. She made sure by picking it back up then hung up again. "What a fucking moron!" she said loudly. "And eww! His son isn't fit to screw gerbils!"

Howard walked off laughing. "I love it when you're plucky, Dawn. Reminds me of a few female soldiers I knew in the war."

"I was looking through my mom's stored photos and you knew my aunt, Howard." He turned to stare at her. She smiled. "Reina Booth? She was my great-aunt."

"Raven?" he demanded. Dawn smiled and nodded. "Then you definitely get your stubbornness and backbone from them, Dawn. I should've realized that." He smiled and walked off. He ran into his wife. "Dawn's related to the Raven line."

"Really?" She smiled. "I remember meeting the last one. She and Joyce clearly got the family tenacity." She went to hug Dawn and saw her calming down her temper. "Who was it?"

"Mr. Hammer Senior. Wants me to date his scummy son who isn't fit for gerbils."

She laughed and nodded. "Yes, that he is." She hugged her and patted her on the back then walked off to tell Pepper that news. Pepper came to hug Dawn in sympathy for that attempted set up. She knew how it was. They tried to do it to her all the time.

***

Tony looked at his father that night. He was drunkenly designing. "You might ask Dawn before you design her a costume, Dad," he said quietly. "Dawn only fights when she has to protect herself."

Howard looked at him. "She'll probably want it some day. Girls like her won't be assistants forever."

"She probably will be. Dawn doesn't like to fight unless she had to." He called Dawn to come up to the lab.

She walked in wearing bunny slippers, silk pajama shorts, and a guy's tank top with her hair back in a ponytailed braid. Neither Stark would do more than glance a lot at the cutesy, slightly revealing outfit. "What's up?" Tony pointed at the drawing. She looked then hugged Howard around the neck. "I adore the idea but if I have to put on a suit and go out to beat bad guys, I'll kill everyone." He laughed and patted her on the back. "When I have kids you can tell them about my great-aunt and the others," she said, staring at him. "One of them will need a suit. For now, make me something to keep the kidnaping Dawn wanters off me?"

Howard smirked. "I'm hiring you a bodyguard."

"Okay, make him real tolerant and have insomnia so he doesn't miss out on too much sleep." She smiled. "Thanks for thinking about it, Howard, but can you see *me* in the military?"

He burst out laughing, shaking his head. "No, it might start to run without problems." She smiled at that complement and walked off. He looked at his son. "Fine, you were right."

"Of course I am. Want me to be right about you should be on the plane in an hour to hit DC tomorrow as well?" Howard huffed but left. "Thankfully Pepper texted me," he said, looking at the suit design. "Simple and boring," he said, redesigning it. "Maybe special forces battle suits." He worked on some other ideas. That could help them.

***

Howard looked at a few former war buddies' sons. "How many of you have heard from my assistant?"

"We were wondering why," one said. "And why you asked for a meeting, Howard."

"Because all that, it's true." He got another senator in there. "I heard she wrote you. She said a doctor and you're the only one I know around here."

"Dawn Summers?"

"She's my assistant."

"I thought I remembered her from last time. I asked an oncologist friend I have and then had to have my guards kill the guys trying to take him out."

Howard put down reports. "That's what was in the tumors that the NSA wanted to confiscate when they were removed. They've been threatening Dawn but her public response is to laugh and tell even more people so it can't be covered up. And now there's two. The other is a family friend."

He looked those over. "That's not anything near chemotherapy, and my friend offered that doctor suggestions on a treatment section. He said it grew back?"

"I haven't talked to Dawn. She spends part of each night with her mom. Makes me proud but also worries me to no end. Girl never gives herself a break. She got in-school suspended one day and used it to nap. Came out looking even more tired."

The other senators looked over the information. "What are these pictures from?" he asked about Howard's packet.

"My son knows a few hackers."

"Your son's a blight," one said. "He is a hacker and he's brilliant. I'm told he opened a porn network's servers and exposed all the underaged girls to the FBI."

"Good!" He cleared his throat. "He said one of his friends hacked the NSA *base* under Dawn's old town."

"Why do they have a base?" one of the Intelligence committee asked. "They have offices."

"They have a base there with the NID," Howard said, showing him.

They all stared at those pictures. "That's not human," one said. They went on. There were a few humans. "Is that inserting or taking out?"

The senator who was a doctor looked. "Inserting. That's no part of a human body I've ever seen." He looked at them then at Howard. "What are they doing?"

"There's a few programs on each side of the last great war that were questionable and I worked to have ours shut down repeatedly when one kept coming up. That's where the NID came from originally. Nazis had a few and Japan had a better one that was less torture and more using them." He put down a file. "This apparently relates to that. And a group back in England that we only found out about during the war when their girl showed up to beat everyone while taking out the bad things they were experimenting on."

They looked that over. "I've heard a tiny bit about that group. There was a girl kidnaped from a group home," one of the committee senators said quietly, staring at Howard. "When I checked on why this suddenly quit being pushed around, thinking it was because the girl was a foster kid, I got told to drop it because a Council had come for one of their own."

"Them," Howard agreed, shifting to cross his feet. "They do a lot of that. Great thing though? Buffy has the mark and never got found. Dawn's older sister." They all groaned. "I think that's incidental unless they find out. For right now, it looks like their old town has a whole experimental base down under their college and somehow Joyce and a young man that's Buffy's friend found out or saw something. They overreacted. Which pissed Dawn off. Oh, Joyce's mother's maiden name was Booth."

One of the senators stiffened. "Related to Reina?"

"That was Dawn's great-aunt." He grinned. "I just found out yesterday. Dawn saw a few pictures of us."

"Small world."

"Very. I nearly made her a suit but she said to save it for her kids."

That senator smiled. "She was plucky like her great-aunt."

"Mouthy like her too. She complained that Hammer tried to get her to date his son, called his son not fit for gerbils because apparently he couldn't understand that her mom's cancer had to come first."

They all smiled. Dawn had been very polite when they had been out for a grant meeting. Pepper too.

The Intelligence committee members called someone over to make a report to them. The rest were out of view but could hear it. The head of the committee looked at the director that came in. "I've been hearing rumors recently."

"From?" he asked with a smile. "We're within usual budget guidelines." He saw the packets. "What are those?"

"Those are from a young woman who found out you have a base."

"What?" He laughed. "She must be mistaken. I'm sure she's just making up stories."

"Really?" They laid out the pictures. "Including getting a hacker into your internal camera feed?" The director looked and shrugged, not looking concerned. "They're not mocked up. We asked someone. Too much coincidence."

"I'm sure we're not but I'll gladly look into it."

"No, I think someone else is going to look into it," another member said. "You're getting audited."

"No one can audit our work! We're the NSA! We do things other agencies can't!"

"There's a few covert ones who can," the head of the committee assured him. "Expect them to show up tonight. Probably before you get back there." He stared at him. "If this is true, I wouldn't expect the budget to be your worry as you'll be in jail." The director stomped off.

Howard came out. "Already called Nick. Knew I was imposing but I figured you'd want him anyway."

"I did." Someone else walked in. A tall, bald, black man in a leather trenchcoat wearing an eyepatch. "Director Fury. We have problems."

"Then that's my job. Howard said you needed our special skills." Howard handed him the files from the hackers and the one he had brought in. "Them again." He looked at him. "Still?"

"Even worse. I'm pretty sure if Dawn had known who you were she would've sent you intel too, Nick."

"She did." He smirked. "She's a plucky little hell cat."

"And then some." He stared at him, handing him the rest of the information. "They got warned someone was coming."

"We've had someone there for the last six months."

"This base?" the head of the committee asked.

"They clearly picked the nicest pictures they could. I've seen some that made me puke and with all I've seen that says a lot." He walked out. "Let me finish handling this tonight."

"Make sure we still have an NSA standing at the end," one of them ordered. "We don't care about the NID or the others, but at least leave us with a shadow of an agency to rebuild."

Nick smirked. "No promises. This rot is deep over there." He walked out, talking to his second-in-command. She sent an order to the covert agents to shut it down.

Howard smirked. "I like his style of handling things. Dawn needs a guy like him if she ever gets around to dating." He walked off. "Let me know if you need my special help."

"Sure," they agreed, going over the reports. This was not good.

***

Dawn got picked up by Howard the next day at school. "Mom?" she asked.

"No. She's good. She and that kid both got moved to a quieter center that just focuses on cancer treatments." Dawn sighed in relief. "You can go see her there tomorrow. They're settling her in tonight and doing blood work stuff, plus have her in quarantine."

"That's normal," she agreed. "Do we have her number yet?"

"I've got it right here," he said, handing it over. She called her mom, walking a few feet away to check on her and talk to the nurses. Howard had to smile. The girl fussed too much. Pepper, Tony, and their group came out. "Pepper, I'm taking her somewhere Saturday, so you guys'll be on your own," he called.

"That's fine, Howard. We can go to the movies." She smiled. "Your mom?" she asked, seeing the look on Dawn's face as she hung up.

"The nurse just told me I shouldn't visit more than once a week. I'm about to prove to them what real family does with my foot up her butt." Howard snickered, shaking his head. "Seriously!"

"Some places do limit visiting," he said.

"Yay! This is my mother and I'm going to be there! Some uppity bitch isn't going to stop me." She kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you for having them moved, Howard."

"Welcome, Dawn. Pepper, get Tony back to the compound somehow. Even if you do have to drag him." He drove off with Dawn, talking to her about what had happened on the committee and where they were going Saturday. She nodded, relaxing about it. They could handle that. He dropped her at the cancer center and drove off. Dawn could find her way back.

Dawn smiled, getting her mom's room number and heading up. She stared at the nurses near her mother, smiling. "Hi, I'm Dawn. Joyce is my mother. I am here almost *every* night so you guys don't have to worry about helping her shower and things. I also read to her, help some other patients that need to cry on someone who understands, and Xander's a family friend." She went in to kiss Xander on the head, getting grumbled at. She grinned. "Just think, you're in LA. No more parents," she said quietly.

"Yeah, that's the really great part." He smiled. "I've already heard Joyce fussing."

"I get it from her." She gave his hand a squeeze and wrote down her number. "My cell. Call me if you need stuff, even mundane stuff like candy and shampoo." She handed over her leftover brownie from lunch. She had to skip lunch due to a detention. He grinned and unwrapped it to eat.

"He's not supposed to have that," the nurse complained.

"I've never known life to be so fucking miserable that you couldn't have a treat now and then," Dawn told her. "If it's going to brighten up his day, then I'm going to give him and my mother a treat." She stared at her. "They could use the cheer." She patted Xander on the wrist. "Don't bounce?"

He grinned. "I haven't bounced in years, no matter what your sister thinks." She winked and walked over, sighing and rearranging her mother's room for her.

"Thank you," Joyce said. Her daughter hugged her. "You didn't have to come tonight."

Dawn looked at her. "Really?"

"You could be out doing young woman things."

"It's this or homework, Mom. That's the only young woman things I get up to. I'll have plenty of time to date in college or once you're out of here." She settled in to share what had happened over the last week. Including the committee stuff once they made sure no one was listening. Though she did go give Xander back his brownie. "Everyone needs a treat now and then. It's not going to kill him to have a brownie is it?"

"No," the head nurse said.

"Then a treat might make him feel happier, which is always good for their recovery, correct?"

"That's also true, but he's on diet restrictions."

"Why? He and my mother are both underweight. They both need feeding up. I'll be bringing my mother some soup in a few days when I have home ec again." The nurse smirked at her. Dawn stared back. "I will kill *everyone* over my mother and Xander," she assured her with a smile. "Including the people that came up to try to confiscate the tumor they removed. I am *that* sort of daughter to put it in the words of a Nazi-like bitch at the last cancer center. She thought they had to have strictly regimented sleep cycles and tried to sedate my mother against orders. She was sadly mistaken when I had her arrested and then disowned by the nurses board."

"I got that note," the head nurse agreed. "They're about to have a mid afternoon early dinner so they can have a late dinner later."

"Is a brownie going to matter?"

"We're checking their calorie input."

"It's a Hostess brownie. Has a wrapper?" The nurse smiled and nodded. "Cool. I'm usually up after normal supper to help Mom shower and things. When is good for you between six and ten?"

"Six is good. Late dinner is at eight."

"Okay, I can do that." She went back to her mother's side to talk with her.

The head nurse looked at her underlings, this shift had almost no long time nurses on it. "Family like that means you usually pull through. Let her fuss, ladies." They sighed but nodded. She went to get the wrapper, taking note of the fat, sugar, calories, and lack of vitamins. She stared at him. "Don't gorge on it. Don't bounce about too much. You'll shift your IV." He grimaced but nodded. "She can fuss if she wants but we have to keep track of that stuff to make you gain all that weight back."

Xander grinned. "I'd like that weight back. I look like a nerd."

"You do, kiddo." She patted him on the foot. "Be a good boy and I won't send Nurse Cindy in to do your shower."

"I have been bathing myself since I was two and a half. I don't need help, thanks. Unless I'm not going to realize it."

She smiled. "IV lines."

He shrugged. "I manage it most of the time and I'm only on an IV after treatments. For that matter, the brownie helps with the nausea."

"It does. We have ones here that are better for you."

"Healthy chocolate?" he asked, grimacing. "Eww."

"It tastes better than you think. You'll get one at dinner." She left him to figure out their tv system. She walked back in. "School work?"

"GED," he said quickly. "I hate classes."

"Okay. We'll find things for you to do. We also do have therapy in case you want to talk, group and individual. We have ministers on hand....." Xander shook his head quickly. She checked his chart. "Star Trek?"

"It's the only religion I obey and it's Star Wars," he said patiently.

"That makes more sense, though I have seen some guys that apparently want to be Captain Kirk." She looked over the rest. "They screwed up a lot of things. No family, dear?"

"They heard 'sick' and dumped me," he said bluntly.

"Oh, that sort." She smiled. "I've kicked a few like that off my floor."

"Dawn's loud but she's a fussy sort," he said quietly.

"Fussing means you make it off my floor." He smiled. "And yeah, the nurses are a bit uptight sometimes." She came in to go over his paperwork with him. That way the correct things were down there. Dawn came over to hand over her business card as well. "Your office phone?" she asked, looking at it. Then at the young woman.

"I'm a perky super assistant sort." She smiled. "On the back is the school's number and my cellphone." The nurse nodded, making note of that. "We're adopting Xander, Mom said so."

"If you're not real family...."

"No, you can tell them," Xander said. "If something happens I trust Dawn's family to make my decisions for me." The nurse nodded, writing that down. "Joyce is like the mom I never had anyway," he said honestly. "I'm Dawn's sister's friend."

"Ah." She smiled at him. "We'll work it out." Dawn gave him a hug then left. They had heard Joyce nagging her to go get some sun so maybe the girl would listen. She got finished and went to Joyce's room to go over her paperwork with her. Xander's wishes on power of attorney were formalized when the next head nurse came up. She was a notary. Joyce's wishes were formalized then too. They could handle this and Joyce was in pretty good shape. Dawn did a great job helping her and they found out later that night that Joyce was the mothering sort so other people who needed to cry on someone found her too.

***

Dawn was sniffling when she got back. She ran into Pepper. "Where's Howard?"

"Office, where is he usually? Is she not okay?" She hugged Dawn, walking them into the file room to give her some privacy. One of the other office's assistants came in then backed out when she saw Dawn crying and Pepper waved her off. Howard's wife came in a few minutes later to hug Dawn and walk her off to talk to her about what had happened. Pepper went to find Howard. "She's not on the Hospice ward, right?"

"No! Neither one is. They're both looking okay." He looked up. "She's crying?"

"The new doctor came up and told her the tumor was regrowing rapidly. Not Xander's but Joyce's. She and Joyce are now the power of attorney for Xander."

"Crap. Why would it regrow?"

"She's not sure. She gave them copies of the reports from the first tumor. They're running some toxicology bloodwork on Joyce."

Howard called the hospital. "It's Howard Stark, is the head nurse there please?" He was Joyce's power of attorney with Dawn, because she was a minor. They all knew that. It was on the paperwork. "What's happened?" He listened. "That's ... they dosed her again," he realized. "Thank you." He hung up and looked at Pepper.

"Dawn's going to kill someone," she said honestly.

"I'm hoping that's why they found two orderlies dead after trying to give them both shots at the old hospital. Apparently some found it's way into Joyce's IV and not Xander's." Pepper shuddered. "Let me call someone, Pepper. Get her calmed down with the night off for both of you. She needs something fun to do. Take my son with you so he's not stuffed in a lab." She nodded, walking off. He called someone. "It's Howard." The phone was handed over. "Someone gave Joyce another shot," he said quietly.

"It's regrowing rapidly according to the doctor. Two dead orderlies who were found with needles in their rooms but apparently some got into hers. Yes, that center. I know you have someone there. That'll work. Let me know. No, Dawn came in and fell down crying on Pepper from what I got told. No, apparently not in his. Thanks," he said then hung up. Nick had people there. Some of his former doctors had moved there. Howard went to look at those results again. One of his chemists got pulled in too. They went pale when they saw it and spluttered they had nothing to do with that shot. So he and Nick got to question someone. Thankfully the kids didn't have to see that. His wife would ignore it. Dawn might cheer him on.

***

Dawn walked up to the group with Pepper. "Thanks, guys. I need distracted."

Clint pulled her down beside him at the fast food table. "It's what friends do." He shoved over his fries.

"I can." She got up to get hers and Pepper's, handing over her salad and Dawn sat down with her fries and sundae, giving Clint some with a grin. "So I don't gorge and have huge zits tomorrow." He grinned and they ate, talking about which movie to see.

Tony walked over finally, he'd been at the book store, and flopped down. Pepper handed him her extra fries, like Dawn had guessed she would. "We could have a real dinner."

"None of us are dressed for a real dinner, Tony, and we need lighter stuff," Dawn said.

"I really need lighter stuff." He stared at her. "Your dad had Mom and Xander moved because orderlies fell down dead while trying to give them shots of stuff," she mouthed. Tony growled. She nodded. "So, be a rich kid tomorrow. Okay?"

"Gladly. I'll grill a steak when we get home." She smiled and nodded. "Movies?"

Pepper looked at him. "We'd go see the new sci fi one but you'd tell us how improbable things were."

"I won't. You can duct tape me if I do. I bought some more because I'm out and one of my robots needs it so I can solder his arm back in place." He looked around. "Where's the redheaded quiet one?"

"Natasha's at dance class," Steve said.

"Oh, that's neat." He looked at Dawn. She had ice cream in front of her and no real food. "Your mom not okay?"

"Nope." She ate another bite of sundae. "And when I opened my personal mail, your future rival sent me a love letter." Pepper choked. Dawn tossed it at her. "Help me think up something polite yet nasty? Because my first instinct is to start off with 'do you not catch fucking clues' and go on from there. You use words better than I do, Pepper."

"I don't swear as much either," Pepper said with a smile.

"Sometimes it's gotta come out."

Tony nodded. "Like when you've just hammered your thumb again." Dawn nodded. "What were you hammering?"

"Accounting was putting up new pictures and I was doing it for them since they have no sense of proportion or style. They grouped them in one tiny little clump."

He shook his head. "Should've told Mom."

"She was going out so she asked me to."

"I got the ones in the lobby," Pepper said. "They just piled them up there without any sense of 'this doesn't go together' and stuck mirrors ever third row. I took down half of them and made it better."

"It was good," Tony agreed. "I haven't been by there in days but it's nice it's not a solid wall of flowers."

Dawn shook her head. "I don't know who went on the decorating binge but I'm wondering if we were spending excess budget."

"Probably," Pepper sighed. "Speaking of...."

"Please don't remind me. Howard's making sure I can search the house for anything that's not in storage before it sells this weekend. I'm going to be in no shape to have all that done before Monday."

"So you actually work?" Tony joked.

Dawn reached around Steve to swat him. "Yes, I do!"

"Tony, we're still trying to figure out how she manages good grades and working for your dad, on your dad's schedule."

"Wow, I can't even do Dad's schedule some days," Tony said, looking at Dawn. "You need spandex."

She smiled. "I have bike shorts but they make me look flat butted. But thanks." He rolled his eyes.

"They do," Pepper agreed, smiling at her. "We need to get you better ones."

"No time to shop and we still have to find out about that dinner."

"And if we need dates," Pepper complained. "They expected us to have dates last time."

"No, I got asked if I was Howard's mistress." Tony choked and spluttered, shaking his head. "I told the guy that I was an ice princess and Howard wasn't the sort to thaw me, that's why he paid me a lot to do his filing instead." Pepper laughed, leaning over to hug her. "Next time, can you be the head assistant?"

"I can do that," she promised with a grin. "Who was it?"

"You remember that really old guy at the opening? The one who offered me a hundred-fifty thou if I climbed on his lap right then and there in the gallery to let him use his viagra since I was still a virgin?" Pepper nodded. "His son."

"He did what?" Steve hissed, glancing around.

Pepper nodded. "So bad. This old guy, who three weeks later died of a seventeen-year-old prostitute, offered it to her when she said she wasn't looking for a relationship at the moment, she had too many goals. It'd be eighty if she wasn't a virgin. Dawn was very polite and simply told him that she wasn't going to be melted by a fat wallet or gentle manners. That she had a man in mind to cure that for her and he'd never dare to pay her for it. Because she wasn't that sort of assistant. Then she found Tony's mom and stayed with her all night. I finally told her why after we got back and she asked. She wanted to go kill him."

"I figure he got what was coming to him since the pro got him," Dawn said, pushing her hair back. "I have no idea why guys like that want me."

"Me either," Tony quipped. "You're smart and pretty but you're not Marilyn Monroe or anything."

Dawn stuck her tongue out. "I'm still in my last growth spurt, Tony. I may grow into it. I just wish I would grow into normal sized shoes at the same time." She looked at Pepper. "I say we skip and go to the beach tomorrow."

"I say we have a day out of school on Friday legitimately," she shot back with a smile.

"So two days on the beach?" Dawn offered. "We'll get back in time for work?"

"Howard would yell," she said.

Dawn called. "Howard, it's Dawn and Pepper. We have Friday off and we're taking Thursday off school to get some sun since Mom ordered. Yup, that means skipping classes. Cool, thanks." She hung up. "He said as long as we don't have a test, he wouldn't care. And to make Tony do something beyond hang out in his lab. He's worried about robotic girlfriends again."

"I love it when Dad's in the scotch," Tony quipped. "Let's hit the movies." They all cleaned up their messes and went down to buy their tickets and get in. They had a short wait but it was good and they settled in to chat and figure things out. Clint, Dawn, Pepper, Tony, Steve worked and they had a good time at the horror movie. Even if Dawn did have to look away a few times before her stomach rebelled. Clint patted her on the hand, making her grin at him.

Pepper glanced over then nudged Tony getting his popcorn. He looked at her. She tilted her head slightly so he glanced down there. That might be a great thing. Dawn could use someone there to help her unstress.

***

Clint came back to the foster home that night, stretching up. "Sorry, bus was late," he said when the wife over the kids stopped him in the hallway.

"Who were you with?"

"Some of the kids from school. Dawn, Pepper, Tony, and Steve."

"So two girls, two boys...and you're the spare?"

"We had dinner and went to the movies. I used my allowance from my weekend job."

"So it wasn't a date? Because you know the house rules."

"No. Not a date. Dawn doesn't date, she's too busy with a mom in the hospital. Steve lives with the Barnes a few streets over. Pepper and Tony are best friends because she and Dawn work for his dad."

"She's how old?"

"She's taking senior level classes but I never asked. She's in the same school. Howard Stark has her custody while her mom's got brain cancer."

"That poor girl. She works?"

"She's his assistant."

"I thought she was a redhead."

"That's Pepper."

"Then that must be that slinky brunette." She found a paper and showed him. He pointed at someone. "That's her? She's kinda plain."

"Yeah, that's Dawn."

"But she works?"

"Yeah. She and Pepper were complaining about getting the budget done on time this weekend since Dawn's got to hit her house before they sell it to make sure they got all their stuff out."

"Poor mother." She put the paper aside. "I don't put up with dating from my boarders, Clint."

"She doesn't date. She's got a high B average, she works twice as much as Pepper, and spends time with her mom every night halfway across town. She doesn't have time to date. She quipped she hasn't even seen a naked guy in person yet."

His mother snorted but nodded. "Good. Girls will get you in trouble and you'll waste that education they're giving you."

Clint nodded. "I know. Though, Dawn's not like that. She's not a skanky girl at all. We have a few in school. The girls we have who're already strippers are better than them." He shook his head. "They all leave me alone. I don't have a heritage or a trust fund."

"Good." She stared at him. "Go to bed." He went upstairs. She went to talk to her husband. He had been in the kitchen. They had another of the kids out tonight but she was due in an hour from work. "Sounds like the girl's a bit smart. She's a plain one, not overly pretty."

"That's good. Means she's not the easy sort."

"If she's a senior or a junior and hasn't seen a naked boy yet, she might not be interested in them. Stranger things have happened with pretty girls."

"True," he agreed. He sipped his coffee. Their foster daughter came in sniffling. "Bad day?"

"Yes. I was one tiny minute late back from break because the door was stuck, again, which the health department told them to fix, and I got fired for it. He fired another girl earlier for not dating him."

"Sometimes creeps run that sort of place," the foster father said. "We'll figure it out and you can find a new one."

"I already might have one. I was talking to the girl that gave me a ride. Her brother works at a movie place and they might be hiring."

"That's a decent, steady job," he agreed. She nodded and went up to her room. The parents shared a look. Their foster kids were not coddled by any means. Only Clint didn't have a real job so he could pay rent and that was because he was in that expensive school the state had gotten him into. He had to do good.

***

Dawn came out of the apartment building the next day in something that was not school clothes. Maria, Tony's mother, gave her a pointed look. "Howard said we could skip for a day on the beach. We'll come back in time for work tonight and tomorrow we have legitimate time off."

"Why don't you two go to Aspen?"

"Because Howard's taking me to the house this weekend to make sure I've got everything out of there."

"Oh, that's right." She patted her on the arm. "You are wearing a bathing suit?" Dawn blushed but nodded, looking around before opening her button-up shirt to show her. "Dawn, that does not fit. You're still growing."

"It'll be okay for now and I'll buy a new one tonight. Pepper and I are meeting everyone there."

Maria looked at her. "The usual place isn't open yet, is it?" she asked with a smile.

"Nope." She buttoned back up her shirt and moved closer again. "Did Pepper tell you Hammer's son sent me a love note?"

"That's rather disturbing."

"Yeah, it is. Including icky sex stuff. She has it to help me formulate an answer."

Maria grimaced. "I'll get it from Pepper. Do you have a bathing suit that fits you better?"

"No, my last bathing suit didn't fit at all, this is Pepper's."

"That figures. You're a bigger bra cup size." Pepper came out. "When and where are you meeting whoever?"

"Only Natasha's going to get to come," she complained. "Clint's too watched, Steve considers skipping school a mortal sin, and Tony's going with us. Howard ordered."

Maria smiled. "That's not a bad idea." She looked at Pepper. "You need to gain some weight, dear. When is she meeting you?"

"Ten. She's got one test she has to take then she's sneaking out." Pepper looked at her watch. It was eight. "We were going to pick out a good spot." Tony slumped as he walked out. "She's not going to stop us."

"Great." He grinned at them. "Me and three girls in bathing suits." Dawn swatted him on the arm. "Hey!"

"I need a new one," Dawn complained.

"There's that lingerie shop that's open all night. They have bathing suits on their website."

Pepper and Dawn shared a look then looked at Maria. "I heartily encourage you both to get ones that fit, girls. Dawn, you might pick up some bras too since you're growing. I noticed things were getting a bit tight."

"I can do that. Thanks, Maria." They ran for Tony's car, because they didn't have one, and headed for that lingerie store. They could make Tony their approval committee. Tony could choke, splutter, blush, and stare but at least they'd know if they looked okay.

And of course one of the guys in there buying for his wife wanted to watch them change. Pepper sneered and he huffed off.

***

Natasha joined the ladies and spread out her blanket. "Morning."

"Morning," Tony said with a grin. "I'm the luckiest man alive even if all I can do is stare." Pepper swatted him for it, rolling her eyes behind her sunglasses.

Natasha looked at him. "If you tried to do more than look I'd have to break your arm."

"That can be fun," he quipped with an evil grin.

Dawn looked over from sunning on her stomach. "Not really because I'd help."

"I don't want to touch you anyway, Dawn. You're too skinny."

"Pepper's too skinny. I'm still growing. Give it up, Tony."

"Fine." He smiled at her. "They're like nagging sisters."

Natasha nodded. "I can see that." She settled in. "Dawn, you're starting to burn." She sat up and let Pepper get her shoulders for her then moved under the umbrella with Tony. She took the sunscreen bottle and worked some into her skin. "I needed this day off."

"Dance classes are that hard?" Tony asked.

"Yes," Pepper and Natasha said.

Pepper grinned at her look. "I had to quit when I was ten. I broke my ankle and it didn't regain that flexibility."

"I've seen some do that."

"It wasn't my first love anyway. Back then I wanted to be a veterinarian that danced in a local group."

"Then you are much more realistic than a few of my classmates, who believe they will dance with the great companies, even though they dance like they are a moose most of the time." Pepper laughed and swatted at her but helped her get some sunscreen on her back. They laid out until it was nearly lunch. Dawn was back in the sun by then.

A beach officer walked up to them. "Do your parents know you're here?" he asked with a smirk.

"Emancipated," Dawn said, waving a hand without looking up.

"Mine does," Pepper said. "He gave Tony permission too."

Natasha nodded. "Mine have found out by now. They're great spies."

The officer stared at them. "Shouldn't you be in school?"

Dawn looked at them. "They're keeping me from killing someone. Okay?" He walked off shaking his head. "Thanks for worrying though." She waved at his back. She went back to her reading. "Why do we read these girly, mushy books for english?"

"Because the teacher wants us to be girly and mushy," Pepper said. "I can't find another reason."

Tony looked over. "Is that _Pride and Prejudice_? I need to copy off someone's paper. I am *not* reading that. My life's too valuable to waste reading about girls in old dresses not getting any."

"There's a movie," Pepper quipped. "And a BBC series."

"Then maybe I'll skim them." He relaxed again. Natasha looked at him so he grinned. "I needed some extra credit hours but I'm officially doing college work. I only have to pass the class, not do great in it. I got into MIT on my design work." He went back to his enjoyment of the other women on the beach. His stomach rumbled a while later. "It's lunch time."

Dawn looked at him. "I didn't know your stomach had a watch. When did you implant that?"

"Ha ha, Dawn. Boys need more calories every day, especially in their teen years."

"Fine. We can get something." She looked at Natasha. "My treat."

"I can afford lunch," she assured her.

Dawn grinned. "It's payday, Natasha. I have a discretionary splurge budget and I won't get to use it this week." Natasha smirked. "I do."

"She does. She has a financial guy who did a great budget with her and all that." Her phone rang. "Hi, Howard. Just about to go to lunch." Dawn sighed but packed things up. Pepper stopped her. "Really? How bad is it? No, we can do the budget by next week. It's due by Monday but we would adore having a few extra days." She smiled at Dawn. "Oh, you did? And Dawn found a what? Closed project?"

Dawn took the phone from her. "Is that the Incandescent one or the other three? File on my computer, Howard. The password's the same as yours." He got onto her system. "Files, budget, questionable budget, three files." He found them. "Yeah, that one and the others." He read them and growled. "Wow, you sound like one of the guard dogs." He looked at Tony, who shrugged. He'd never heard his dad growl. "So, I found ...oooh, I found theft? Cool! I'm glad I could. Look at the Cassandra project too unless they're making huge purchase orders. I'm about there and was going to put it in that file tonight."

She listened to him looking that up. "Back up one file level, go to the to do folder." He found it and looked it over then started to yell. "I was going to ask later about all those. The rest I haven't gone over their budgets yet. Sure, I can have it done by Wednesday with Pepper. We were worried about getting it done by Monday for the board meeting with me being at home this weekend." She smiled at Pepper. "She found the Incandescent one. She's taking the I-through-K section right now. Same password as yours, yup. We do that on purpose, Howard." She grinned at Pepper. "That's great news. No, we're going to lunch. Tony's stomach rang its alarm. Sure, we can be back for dinner tonight. Thanks for the extra time, Howard." She hung up. "We are not due until five-thirty. We both found theft." Pepper smiled at her.

"Full on embezzlement?" Tony asked.

"No, supply side theft," Pepper said. "Huge budgets with no progress reports, because we have to put those into the budget for the Board meeting."

"Wow," Tony said. "Doesn't dad give you guys a bonus for those?" They smiled and nodded. "So Dawn can get clothes that fit. Great!"

Natasha laughed. "Dawn should quit growing soon."

"I'm in my last one," Dawn agreed with a grin for her. "My last bathing suit was so tight I couldn't even get it up to my shoulders without it going over my breasts. I was borrowing Pepper's but Tony's mom told me to get a new one."

Tony nodded. "I spent an hour in the store with them trying to ignore them putting on bikinis."

Natasha smiled. "That is always a good thing." They packed up and put everything into Tony's trunk, heading to a beach-side café. Dawn did pay for lunch, even if Tony tried to. She swatted him and paid. Tony got a beep from a friend so he went to game with him while the ladies did a bit of window shopping then went back to the beach for the other guys to join them.

Tony came back with Clint and Steve. "One of my friends wondered why I had a trunk full of bras and things," Tony complained. "I had to tell him about perky assistant sorts who shop." The girls pinched him but included the guys into their little spot on the beach. It was nice. The guys got down to pants and no shirts. Steve was shy so he had to be talked out of his tank top undershirt. Clint wasn't but didn't own a pair of swim trunks. Natasha got called off by her parents to go to dance class. They scowled at her but she apologized and said she needed a day off. She had done that test before leaving for the day. They decided it was fine this time as she had done her homework on the beach.

Dawn looked at the guys. "Since there's no school tomorrow, where do we want to meet?"

"Here's nice," Pepper said. "Centrally located."

"There's the nice private beach," Tony said but Dawn shot him a look. "I can pay cover. It's less crowded."

"It's got swimsuit rules," Pepper reminded him. "And reporters. Who will once again ask if I'm dating you, Tony."

"Oh, yeah, them." He shrugged. "They tried to link me to someone last week that they're calling the inflatable bimbo."

Dawn looked over and nodded. "A lot. Even the bad boob job stripper we're in school with isn't that bad." Clint stifled a snicker. "Seriously. Oh, PE was not changed for next year," Dawn told Pepper.

"So it's track and field, spinning, or pole dancing?" Clint and Steve both blushed. "You guys will be graduated and so will I. Dawn's still got two more years there."

"You're a sophomore?" Clint asked her. She smiled and nodded. "You're taking senior classes."

"I do good in them and tested into them. I'll finish the business track and be moved to something else I guess. No clue what's going on yet. No one's telling me anything."

"I'll ask Dad," Tony quipped.

"Howard tried to get pole dancing removed as a PE option and they refused," Pepper said. "Called it immoral and didn't they have enough strippers?"

"Oh, she found out," Dawn said, smiling at her. "She so found out. The principal found out her niece is one of them. She was muttering about making chastity agreements mandatory for us." She smiled and shook her head. "She was not amused on any plane of existence."

"The girls gotta pay for their bills somehow," Clint said.

Dawn nodded. "All women gotta pay their own bills. Some do it on their own, some do it on their backs, some do it on the poles."

Pepper hugged her. "You're cynical."

"I try," she quipped with a grin. The same beach police officer walked past. "We should make out just to see his face." Pepper swatted her but smiled and shook her head.

"Please don't," Steve said with a white hot blush. "I'm not into that, ladies." They smiled and hugged him.

Dawn smiled at them. "We don't have to be at work until five-thirty."

They grinned and went to eat something and take the ladies home. Stark got them back to their places then came back to make Dawn unpack his trunk.

Dawn strolled in. "Howard, we're back," she called into the office. No Howard. She walked down to her apartment to change clothes but ran into him on the way. "We're just now back. Anything you want us to do beyond the budget?"

He stared at her. "You clearly didn't take the time to change."

"I was on my way to and Pepper is right now."

"Good." He stared at her. "You're a really pretty girl, Dawn."

Dawn gave him an odd look. "Don't make me punch you in the nose." He burst out laughing, patting her on the head before walking off. "I'll be right up there."

"Fine." He ran into Pepper. "Dawn has no idea how pretty she is."

"That's part of her charm, Howard." He smiled at her. "Okay, budget."

"Please. I need to see how many other thieves I have." He heard his son pull in and saw Dawn go out to unload his trunk. "He shopped?"

"Dawn's growing."

"Oooohh," he said with a wince and hiss. "Oh, no."

"Oh, yes. My bikini was too tight on her this morning so she had to get a new one before we hit the beach." She smirked. "Tony was our approval committee so we didn't look slutty and Dawn ran off the creepy pervert sort."

"That's nice of her." Dawn came in dressed in dress pants and a button-up shirt that did not fit. He found a safety pin and tossed it at her head.

"It's the loosest, sorry, Howard. I'll get some tomorrow."

"Please do, Dawn. You're a pretty girl and men are weak imbeciles around those. You're like our kryptonite."

She blushed but hitched her top together better in the bathroom then came back to do the budget with Pepper. They found a few more questionable department budgets for him. He got to yell at a few more people while they ate dinner at their desk.

***

Dawn looked at her bank balance the next afternoon. She had stopped at the ATM to do that on the way down to the beach. Pepper looked over her shoulder. "You have plenty."

"We won't get the bonus, if we get one, until the payday after next probably and tuition is due before then."

"Dawn, you have *plenty* in savings," Pepper reminded her.

"That's for college."

"You have three different accounts!" She stared at her. "Go clear it with your financial guy. We'll be here in an hour. Then you, me, and maybe Natasha can go shopping later."

"I need to get snacks too." She called him and he didn't have an appointment so she went to bother her financial guy.

Pepper walked down the beach. The others stared at her. "Dawn went to talk to her investment guy to make sure she had tuition set aside for this upcoming semester."

"Dad would pay it for her," Tony said.

"She and Howard made an agreement on what he pays and what she pays," Pepper reminded him. "The same as we did."

Tony nodded he knew that. "He's still gypping you guys on the rent stuff."

"You guys pay rent?" Clint asked.

"We have nice, tiny apartments at the compound," Pepper said, settling out her towel. She smiled at the officer from yesterday. "It's even legitimate today. It's an in-service day."

"Not for public schools." Pepper held up her notebook, which had their school crest on it. "Oh, you're prep school kids." They smiled and nodded. "No drinking or anything."

"Tony's the only one that drinks," Pepper said. "Most of us are good kids." She smiled at him. "We're not even dating." The officer grimaced but moved on, calling that in. That school was off today.

Tony swatted her. "You drink wine with dinner sometimes."

"Sometimes but not usually."

"Fine." He laid back under his umbrella. "I'm the lush."

She poked him on the side. "Who was it that went on a schnapps run last week?"

"Good point." He shook his head.

Pepper smiled at the guys. "Dawn's worried over nothing. She does that. She stresses over her budget all the time and she's got a good bit of stuff saved for things like college. She's just worried because she might have to support her sister sometime soon."

"Isn't she one of your cheerleader sheep?" Tony quipped.

"Yes, Buffy is."

"She's Buffy's sister?" Natasha asked. "I would not have expected that." They nodded. "Is her attitude due to hiding her anger and grief over her mother's condition?"

"No one's really sure," Pepper admitted. "She won't talk about it, even though I know and talk to Dawn. Cordelia, Buffy, and Willow are all in some sort of clique thingy. Though I think Willow's tampering with black magic for some reason."

"That could be dangerous for her," Natasha said. The guys all stared at her. "There's many ingredients that are deadly within the rituals. I had an aunt." They nodded and accepted that reasoning. They pulled out some homework they were stuck with to go over since they had the free day. Dawn came back and laid on the outside of the group, helping Clint since it was math and she was pretty good with that.

"Go okay?" Pepper asked.

"Yup," Dawn said.

"Told ya so."

"Knee length or longer for the business awards dinner." She smiled at the guys. "If you wanted to go clubbing with us afterward, you could." They smiled and shrugged. "I know it's prom and got told it's supposed to be special."

"I'm not going as far as I know. I have no desire to be pawed over by one of the football team who thinks drugging the punch bowl is outstanding and noteworthy," Natasha said.

Clint laughed. "I'm buds with a guy on the yearbook staff. Some of them put in some really questionable quotes."

Steve groaned. "Don't tell me. The coach has already yelled at most of them." He looked at Natasha. "Are you sure you don't want to go? We could, um, save each other. There's been a few girls that seem to think I'm a hunted creature."

"Beat two," Dawn quipped. "Buffy got one. Cordelia told the rest of the sluts off for you, Steve."

"Thanks, Dawn."

"Welcome." She smiled over. "Natasha, he's asking if you'd like to go with him."

She blushed but smiled. "I will have to consult my parents but I would like to go with you."

"I can't really dance, or anything like it," he admitted.

"I'm fortunately outstanding at it and can teach you." Steve smiled.

"You should teach the rest of us," Tony said. "Dawn has no rhythm. She can barely club dance."

"Which means the leaches only hit on me when they want blown and I have to nearly rip their dicks off to make them leave me alone," Dawn shot back. Clint looked at her. She nodded. "A lot."

"A whole lot," Pepper agreed. "It could help if you did, Natasha. I could use some too because I only club dance."

She smiled. "I will see what we can arrange." She got back to her history paper. Pepper had the complimentary topic so that worked well with them.

One of the other girls in their school walked past snorting. "I can tell who the real nerds are."

Tony looked at her. "Those of us going to college at sixteen, thank you." She scowled at him. "And I'll be enjoying all the Boston nightlife every single night until I get tired of college and finish off there." He smirked evilly. "All without anyone like you because I demand that the people around me at least try to keep up. Pity your grades aren't that good. I guess you'll have to settle for being a trophy wife." She huffed off sniffling. Tony waved at her back.

Pepper looked over. "She's been trying to get you in her bed for months," she said quietly.

"I'm not that dense about people, Pepper. I understand flirting very well and she succeeded. Not well enough that I'd make her my wife but she got a backseat tumble."

"Remind me to disinfect it," Dawn said quietly. She looked at him. "Were you desperate?"

"Needy but not that bad. Desperate was the night I tried to flirt with you."

She smirked. "You were drunk, big difference, Stark, and you're too big of a good boy for me." She looked at Pepper. "My great-aunt, the one Howard knew? She dated assassins." Pepper laughed, shaking her head. "I'm wondering if that's why so many robbers like me."

"Maybe," she agreed.

"If they're around when we're here, just tell us, Dawn. We'll try to help," Steve offered.

Dawn smiled. "I've got it down to a science most of the time, Steve. But thanks."

"We don't even let her have windows that open thanks to people who want Dawn," Pepper told him with a grin. "Two different ones snuck into her room to take her."

Clint looked at Dawn. "Damn you're dangerous." He grinned.

She smiled back. "I am. I'm very deadly with a high heel." He laughed and nudged her, getting back to his math homework. Dawn's explanations made a lot of sense, more than the teacher's did.

One of the foster kids with Clint came over to them. "You're doing homework on the beach?" he asked.

Clint looked up and nodded. "She explains math really good."

"Huh." He looked at Dawn. "He told you he's not allowed to date or they'll kick him out of the house?"

Dawn shrugged. "I don't date. I don't have time to date. I work, go to school, and take care of a sick mother." The kid huffed off. Dawn looked at Clint. "Is he jealous that you're not making your money on your back?"

"Maybe but he does music stuff on the pier."

"No, he's been with a few of the matrons as their nightly assistant," Pepper said quietly.

"So that's who that was," Tony quipped. "Mom mentioned him." He shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"She scheduled some her and your dad time today," Dawn said.

"Eww, Dawn. My parents haven't had sex since they had me," Tony complained. "Even if they could, they haven't."

Dawn shrugged. "Maybe they're talking about you and college."

"Maybe." He came out to get some sun. He saw a reporter and shook his head. "Ladies, slime with a camera, right and up," he said quietly.

Dawn groaned. "They're going to say something about the bathing suit, I know they will."

"They'll leave you alone, Dawn," Pepper promised. She got up and stretched, pulling back her hair. "Steve, can you please rub some lotion on me?"

He blushed but did that for her when she knelt in front of him. She smiled and winked at him, getting a grin back. Then she laid down again to go back to homework.

Dawn looked back with a huff. "I can hear you muttering," she complained at the reporter. "Do you mind? I need to finish this. I can't think when you're muttering about your slut of the night." He backed up. Dawn stood up and pointed. "Go. Now. It may be a public beach but you're not the wanted public part." She stomped a foot. "Watch me call the police. I'm not a celeb and you have no right to stalk me." He huffed off. "Thank you, Goddess, for your cooperation. Next time, find a better job than a slime with a camera trying to take up-panty shots." A few of the girls around them clapped at that. She laid back down. "Sorry if anyone gets nagged about that."

"No, I enjoyed the hell out of it," Tony quipped with a grin for her. "Thanks, Dawn."

"Welcome." She saw someone coming. "Tony."

"Spotted. Not a general we work with," he said quietly.

"That's General Raisson," Pepper said quietly. "Special projects."

Dawn looked over when he cleared his throat. "We're only doing homework. Can you bug Stark later since he has to do two papers this weekend?"

"Shit," Tony muttered, finding the stuff, which Pepper had. "Thanks, Pepper."

"Welcome, Tony."

"I wanted to talk to you, Miss Summers."

"Why? I don't design weapons."

"Are you related to Reina Booth?"

"She was my great-aunt. My mom's mother was her sister Helen. I found some pictures of them and Howard."

"Then we have a few diaries of hers in the archive we wanted to give you." He pulled out an envelope to hand over. "Those were hers. Inside was also part of her last uniform." He stared at her. "My father served with her during the war. He always said she was one hell of a woman with one hell of a mouth and a fantastic right hook."

Dawn smiled. "I try to live up to that but I still hit awkwardly. Howard does have someone try to teach me though. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Only right since you're family." He tipped his hat. "Where is your mother?"

"The cancer center out by the college."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Me too. Especially since we're pretty damn sure someone caused it."

He nodded. "You should check your family history. Your grandmother, that great-aunt, and another aunt of yours died of cancer."

"That may be, and I did not know that, but NSA guys showed up when they removed the tumor."

"Oh, that sort. Then probably." He tipped his hat. "Thank you for your time."

"Thank you for telling me." She hugged him and laid down to look those over. He walked off smiling. She called Howard. "I have just been handed some of my great-aunt's journals, Howard. Did you want to catch a look at them?" She smiled. "Thanks." She hung up and tucked her phone away again. "He said he'd get them some night when he was stuck back in thoughts of the war." She looked at the journals, picking one that looked older to read. "Tony, she worked with your dad's people in the war. Including that Captain guy he talks about all the time. She was independent but she spent a lot of time running missions for him. And some Nick guy." He got up to come read over her shoulder. She pointed. "Isn't that Howard?"

"That is and that is Captain America. Huh. I'd like to read those after you, Dawn."

"Sure." She grinned at him. "Maybe you can find out what your dad did."

"I'd probably rather not know." He laid down again.

"I was named after him," Steve said quietly. "My mom idolized him."

Dawn grinned. "That's really cool." He grinned back and they got back to work until lunch. The precious journals got locked in Tony's backseat hidden compartment. When someone tried to jack the wheels, the automatic security system shocked them so hard they needed an ambulance.

Pepper looked over. "Tony, you have it set too high again. He's fried."

Tony shrugged. "Then he shouldn't try to steal my car." He went to check his car, and the journals. Nothing harmed. The officer handling the scene report gave him a strange look. He smiled and turned back on his security system. "LoJack." He went back to lunch.

"Sir, I need your name for the report," the officer said, walking after him.

Tony smiled at him as he turned around. "Tony Stark."

"Related to Howard?" Tony nodded, losing some of the smile. "That explains a lot, sir. Does it have a less lethal version of LoJack on it?"

"No, I haven't put one on yet. I'll consider that this weekend when I'm tinkering though."

"That'd be great, sir, thank you." He walked off making that report.

Howard appeared an hour later. "Dawn, was anything else in that envelope?"

"Her hood."

"Can I?"

"It's in Tony's car." She took the keys and hit the switch to turn it off before Tony could tell his dad to go ahead and get it. Tony hated to be reminded he was Howard's son. Tony got it for him and he felt along the edge. Dawn looked over. "Why?"

"She insisted that her cowl get through the lines and back to me. We figured she hid something in it. We just didn't know what since they gave it to a regular general who didn't understand."

Dawn took it and felt, finding a bit of crinkly stuff. She looked and unpinned the section, handing it to him. "Was it important?"

He read and nodded. "It was. In more than one way and is still important." He hurried off. "Thanks, Dawn."

"Welcome." She put it back and let Tony lock back up the car. "Huh."

"Very interesting. All it said was 'Bucky's alive and Russians'," Tony said. Dawn looked at him. "No idea."

"Bucky Barnes was Captain America's right hand," Steve said quietly. "His best friend. My mom met my friend's mom, the one I live with, because of that."

Dawn squeezed his hand. "I know it was hard on you, Steve. I've thought I was going to face it a few times now and I wouldn't have made it." He gave her hand a squeeze back and a smile. "Is he related?"

"Yeah, that Bucky was his great-uncle and he's named for him. My mom thought that was great before she died." Pepper hugged him. "Thanks, Pepper. It was a while ago."

"I'm glad you had someone there," Clint said. "Being in the system sucks."

Dawn patted him on the arm. "Not that much longer."

"Yeah but I have no idea what I'm going to do yet. I have ideas but nothing concrete."

She smiled. "Whatever it is, you'll be great at it. You can do no less." He grinned at her. They finished lunch and went back to the beach.

***

Howard was fairly drunk that night when the girls and Tony got back. "Dawn, can I have a moment?"

"Sure, Howard." She walked into his office, shutting the door. "Am I being too much trouble?"

"No! Stop that shit." She shrugged. "That low self esteem is going to keep you down, young lady."

"It's not low self esteem, I know I'm fantastic and some day I'll be better at my thing than Tony will be at his, but I still have to worry sometimes."

"Fine. Have you ...." He finished his drink and poured another one. "Want one?"

"Nope. You know I don't drink. It's nasty."

"It is. A very bad habit I grew during the war." He sat down with his new scotch on the rocks. "Your great-aunt used to have dreams that we were pretty sure might be...foretelling things. We laughed at first but she was right about some things happening, like camps being attacked and the like. She wasn't always right. A few we moved and found out later that the attempted attack had been stopped by another camp."

"Is that like me wishing really hard that no agents come near my mother and later that night two of them were found dead in their rooms?"

He stiffened. "That might be a different subject. A more particular one." He stared at her. "Dreams first. Anything like that?" She nodded slowly, grimacing. "It's nothing to be ashamed about."

"Not like I like what I see."

"How do you handle it? Do you write them down?"

"I get worried, I get stressed, I find out why I'm thinking about that because I always thought they were pointing out problems only my subconscious spotted, and fix it if possible."

"Okay, that's reasonable. Have you had any about anything here?"

"The chemistry project that exploded. That's why you yelled at me about hovering and I was there at the right time with the first aid kit. We really need an infirmary."

"We do," he agreed. He considered that incident. "So your dream had the explosion?"

"My dream had a genie coming out of a smoking test tube."

"Hers were slightly interpretative," he agreed. "There was smoke. Anything in particular about the genie?"

"Yeah, it looked at me and 'she'll have you' and then laughed as it dissolved under the sprinklers."

"Freaky." He took another sip, getting up to pace. "Any idea?"

"No."

"Okay. We can be aware someone else wants you."

"Why would they want me?"

"Well, for one thing, magic's real," he said, looking at her. "Like that wishing thing? It was probably a slight magical gift."

She blinked a few times. "Then it's probably a good thing I didn't do it on purpose with the Wrede and Rules."

He snorted. "That's a religion within the skills."

"Still, makes sense to me. Why would I have it?"

"Well, we think it has something to do with your bloodline."

"My great-aunt?"

"No. I'm pretty sure she wouldn't have had magic or else all the Nazi's wouldn't fallen dead when she swore at them. No, I think this has to do with the recent bloodline. Have you ever heard of someone called the Council of Watchers?"

"Yes, someone came up to my sister before we moved to Sunnydale to talk to Mom about Buffy. Mom threw him out of the house and promised she'd have him in jail for stalking. Buffy had some sort of mole removed and that was the one they were trying to prove their point with. Scared Mom to death."

"It should. They're not really nice sorts." He pulled out a folder and handed it to her.

She read it over slowly, frowning. "Buffy?"

"Yes."

"So why would I...." She looked at her shoulder, no mole. She looked at Howard again.

"It's thought that families that had it around them might have other gifts. With your sister having hers, we started to wonder about your gifts."

"My gift is doing the budget." She stood up and handed it back with a smile. "I'll look up different methods of finding gifts; I have a book in the closet that has something about that subject. A fantasy novel that a lot of people nod about 'she's got good advice' in the online Wicca communities."

"If so, no one should know."

"I'd never tell anyone but a spouse about that stuff, Howard. I don't want to be in the hospital like Buffy was."

"Why was she in there?"

"She said a whole gym she burned down was full of vampires who had attacked a spring dance." Howard moaned. "I don't know, I'm not sure I want to know. If my sister needs me to know or needs me to help her, support her in her battle, whatever, then I'll do that. I'm not going to make that my life. I'd like a happy ending some day and those aren't given to girls with destinies until they're dying."

"That's very prosaic and a bit cynical," he said, smirking at her as he finished that drink.

"Pepper called me that earlier," she admitted. "I'm realistic. I'm in no way or shape able to handle something like that at this moment. I'm not trained, I know nothing about it. All I'd do is make her worried I'd get hurt or get hurt."

"True. It's much safer here."

"Yeah," she snorted. "Because you didn't nearly blow up the compound last month, Howard." He winced. "Maybe if I do have magic I'll learn protection spells." She smiled. "And hangover cures."

"That's true, I'm taking you back to Sunnydale for a few hours tomorrow." He stared at her. "Smart ass."

"Just don't take my bonus for it please. I need a whole new wardrobe since I'm growing again."

"I noticed. Please find one?"

"I'll work on it after we get back. Oh, strange thing. Steve, our friend Steve? His mom named him after Captain America, and his best friend, the one he lives with since his mom died, is Bucky Barnes' great-nephew."

Howard choked. "Really?" She nodded. "What was her name?"

"He's never told us."

"I'd like to meet your friends, Dawn. I can share a whole lot of stories about them."

"I have no idea if Clint and Natasha could come or not. Natasha's in dance class most afternoons and Clint's got a part-time job busking at a street carnival because he's in the system and his foster parents make him pay rent."

"They get a check for him!" he complained. "Every foster parent does!"

"Doesn't mean they're not greedy. At least these ones aren't like some are, Howard. How many horror stories have you heard about them?"

"Too many," he agreed. "I'd like to meet all the friends. It's good you're finally making some beyond Pepper." He poured himself another drink. "They can come here for homework time."

"It's way far away on a bus."

"Good point." He grimaced as he sipped. "Order me some more in the morning?"

"I can do that," she agreed. "After we get back?"

"Yup, after then." She smiled and left, going to think in her apartment. He finished that drink, considering his perky assistant. Dawn was going to be devastating to some guy some day. Thankfully Howard didn't like brunettes that young.

Dawn was on her way back when someone at the gate caught her attention. "Clint." She walked out to let him in. The guards glared at her. "He's a friend from school." She looked at him. "What's up?"

"Foster father's drunk and in a beating mood," he said quietly.

"I have a couch." He grinned. "You're more than welcome to it." She got him a visitor's pass and led him that way. "I can get something from the caf if you want."

"No, I'm okay."

She grinned and opened her door, letting him inside. She looked and sighed. "Security to my apartment for the three guys in masks," she called loudly. All up and down the hall, the audio pickups fed that to the main system and guards appeared. She pointed. "Them." They got the guys that had been knocked out by Tony's anti-Dawn stealing system to drag them off. She saved Clint. "He's a school friend who needs the couch." They nodded and let it be. She gave him sheets for it and grinned. "I have some guy's t-shirts if you want to borrow one. Or boxers. They're comfy to sleep in," she said with a slight blush.

He grinned. "I've got mine." She laughed and went to her room, closing the door without locking it. He got comfortable on her couch, which was a bit stiff but nice enough. He could nap and get up really early. Of course, he didn't expect Dawn to be up at her namesake and making tea. He blinked at her. "Are you okay?"

"I never sleep anymore and I've got nerves since we're going to my old house today." She handed him a mug of water. "I've got tea and coffee bags." He grinned and took the coffee bag to put into his cup. She went to dress in jeans and a t-shirt, plus sneakers.

He looked at her. "Dawn, those don't fit."

"I know." She looked at her shoes. "I can't find the right width."

"The shirt's way too tight." She looked and groaned, going to get a bigger one. And jeans since they were a bit tight in the wrong way. He grinned when she came back out. "Growth spurts suck."

"They do. None of my jeans fit and I don't fit into Pepper's." She sat down to nibble on a chip and drink her tea. She finally got up and got a pair of workout leggings instead and a longer t-shirt. That worked and she could wear her cuter boots that were the right size. She sat back down with a sigh. Someone knocked. "I'm up, Pep." She leaned in with Tony. "Who were the guys last night?"

"No clue." She came in with Tony. "Hey, Clint. Long night?"

"Foster father was drunk."

Tony flopped down, staring at him. "So was my dad."

Dawn nodded. "I need to order him new scotch." She sipped her tea. "Tony, coffee bags are right there." She pointed. He made a cup to inhale and one to sip, letting Pepper make herself some tea.

Tony came back to look at Clint. "Dawn's bed must've been a bitch at your height."

"I slept on the couch, Stark. I'm not like that."

"We don't care," Tony said. "As long as you're good to her. Or else I'll build something to blow you to atomic bits." He smiled and sipped his coffee.

Pepper shook her head. "He's sorry, he's been up all night in the lab." She sat down. "Though we don't care if you do start to date Dawn as long as you're good to her."

"Not a point, Pepper. I can't date or I'll get tossed out of the house."

She nodded. "I know she can't date either. She never lets herself have time off." Dawn snorted. "Why are you wearing that?"

"All my jeans are tight in the wrong way."

"Oh, dear. Well, we can send it to the consignment shop." Dawn nodded that was true. "How long is the drive?"

"Three hours. Howard said he'd show up at seven-thirty." She checked her VCR clock then finished her tea and made some more.

"Should I use an airhorn?" Tony teased.

"He's likely to kill you, Tony," Pepper said, looking at him. "Are you suicidal?"

"No!" He smiled. "It's fun."

"Great. We'll miss you when you're dead and leave me your car," Pepper said with a grin.

"Hey!" He swatted her but she gave him a smug look. "Fine, if I die you get my car and all my robots. You might be my only heir ever."

"Some day you'll have a spawn that'll drive you nuts like you get driven nuts by your dad," Dawn quipped with an evil smirk for him. "She'll be you 2.0."

"I can handle that. I'm spectacular, she should be just like me." Clint shook his head, making some more coffee. He needed coffee for this.

***

Dawn looked around the town. "It's their graduation? They do it a lot earlier than we do."

"That's the difference in a good school and a public one," he said.

"I wonder what their stripper to slut ratio is," she said.

He stared at her. "That's crude, Dawn."

"The strippers in my school are pretty decent young women. They just gotta have a job. The sluts are annoying and like to try to pick on me about being a virgin."

He shook his head. "You'll find someone some day."

"Maybe," she agreed. She looked at him. Then behind them when she spotted something. "That's Tony's car."

He looked back and shook his head. "It's nice he's finally found someone to overprotect."

Dawn gave him a pointed look. "I'm like his sister, Howard."

"I know, Dawn, and I wish it wasn't so."

"I'd never put up with a husband who spent all his time in the lab." He grimaced and scratched an ear. They got out of the limo in her house's driveway, letting her go unlock the door. It had the realtor's lock on the door but Dawn had the code and called the realtor. "It's Dawn, I'm here to do a last house check. Right now. I just let myself in." She smiled and hung up, checking all the closets. There were a few things. Including a few things in her room. They had never unmade the beds.

The realtor leaned in. "Leave those, Dawn. We put them on to show how comfy the room is."

"Okay." She remade the bed and looked over everything else, including the basement. The realtor looked around. Dawn grinned. "It's pretty spacious."

"I'd want the washer and dryer upstairs but there's no room for it."

"I'd want a second bathroom. Three women sharing one is a bit much. There's been plenty of times I used the shower down here due to my sister."

"Yes, but that's not always a bad thing. Most people want to do a bit of renovation." She took some measurements. "I had forgotten about the basement."

Dawn smiled and got her into their spare pantry/storage closet upstairs so she could empty all the shelf food from in there. "We forgot a bunch. Buffy will appreciate this since she's in Mom's apartment." Howard walked in and looked then groaned. "It'll fit in the trunk," she said. "We even left the plastic grocery bag stash." He nodded, letting them bag things up. Dawn even checked the back yard, rocking the porch swing. No room for it at Joyce's temporary place. The garden gnomes got picked up and they let Tony do a last check with Pepper, who wanted to see. Dawn had to smile about her friends. She came out to find Steve and Clint staring at the roof. Natasha was looking at the other houses around them. She looked up. "Oh, hey, an eclipse is going to happen soon."

Howard came out to look. "Huh." The kids came out with the last bag Dawn had left on the stairs and it went into the limo's trunk.

"Howard, this is Steve and Clint," Dawn introduced. "That's Natasha."

"Pleasure to finally meet some of Dawn's friends, kids." He shook their hands, staring at Steve. "You even look a lot like him." Steve blushed but grinned. "He was a good man. I'm one of the ones that did the project that helped him."

"Wow, Mom told me about that, sir," Steve said.

"You've got that same innocence he had too. Join us in the limo and I'll tell you about how he once got really mad at me because Peggy and I were talking about fondue."

Dawn grinned and waved at the realtor. "I'm still here whenever you hear something."

"I've got showings already scheduled, Dawn." She nodded and signed the last bit of paperwork Joyce hadn't gotten to yet. They left, having to go back by the school due to the officers blocking off the other main street. Dawn frowned. "Howard, are you feeling weird?"

"No, Dawn. Is it girl weird or other weird?"

"Other weird." She looked around and found something. "Stop!" The driver stopped and she rushed out. Something wrong was going on. She could feel the wrongness. Howard got out of the limo as the guy speaking started to change.

"Fuck!" Howard yelled and heard his son mimic it. "Son, get out of here!"

"Can't, the street's melting," he complained, but he leaned over and did something with the wires. "This is experimental." Clint hopped out to help Dawn but Tony flew them out of there. The hovering tech was a godsend right now.

Howard stared at his son's car then shook his head. "My son's a weird kid." He grabbed his phone to call. "Get here now. It is Stark. Now! We have some sort of huge demon and a graduation."

Dawn looked around. "Guys, get out of here!" she said, shoving one of the people. They woke up and looked around. "Out!" she said with a point. "Run that way!" They ran that way. The demon or whatever the giant snake thing was had just eaten another older guy. Dawn and Clint got people moving.

"Dawn, make them *want* to go," Howard shouted, coming in to help. He hadn't seen anything this bad since the war and freeing some of the camps. More people suddenly showed up. People in uniforms. "Nick!"

"Move, people!" he ordered, and his teams fired on the demon to keep it busy.

Dawn got a few more moving and got grabbed by Clint as the demon tried to bite her. "Mother fucker, do it again!" she ordered. Suddenly her hand lit up. "Wow, never done that." She threw the power at the demon, making it sound like it laughed. Dawn sneered and pulled up all the anger, the rage, the pain that she carried and threw that at the demon. It screamed in pain. She panted. "Okay, now I know." She glanced at Clint but he shrugged and they kept going. They had to get the civilians out of the way. The guys in uniforms were busy. Howard grabbed the kids and moved them. "We need to trap it. It's heading for the school for some reason."

"There's a reason," Howard said. "I don't have a bomb on me, Dawn," he said when she kept staring at him.

Tony walked up. "Gum wrapper," he snapped. "Now!" Dawn pulled out her safety pin and offered it. "That'll do." He finished it and threw it into the demon worm's head as it slithered toward the school. "Duck." He ducked and Clint helped Dawn duck. Howard was a bit slower, wanting to see how much damage it did. It blew the snake's head and part of the school up.

Howard looked at his son. "What was that?"

He grinned. "The thing that got me into MIT, Dad." He helped Dawn and Clint up. "C'mon. Where's Steve? Steve!" He looked over from helping some of the students up. "C'mon, let the SHIELD guys handle it." Howard flinched and looked at him. Tony snorted. "Not like I can't hack our systems too," he said dryly, walking them off.

"Well, I knew I should be comfortable today," Dawn said, looking at herself. "Eww." Clint started to laugh. She got him against the side of the limo, climbing in to get him some of the scotch. Thankfully Howard had an unopened bottle stashed for refills. He gulped some, she took some, Tony took a bigger bit, and Steve took a sip then grimaced and handed it to Howard when he came over.

He drank more. "I haven't seen one of those since one of the camps," he said quietly. "They were going to use it to feed the new demon. It got killed in the explosions to free the prisoners. The building collapsed on it." He finished the bottle. "Damn." He looked over. "Fury?" He looked back. "Do you have it? I've got kids."

"Go," he ordered with a hand wave. "We'll come debrief later."

"We were only up here to look at my former house," Dawn said. "But why is the school glowing?"

Howard and Nick Fury both stared. "Into the car, kids, and go. Tony, make sure."

"C'mon," he said, nudging Steve to go with him. Dawn and Clint got into the limo and headed off. Tony blinked because the limo was now flying, with wings. With what looked like black winged black horses with horns pulling it. The driver looked a lot like Pepper's sheeple Willow with horns and leathery wings. "Okay," he said. "Um, Dad?"

He looked and sighed. "Demons," he muttered. "We'll get them." He looked around. "Clint and she can protect themselves and Dawn has GPS." Tony nodded, jogging off with Steve to his car. They could fly back to LA if they had to. He looked at Nick, who was pulling back his people. "We going to let it go?"

"We don't have anyone who can close it," he complained, watching the limo fly off. "Isn't that your assistant?"

"She's got GPS and another kid with her. This is a bit more important and Dawn would agree if she knew."

Fury called that in. "She's on a heading to hit a mountain in Japan."

"Great." They watched as the school collapsed in on itself. Howard left with the SHIELD people. They finished evacuating the town on the way. Even the cops ran. The hellmouth did expose that base but it freed all the demons and burned all the humans to death. For some reason, Howard paused to grab a blonde girl who was staring in horror at the destruction.

She struggled. "Let me go, there's spells!"

"Unless you have them memorized we don't have time to look it up," he told her. She went with him. He found the spell for her online and she went back to cast it. The hellmouth pulled back into itself. Howard guarded her with Nick Fury, watching what happened. At the end she slumped and curled up on herself, crying. A tiny black and white cat came out to meow frantically. She picked it up to cuddle, taking it with her when they left. She went to the infirmary, where the cat hissed at everyone but one nurse so she got to tend to the young woman.

Nick and Howard had a large drink and figured out how to rescue Dawn and report this.

***

In the limo, Dawn was looking outside. "I know I'm a lightweight to drinking but are we flying?"

Clint looked and nodded. "We are flying." He felt her shaking because he had laid a hand on her back. "Hey, calm down."

"I'm scared of this one. The others I mostly haven't, except the guys with the bomb, but this time I'm actually pretty damn scared."

He pulled her against his side. "We'll handle it." She nodded, sinking against his side. He watched until an idea hit him. "In the fantasy books, who is it that always gets sacrificed?"

"Virgins?" she asked dryly. "Is this like 'the world's going to end, might as well'?" She smiled.

"Well, kinda. But if that'll solve it...." She nodded, then kissed him. He let her, guiding her. "Let me help, Dawn."

"You have to have more experience than I do," she joked.

"Some. Not a great lot but yeah, some."

She laughed. "I didn't think you were the man slut of LA, Clint. Calm down."

"That's good. Three, not that many." He got them undressed and smiled, touching her breasts. "You're seriously sexy," he said, licking over one nipple. She squeaked. He grinned. "Let me, Dawn. I'm going to do everything and if you want a next time, you can pounce."

"I can do that," she said quietly.

He grinned and let himself enjoy her. She was a fine woman. She had soft skin, a bit of baby fat left, and she was beautiful. He was going to enjoy this a lot. She made such happy noises for him and even when he pushed his way inside, she groaned and let him handle it, let him make it good for her but not in the 'show me what you have' way that most girls did. She was making it good for him and liking what he was doing. He shifted some and she groaned. He pushed back in harder, making her squeak and pull him down to kiss him. That was fine with him and he wasn't some short-lasting guy. By the time they realized the limo was falling through some trees, they were both nearly there. He came suddenly when the limo jolted. She squeaked. He helped her calm down when they landed. They both caught their breath and looked around. The limo still looked normal inside, though there was a large branch through the driver's section. Clint kissed her. "Wanna date me if I can hide it from my foster family?"

"You can have my couch whenever you want for however long you want," she said, kissing him. "And yeah, I'd love to date you, Clint." He grinned. They got themselves redressed and out of the limo. It was wrecked looking. The horse hitch was still there but no horses. No evil looking woman with wings. They found a cabin a few feet away but no one inside. It was boarded up and neither one of them was going to risk going in there after the day they'd had. Dawn bent down to tie her boots, then stood up again. She caught Clint staring at her butt and grinned. "Town?"

"I wasn't paying attention, Dawn." She poked him on the arm and he kissed her. "Which direction?"

She looked. "Down, I see some smoke."

He looked and nodded. "Any idea how we'll get the stuff out of the limo?"

"Howard might. Tony might."

"Maybe. They're major brains." He put an arm around her shoulders. "Um, now that we're thinking again...."

"I'm going to get the pill pack as soon as possible, even though I'm on the pill." He grinned. "What did I do earlier with the freaky stuff?"

"I have no clue but it looked wicked cool."

"I scared the shit out of myself, almost literally."

"I had that same feeling when I saw the worm thing." She nodded that was true. "And when I saw you running toward the worm thing."

"I felt something weird, that something was wrong." He nodded but gave her shoulders a squeeze. They found a road, but not a huge one. Just a two-lane. They walked downhill until they found a town. A nice town. Dawn paused them to look. "Health department. Hospital." She looked at him. "Cops?"

"Phone?" he asked.

"Wrecked in the car. My purse was all wrecked."

"Okay. Health department and you use their phone?"

She nodded. "That's logical and has two goals being met." They walked that way. She walked in and to the receptionist. "Hi." She looked around then leaned over. "I kinda um, didn't plan things to happen today," she said quietly. "But I nearly died earlier and we kinda...."

"Let me get the nurse to see you, Miss. Is that your boyfriend?"

"Now." She smiled. "I hadn't before."

"That's fine." She called a nurse out. She came out to talk to Dawn, giving her the prescription she'd need and a condom packet they handed out.

Dawn hugged her and they went up the street to the pharmacy. Clint had called his foster parents to tell them he was okay, though they hadn't heard differently. He had explained it as a minor car crash. At the pharmacy the woman behind the counter stared at her. "I nearly died earlier," Dawn mouthed quietly. "It was not expected and I hadn't.... So I had no supplies on hand."

"That happens. Insurance?"

"Purse got wrecked." She found her wallet in her bra, holding it up. The pharmacist ran it for her. Dawn paid with a check, getting a smile back.

"I added a soda, kid." Dawn got one and waved it, getting a nod. She took them and let Clint have a drink. "I can do a cheap sale." Dawn got him one since they had drank the first one. She smiled at the young couple. They were adorable.

Dawn found a payphone and called collect. No incoming calls. She found the local skinny phone book that told her where she was. So did the pharmacy tag. She got hold of Maria finally with a collect call. "Hey, Maria. Um, no, kinda stranded after the limo took off with me and a friend from school named Clint. No, we're in Madison, Oregon." She blinked. "I don't know, Maria. I really don't know. Ask Howard, he was there when it happened. Yeah, one of those. Please? We can even show him where they crashed the limo in the trees." She saw a cop car pause by them. "Here, ask the officer. Officer, this is my boss, who's nicely going to come rescue us or she'll send someone to get us."

He took the phone. "Ma'am?" He listened. "This is one of the sheriff's deputies in Madison, Oregon, yes. No, they look kinda dirty, smokey, and tired, ma'am. I have no idea. I haven't seen a limo." Dawn pointed up the road and sipped the soda. "No, they don't look high or anything. Thanks." He hung up. "She'll call whoever Howard is and tell him."

"He's the boss and her husband," Dawn said with a slight grin. "I have no idea."

"You guys okay?"

"Just... really tired," Dawn admitted. "We're going to hike back up to the limo. It's by a boarded up cabin?"

"I wouldn't go in there. Locals think it's haunted."

"Great," Clint agreed. "She'll still need to get her stuff and Howard will probably want the limo back." He put an arm around her shoulder. "Let us hike. Thank you, Officer."

"Let me give you guys a ride." They shrugged and let him drive them up there. Sure enough, there was a limo and a limo-shaped path through the trees like it had fallen. He looked up then at them. Dawn nodded. "Why?"

"No idea." She yawned. "I have no clue. I'm about to nap for a week."

"You look like it. I'll stay here for a bit to watch over you guys." Clint grinned and they each took a different seat in the limo to nap on. The officer called that in. His boss came up to see and looked up when he pointed. "They don't know." This was weirder than they were used to around there.

"How in the heck?" he muttered. "Aliens?"

"No clue, boss. Said some guy named Howard was coming up for them and his limo."

"Okay. Sure. If I see 'em, I'll send them up here." He walked back to his car and found a jet landing. He blinked a few times. That wasn't normal military gear as he knew it. Then again, it was Howard Stark getting out of the back. Howard Stark didn't really do *normal* things by what you saw in the press - outside his bimbo habit. "Are you the reason the limo flew? Did they take it for a joyride?"

"No. They were snatched, and I have no idea how it flew." The sheriff pointed and he nodded. "Thanks." He walked that way, nodding at the deputy. "That's mine." The deputy pointed up. He looked then at the car. "Not as much damage as I'd assume with how far up they had to be." The deputy walked off shaking his head. He pounded on the top of the limo and had to move because he forgot Dawn had a bra holster she had put on in case because she was feeling cranky this morning. "Dawn?" he asked patiently.

"Oops, sorry, Howard."

"It's okay. I forgot about the derringer." He leaned in. "You good?" She nodded. "What happened?"

"We were curing the usual reasons for people to be sacrificed when we realized we were falling," Dawn said.

"Huh." He helped them both out, looking at Clint. "You any good at fighting?"

"Pretty good, sir."

"What's your future plan?"

"I'm leaning toward military sniper."

Howard grimaced. "Think you'd go agent sniper instead maybe?"

"Probably."

"How about olympic qualifying?"

Clint snorted. "If the gun has to be set up with all sorts of crap on it for aiming then you're not qualified to use it. Most of theirs look like fancy toys, bows and guns."

"You can use a bow?" Howard asked, smiling some. "Great. Even more weapons you can use to protect Dawn as her bodyguard." Clint raised an eyebrow. "You can't tell me she doesn't need one."

"It'd be awfully hard to date her, sir."

Howard smirked and patted him on the back. "Not really. You'd be with her all the time but paid to be overprotective and hover near her." He walked the kids off. "We'll work out a contract on the way back. Including moving her to a suite with two bedrooms if you want." He looked at him. "That means no having to go back, yes." He got them into the jet. He called in someone to come get the stuff out of the limo and the limo itself back home. Dawn was yawning and falling asleep on Clint's shoulder. He looked very protective so that was great. Howard sat down across from them.

Dawn blinked at him. "What did Mom and Xander see that got them targeted?"

"I don't know yet. Nick's got an agent going to see Xander to ask him about that stuff."

"Hmm. Send Coulson," she said through a yawn. "He'll like Xander."

"How do you know about him?" Nick asked.

She shrugged. "Felt right." She fell asleep, snoring quietly.

Clint looked down and smiled at her. "She's one hell of a girl," he told Howard, who smiled and nodded. "Would that job path hurt hers?"

"Maybe a bit but I'd let Nick have her. Then you'd be with the same people." He grinned at Nick. "He's an archer and a gun guy. Wants to be a sniper."

Nick Fury nodded. "We like those. We have a few." He smirked. "We'll talk in a few days, kid. Once you're rested, debriefed, all that." Clint nodded. "Go ahead and nap. If we're attacked, we'll kick some ass." Clint yawned but did eventually fall asleep. Dawn was just cuddly that way. Nick looked at Howard. "She did good," he said quietly.

"She had no idea. We'd barely talked about it."

"Huh."

"She does know about her sister."

"Good." They settled in to be flown back to his heli carrier. The kids got taken to the infirmary, though Dawn woke up fighting and kicking them. "Hey!" he shouted. "Post problem medical," he ordered.

"I don't know them and I don't like people poking me." She glared at him. "I'm not an experiment."

"I know that. You still got cuts and bruises, Summers." She snorted and followed Howard, pulling Clint with her. "Kids," he muttered.

Howard led them to the infirmary. "Dawn, you have to make sure you're not injured." She blushed bright red and ducked down some. "Not that way, Dawn," he said patiently. "From the flying crash and the battle?" She shrugged slightly but Howard pointed and they went in there. He gave Clint a shove. "You too, Clint. You were in the battle too. Do I need to call your foster parents?"

"No, I told them I was okay and in a minor car crash so I might be late."

"Try tomorrow," Howard said, staring at Dawn until she let one of the nurses take her away from Clint to see if she was okay. The nurse asked Dawn about her birth control but Dawn shrugged and said she was on the pill, had gotten it that morning, and had some pills after that. Howard stared at her. "Dawn!"

"Not like I had something with me!" she screeched back, looking embarrassed. "I don't usually carry those things, Howard!"

"You will now." She nodded, waving the two in her pocket. "Good!" He looked at Clint. "She's not to have a kid until after college."

"I don't like kids," he said.

"Even better." He smiled. "Man after my own heart." He let them be cleaned up and they went up to debriefing. Nick clearly didn't scare Dawn. His female assistant got given the once-over and dismissed as a bimbo or less than useful right now.

Dawn finally looked at her. "Miss, as I don't know your age or marital status, I don't need a friend. I have one of those. I also don't need the hand-holding. I have one of those too. Treat me like I have some sense please before I cave in your head with the water pitcher. I'm not a bimbo, I'm not scared of all this shit. It's not the first time I've been kidnaped this year, much less since I was born. I don't need the gentle shit. I may not have realized I could throw sparkly balls of rage and anger but now that I do, it's kinda neat and unless I run into another thing like a huge demon worm, I probably won't do it to the sluts in my school who hate me for not being a future trophy wife. Okay?" she finished with a smile.

"We were trying to make it easier on you."

Dawn snorted. "I'm tired, cranky, have had one soda in the last little while. All I want right now is a long, hot bath, maybe some more cuddling time with my first ever boyfriend, and then something for my headache throwing that sparkling ball caused. Beyond that, I don't care. You guys are SHIELD, and I already knew that. How do you think I sent him the information on what we found out about Mom's tumor? Howard and Maria did teach me to research things and you guys have a *huge* geek following. Something about spandex pants." She blushed and walked off.

Howard looked over. "Be nicer, Dawn."

"I'm tired," she complained. She looked at Clint. "Sorry, I get cranky when I get tired."

"Me too. Most people do. Then again, you never sleep."

"I need to sleep. That napping thing on the jet worked well." He grinned, blushing a tiny bit. She leaned against his side, wrapping her arms around him, and fell asleep again.

Howard shook his head. "She is the most stubborn woman ever, but she comes by it naturally. Every single one of her aunts was like that." Clint smiled. "She does usually use it for a good reason though. Oh, and about half the time, she'll sleep so heavily a nuke won't wake her up. If not, you tend to know because she has nightmares."

"I think I'm going to have a few about demon worms and flying limos," Clint said.

"Me too." Nick walked in and stared at Dawn then rolled his eyes and shook his head. "She's tired and cranky."

"I heard. Coulson likes that Xander kid. Said he's his protege when he gets out." He looked at Clint, who shrugged slightly. Dawn bit him for it, making Clint wince and Howard chuckle. "We can get you back tonight, kid. We're heading back toward LA."

"Thanks."

"Want me to have someone pack your stuff?" Howard asked.

"If it's not any problem. I have no idea how they're going to react if that was covered on tv. I know dating automatically gets me kicked out."

"Sure." He called that to his wife. "Dawn needs a suite for her and her bodyguard Clint. Yes, the blond guy. Wants to be a sniper. Please do. Thanks, Maria. I'm sure Tony or Pepper know by now." He hung up. "Yup, it was on tv. The FBI blabbed, Nick."

"The hellmouth ate most of a town. Pretty hard to cover that up, even in that town. I'll have Coulson assure her mother that she's fine." He sent him that message and an agent to help Maria Stark. Not that she wasn't a stubborn lady. She could out stubborn him and Howard both. She had a number of times.

***

Maria knocked on the door with a smile. "Mrs. Patters?"

"Yes?"

"I'm Maria Stark, dear." The woman gaped. "Clint's just taken a job as my husband's part-time bodyguard so I was going to pick up his things."

"Why?"

"Well, there's a few reasons. Him moving to the corporate compound means that he's close enough to protect Howard." Her husband was staring numbly at the tv. She pointed. "There he was, helping get people out of the way."

Mrs. Patters looked and went pale, having to be helped into a chair. "That's Clint."

"And that girl next to him is Dawn, who is my husband's assistant." Mrs. Patters shuddered. "He did a very good job. Howard was most impressed. Especially when he saved Dawn from a kidnaping." On tv, the news crew caught the limo being flown off. "They landed in Oregon and Howard's getting them now." The couple stared at her. She smiled. "The job has an excellent salary and Howard will pay for any further training he might want. Plus finishing his schooling off." They nodded numbly. "We think he'll do great guarding Dawn and Howard when they have to go places." She smiled. "Howard even raved that he was an archer. Howard tried so hard to be one when he was younger and in college. Plus it will give my son someone his own age to talk to who doesn't fuss like the girls do." She smiled. "So can I get his things?"

"Sure," Mr. Patters said. "We should tell his social worker."

"Send them to us and I'll gladly do all the forms necessary. Clint's such a nice boy. He didn't even try to flirt the night he spent on Dawn's couch, and he didn't move off the couch all night. He's so sweet and such a gentleman." They smiled at her for that. They let her pack up Clint's bags of things, including the bow he had hidden under his mattress. "We can get him one that's stronger so he can move up a class to compound ones." She checked and got a picture one kid handed to her. She stared at him. "Are you related to Clint?"

"Kinda."

"Should I pack you up too?"

"We don't get along."

"Barney, you were kicked out," Mr. Patters noted firmly.

"I'm going. Came to see if that was my idiot brother."

Maria smiled and patted him on the cheek. "Don't insult the boy in front of me again. Howard may create weapons but I'm very proficient in them as well." She gave his cheek another pat. "Anything I've missed?" They pointed at the laundry basket and she got Clint's things out of there. The other boys in the room were much smaller so it had to be his. "Thank you. I'll have Clint call to talk so you're sure he's okay." She walked off. She spotted Barney watching. "By the way, Dawn is usually more dangerous than I am, Barney. She has to be sometimes." She got into the car and let them drive her home. The social worker was there by the time she got there and they chatted about Clint and what had happened. Maria was a great foster mother and the social worker was impressed he was getting a real job and training out of it. One more bed for a kid that desperately needed it.

***

Howard got out of the helicopter and shook his head at the staring quad of Tony, Pepper, Steve, and his wife. "She fell asleep again," he said as he got out of the way of Clint carrying Dawn.

"Well, she had a big day," Maria said. She smiled at Clint. "I'll let you into her room, Clint. We moved her to a bigger one with two bedrooms."

"Thanks," he said quietly.

She smiled. "I'm all for young love. Just don't make Howard grumpy by letting her have a baby before she's thirty."

He shook his head. "Not planning on any."

"Excellent!" She walked him down there and let him in. "Here you go. When she wakes up, let her know Pepper moved all the stuff that still fit her, and all her books. All the stuff from the house in Sunnydale went to the apartment. Her mother wanted to yell about her doing things she hated to see her sister do but that's what mothers do. She'll get Joyce calmed down. Be sure to introduce yourself to Joyce. She'll be *very* happy and will quit yelling at Dawn for jumping into that." He nodded. "You rest. Your stuff's in there," she said with a point. "The bathroom's shared but that's a life skill I'm sure you already have." She patted his cheek with a smile. "The caf is open all night and you have a minor kitchenette in here." She left.

Clint put Dawn down on her bed, coming out when the door opened to find Pepper there. "She's okay. She's been napping on and off all day."

"Of course she has. She has to catch up sometime." She walked in there to strip Dawn down to her bra and panties, not finding them. "Okay."

"That kinda cured why the witch was taking her," he said.

"Oh!" She nodded and batted him on the arm. "Great. We still like you two even if you're platonic or not from here on out. Totally up to you guys. Just be honest when you meet Joyce. She'll know and rip your head off if you lie to her. She nearly did to Tony, who told her she looked spectacular." She grinned. "I put her popcorn stash up already. Expect her sister sometime tomorrow afternoon. Buffy doesn't like mornings." She smiled. "Those are all the clothes that fit so we'll see when we go shopping." She left, making sure to lock the door on her way out.

"I must be tired. They all seem like whirlwinds," Clint mumbled on his way to the shower. All his stuff was set up nicely. Including his bow and pictures. He flopped down on his bed and fell asleep. A few hours later he was woken up by the feeling of snuffling and looked back at Dawn. "Needed a cuddle?"

She blinked at him. "I hope you didn't mind. Had nightmares," she hissed then fell back asleep.

"No, I don't mind. Usually I can't sleep with people but you're comforting for some reason." He flipped over to hold her and fell back asleep. That's how Pepper caught them at lunch the next day.

Pepper's giggling woke them up. Dawn looked out there. "You're loud."

"Your sister just tried to storm the gates," Tony called.

Dawn looked at Clint. "Sorry I snuck in," she said quietly. He shrugged but smiled slightly. "Tell me if I get annoying? I have no idea how to do the girlfriend thing. Never have before."

"You're okay. I'll tell you if you get clingy, or I'll go hide up a tree."

"Okay. That'll work." She smiled. "I should do the walk of shame." He took off his t-shirt to hand her, earning a smile and a kiss. She stood up to put it on and walked back there. "Guys, couldn't you wait?"

"No," Tony said. "Your sister woke me up trying to sneak into the wrong apartment."

"Sorry, Tony." She went into her room. "Did we not move my clothes?"

"Nothing was the right size," Pepper called.

Dawn came out in stuff she wore to workout, heading for the shower. Clint took one after her, letting her get redressed. She came out to find her sister not looking pleased, arms over her chest, one foot tapping. "How long did it take you to decide on that body language?"

"About when Mom said I was to drag you to her bedside by your short and curlies, Dawn." Buffy moved closer. "What were you thinking?"

"That something felt weird and people were frozen so I went to wake them up. I didn't mean to get into a battle. Not like I asked to join yours." Buffy winced. "Yeah, heard." She smiled. "Now I understand more thanks to Howard. I'll go see Mom tonight."

Buffy stared at her. "She's not going to be happy with that answer."

"I have to buy clothes that fit. Nothing fits."

"Oh, that reason. Mom'll understand that reason. I got all the stuff we left." Dawn smiled. "Is the house standing?"

"I didn't look. I'll call the realtor tomorrow to see if she survived." She yawned. "Sorry, just got up, no coffee yet." Pepper handed her some. "Thanks, Pep." She sipped it, staring at her sister. "Damn, I'm taller than you."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Not the point."

"Did you see how many people would've died if I didn't jump in with Clint and Howard?"

"Yes. Mom did too. It was on tv." Dawn groaned, sinking down. "They identified you because they knew you through your job." Dawn nodded, waving her coffee mug around. "Mom nearly had a screaming fit. Xander came in to talk to her and calm her down but it didn't help much."

Dawn looked at her. "So, is that what you were fighting?" Buffy went pale and shook her head. "Crap. Well, hey." She finished her coffee. "Thanks." She looked at her sister. "I did what I had to do, even though I jumped into something huge. Mom would've done the same thing. Oh, have Mom tell you about our great-aunt."

"I heard. Mom was really happy that some of us were still like that."

"Yes, I am." Dawn smiled. "Go home, Buffy, unless you're going to help me shop and you'd have to put me in tasteful skirts due to the work dress code." Buffy huffed off. "I'll see you there after first dinner."

"Fine." She went to tell her mother that. The nice resident had given mom a Valium already because Joyce was calmer now. "Wow, the resident did you good."

Joyce stared at her. "Your sister?"

"After early dinner, Mom. She's grown again and called me short." She sat down. "She's got to shop and she's got a hotty guard. The blond kid? He's really protective and kinda silent."

"That's sweet." She shifted adjusted the bed. "I miss the gel pads we had."

"I can see if Dawn can find one when she's shopping." She texted that to her sister. She smiled at the one she got back. "She's getting you one and some fruit."

"That's nice of her." She yawned. "I'll nap until she gets here."

"Sure. I'll sit here and do daughterly things." She checked her mom's laundry, putting it up properly. She texted Dawn that Joyce needed shampoo and conditioner for what little hair she had left. Plus a new scarf maybe. She went to check on Xander and did an inventory for him too. Dawn promised to bring it up. She went back to sitting with her mom. She smiled at the nice looking resident when he came in. "Hi, I'm Joyce's other daughter, Buffy." She shook his hand. "Another oncologist?"

"No, I do the general health things that they don't. Things like blood pressure medicines and the like. That way she doesn't die of cholesterol when she's survived all this." He smiled. "I'm Dr. Banner."

"Great." She grinned. "My other sister will be here after early dinner for Mom to scream at her."

"I saw that on tv. It'll be okay. She's fine. I have a fellow doctor in the group that showed up. I made sure when I recognized her. She's fine."

"Even better. Mom can tear a few strips off her hide for it without worrying." She grinned.

"I'll make sure the nurses know to give her some calming down medicine if she needs it." He walked off writing in the file. The nurses had seen it too. "She'll be in after early dinner, ladies."

"We can shut them in," one promised.

"That'll work." He went to see his other patients.

***

Joyce woke up to Clint watching her. "You're very quiet."

"I try." He grinned. "I'm Clint. I'm going to start dating your daughter."

Joyce stared at him. "Her first boyfriend. Huh." She smiled. "Have you two had sex?"

"With the thing kidnaping her we thought it might make a difference so we did but we'll not be doing it again until she's legal. I don't want to tempt a statutory charge."

Joyce snorted. "Clint, dear, I don't care as long as she's happy. I doubt Howard will care. Or Maria. Or Pepper or anyone else who might say something."

"My last foster parents might."

"I doubt it and Dawn would protect you. So would I." She stared at him. "You ever hurt my daughter and I'll make sure your last few weeks are the worst thing that Satan can cry about. Then I'll use the shovel method."

He grinned. "I'm not like that."

"I'm sure you're not but it's a mother's duty to warn boyfriends of that stuff." He smiled. "Good boy. Where is she?"

"Getting a few last things for you guys. She had to stop and get you some flowers." He pointed at the bag on her dresser. "When I said I'd come introduce myself she stared at me for a minute then gave me that to bring up."

"My daughter's a sweet girl, Clint. Clueless sometimes but sweet. She works way too hard and she's very stubborn."

"I've noticed that," he quipped, making her laugh. "Want me to set stuff up for you?"

"Please. What's in the bag?" He handed over the gel pad. "Oh, that's sweet. Get one of the nurses to help me get up." He picked her up, making her squeak. "Okay. You're very strong." He put her into the chair and put the mat down then put her back on top of it. "That's great." She smiled. "You're a good boy. I'll appreciate you dating my daughter."

"We're not having kids," he blurted.

"Even better. Howard hates kids. It shows in how he raised Tony." Clint blinked at her. She smiled. "It does. It was an attempted love match that went far wrong." She smiled as she saw Dawn coming off the elevator. "There she is."

Dawn walked off the elevator at the oncology unit, smiling. "Hi, guys." They stared at the bags and boxes she had on a trolley. "Not all Mom's." She walked into Xander's room, kissing him on the cheek. "Chemo today, huh?" He nodded, staring at her. She helped him have some water then gave him something, making him grin at the chocolate bunny. "It's a leftover but I didn't think you'd mind." She winked and put his new clothes up.

"Here we go. Soft things to nap or sit around in. Lighter cotton and sweats." She looked at him. "All have tie waistbands and are a size lower than you were wearing. That way you won't fall out and accidentally flash people." She held up a package. "Boxer briefs. I asked Clint's opinion so they're guy approved." She put those up for him and a few other things. "This is an all natural baby shampoo, Mom likes it a lot. Doesn't dry out her hair." She put it in his bathroom and came back to hug him. "And I got you some grapes, some cherries, and some bananas." She kissed him on the cheek. "Okay?"

"I love you like you were really my sister."

She smiled. "I am your sister. Mom said we're adopting you." He laughed and she helped him sit up since he was grabbing his ribs. "Sorry, I know how rough the after-treatment time is." She smoothed his hair down. "You're all sweaty." She found a fan and turned it on for him, making him grin. She also set up the DVD player and put the remote next to him with a bunch of DVD's by it. She put in his favorite Charlie Brown special and it made him sniffle. She hugged him again. He relaxed and fell asleep to it.

The nurse leaned in. "That's fine. We do prefer boxers in case he has to have a catheter line."

"He has two packs of those and two of boxer briefs."

"Even better." She smiled and tucked Xander in. "Your mother's waiting to scream at you."

"I did what I had to do." She walked the rest of the trolley over there. "Here we go, the rest of the grapes, cherries, and bananas." She put that basket on her mother's bedside table. "I have your shampoo, your conditioner, and all that." She smiled at her mother. "Plus a few pretty nightgowns and a new robe because it's your birthday next week." She unpacked everything, including another fan, and a few extra books plus a DVD player with movies her mother liked. She put one in and smiled. Then she hugged her mother. "I love you."

"You're still getting spanked, Dawn."

Dawn looked at her. "Was it my fault I was there and felt something weird?"

"No," she admitted.

"You did teach me to help others."

"I did not mean helping save the world. That's dangerous and why I drove off the idiots in the Council that came for Buffy."

"Howard told me about them. I would've shot them." Joyce laughed. Dawn snuggled into her mom's side. "So, Mom, this is Clint. I really like Clint. I'm going to be taking some hours off work to play with Clint." Clint gave her a smug look. "Among other things like roller skating?"

"I could like that," he agreed quietly. "Who's the other one?"

"Xander. He's one of my sister's best friends and Mom's all but adopted him into the family. He's like a great big brother to me." She smiled at the doctor leaning in. "I haven't met you yet. I'm Dawn."

"I'm Dr. Banner, one of the residents that takes care of the normal medical things side."

"Great. I got mom some fruit, and Xander." He smiled and pointed at the mini fridge. "Is gatorade or something else more appropriate?"

"Either's fine. She shouldn't need electrolytes but we do add some nutrients to her IV after chemotherapy, especially with the way her weight's dropped."

"Okay." She looked at her mother then at him. "Do we know about the regrowing stuff?"

"I'm fine, Dawn," Joyce said.

"Mom, don't." She stared at her. "I heard already." She looked at him.

"There's some. Her doctor is doing another scan tomorrow morning and he was going to talk to you tomorrow night." Dawn nodded at that. He looked around, adjusting the fan. "I don't know why they have the heat up."

"She's usually overly warm after treatments."

"Some people do. It's a pretty common side effect." He smiled at Joyce then at Dawn. "So far she's doing good. She's gained some weight back. She's doing physical therapy to make sure she doesn't lock up."

"Mom, do you need sweats?"

"I'm okay. For right now they're doing it in here."

Dawn smiled at the young doc. "Water PT?"

"We'll be progressing to that but it won't be for weeks. She could use a new swimsuit but she can wear shorts and tank tops in there."

"I can find her one. This is LA, it's almost the native costume."

"I'm not wearing a bikini," Joyce said.

"Of course not. You'll wear a Mom suit," she said dryly, cracking up the doctor. "Anything she needs that I haven't gotten her?"

"No, the gel pad is a great idea." She looked at the bag then pointed. "I'll have it put on Xander's bed." He handed it to a nurse. "It's a gel pad."

"That's a great idea."

"Mom got a slight bed sore once." She looked at the young doctor again. "Anything else I need to help her do?"

"Not yet. She's looking a lot better." She nodded. "Joyce, can you think of anything?"

"No, I'm okay. I was helping a few of the kids with the Make A Wish paperwork," she said quietly. "I don't mind being a mom."

"The same as I don't mind when someone needs me," Dawn agreed. "Sometimes it's what you need."

"It is, and we do offer patient and family therapy, group and individual," Dr. Banner assured her.

Dawn smiled. "That's a great thing. Thank you, Doc."

"Welcome." He patted Joyce on the foot. "Oh, non binding socks, Dawn."

"Of course. Mom only gets footies and that's all I got Xander." He smiled and left. She smiled at her mom, not minding when her mother swatted her. "You definitely need to start looking pretty again." Joyce swatted her again. "He's cute and cuteness is a great reason to get better." She heard Xander run to get sick. "Let me help him." She got up and went to help him, waving off the nurse. "Hey," she said, helping by holding him up. "I know, it sucks. Mom did a lot of this too." She got a cool washcloth to put on the back of his neck. When he was down to dry heaves, she helped him up and carried him back to bed, letting the nurse tuck him in to check him over. "Here, we've got some ice water to make sure you're not eaten alive by the stomach acid." She let him sip it and wiped his face off. She stared at him. "It gets better."

"Promise?"

"Yeah. It does. Even Mom's getting better."

He shifted onto his side and Dawn adjusted the gel pad for him, earning a smile. "Thanks, Dawn." She gave him a cuddle, letting him cry a bit. He needed to and that's what family did.

Clint leaned in. "Need help moving him?" he asked quietly.

"No, we're okay. Xander, this is Clint."

Xander looked over at him, waving weakly. "If you think Joyce wields a mean shovel wait until I get out of this bed."

"If I treat her that wrong, I'll stand there and let you do it from a wheelchair even though it'll take longer."

"Wow. You're worthy." Xander stared at him. "Very worthy." He smiled. "Take her." Clint gently moved Dawn. "Thanks, Dawnster."

"Welcome, Xander." She kissed him on the temple and checked on her mother, who had drifted off again. She and Clint looked at the nurses, who nodded for her to go. She nodded back and tapped her phone, getting a nod they'd call. She took Clint outside to the parking lot and cried a bit but she did that about every visit. He understood and let her cry on him. It was good.

***

Dawn looked at her teacher mentor. "What do you mean I don't have to register for next semester. I have to take classes. I'm only a sophomore."

"You're a senior, Summers."

"No I'm not."

"Yeah, you are. You tested into it."

"Why didn't anyone tell me this?"

"You're taking senior level classes."

"And a sophomore level gym, which is what I'm supposed to be in."

"I'll check to make sure. Give me until lunch." Dawn nodded, going to tell Pepper that in math. He called the office to make sure. "Summers thought she was a sophomore. No, I have her as a senior." He listened. "Yes, I'm serious." He hung up on the promise to look into it.

***

Dawn walked into Howard's office later that afternoon, finding a scowling boss. "I'm sorry I got a day of suspension for telling the teacher she was full of shit. But the good news is I'm graduating in six days."

Howard blinked. "You're what?"

"Apparently I'm a senior. No one told me but apparently I am." Howard stared at her, mouth slightly open. "Yeah, I did that same face." He cleared his throat and shook his head. "They checked after I tried to register and my advisor said I couldn't."

"Interesting." He stared at her. "The suspension?"

"The headmistress made it a new rule that we'd have a scared off sex talk before we graduate. I called bullshit when I got told premarital sex causes cancer." Howard winced. "I couldn't let that one stand. I just couldn't. I even wrote a nice note to the school's board of directors over that one including all our handouts and the notes I tape recorded." She handed him his copy with a grin.

He looked it over and burst out laughing. "No. Not likely."

"Which is why I looked at the teacher when she snapped about me not paying attention and told her she was an evil bitch who had not a clue what she was talking about and if it caused cancer, she should probably find a good hospital soon because she's got three of them." Howard stared at her. "They show up to have sex in her office on lunch! Not like we all don't know. Then the headmistress accused me of being a scholarship kids so I kindly pointed out I wasn't, I paid my own tuition. I even pulled up the receipt from the last one on my phone. She said I was still an unworthy student and I never should have been admitted, it was only due to you, how I'd never be more than your mistress. I had to laugh at that too.

"I pointed out I barely had my first boyfriend, I was sixteen and graduating soon apparently so I was more than worthy of her teacher's time and effort, and gee, I'm already making a great salary that's enough to pay for all my bills, saving for college, and tuition. Isn't that what she expected of us? She threw a hissy and had to be taken out by ambulance after I had walked off. I was outside with Pepper having lunch and we all heard her still screaming until her secretary called someone to knock her out." Maria walked in scowling. "Is that because I told the teacher she was full of shit or because the headmistress decided I'm worthless because I'm graduating once I take my tests?"

"The bullshit part," Howard told her. He handed his wife the notes. She looked it over and snorted, hugging Dawn with a smile. "That's why she did it too." He stared at her. "So what are you going to do about college?"

"I have no idea. I had that moment of panic earlier and had to turn down Tony's offer of joining him at MIT." Howard smiled. "I don't know. I really don't know. I might take the semester off and start during summer school since it's easier and cheaper?"

"You could," Maria agreed. "It's too late to get admission now." She looked at Howard, who shrugged. "It'd also give you some time off, Dawn."

"You mean I could finish sleeping?" she asked with a grin.

"Definitely, and not even on Clint sometimes," Howard said with a smirk.

"But he's so comfy," she said quietly, hearing Clint laughing out in the hallway. "And has good hearing among his other great traits."

Clint leaned in. "The headmistress declared that I was withdrawn from the school by the state. You could not fix that this semester or this year, and I was not eligible to come back." Dawn waved him in.

"You can earn a GED," Howard said. "In your wanted career path it's not unheard of and it's not a stumbling block." Clint grinned. "Already looked into it?"

"Took it last year and passed. They didn't believe it." Dawn hugged him. "Do you have to walk?"

"This spring if I want to. But hey, no pole dancing for PE."

"I might like to watch that."

She poked him. "A lot of gyms have that class. I can go with Pepper."

"If we let you," Howard warned. He shook his head. "It's not a fit exercise program, Dawn. If you need a pole I better have found you behind all the embezzlement you found."

"Fine." She grinned at Maria. "So, anyway." She patted her on the arm. "That means I have three finals to do this week and I'm done with high school. And I still have no idea about anything else."

"Well, I can tell you that the governor's going to award you both for your help during that battle. Steve too." They nodded. "Wear something pretty and flirty, Dawn." She smiled and nodded. "Finish your shopping today. I'll give you today off."

She went to her desk and came back with three stacks of papers. "The full budget, with reports for the board. We got it done late last night." She put that in front of him. "Individual department budgets," she said, putting that down in its own stack. "That's all the good ones. These ones are problematic for one reason or another, including six more that look like they're stealing something. And one I found that's promoting treason." He sat upright, staring at her. She handed that one over specially. "Trying to formulate a group to overthrow the government, including plans. I didn't know we had a group that did tactical emergency scenarios for people to train against."

"We don't." He read it over quickly, letting Dawn lean over to point at something. "Hell, they are. Maria, we have people who want to use our weapons to overthrow the US, Canada, and Mexico to make it one country. They're going to start with blowing us up and then using Tony as a hostage to get into the vault."

She moved to read over his shoulder. "I'll warn Tony."

"I handed Pepper that one when I found it so she could tell him," Dawn said. "She told him at lunch and he went on a 'hell no' fit with a few 'fuck thems' thrown in."

Howard nodded. "I'm about to but I don't like to swear that much."

"Tony's lasted for forty minutes," Clint said. "They called the cops on his until he told them that the lovely ladies of the front desk found a huge problem within the family company that was going to get you and him killed. They made sure we'd be telling you."

"When did you find this?" he asked Dawn.

"About eleven. I went to the lab but you were so drunk you were napping on top of your soldering iron so I unplugged it and left a note on your desk." He looked at it, shaking his head. She smiled. "Which is why I mentioned it since I hadn't heard you had to quarantine the compound." She stepped back. "The other budgetary mistakes."

He read them over carefully, looking smug. "I knew he was an asshole." One got put into the other pile. "They're like that sometimes." Another did too. Then the last one got crinkled when he gripped it too hard.

"Dear, don't have a stroke," Maria said, easing his hands off. "You and Pepper have done a great job, Dawn." She smiled at her. "You know, he's going to have to renegotiate now."

"Don't remind me," Howard complained. He looked at her. "Ten grand more a year."

"Eight grand more a year, my rent's cut by fifty percent, because Pepper pays less than me and that's what she'd pay for my suite, I get a formal clothing allowance reimbursement. They're damn expensive and eat into my college fund."

He smiled at her. "I taught you well, Dawn." He stared at her. "The rent cut's fine. Ten grand is the standard raise for graduating with a degree. When you get a bachelor's it goes up again. No clothing this time." She pouted. "Sorry!"

She looked at Clint, who shrugged. She looked at Maria. She nodded with a smile. "Fine," Dawn agreed. "Want me to type it up?"

"I'll have Pepper do it."

"She's graduating this spring."

"I forgot all about that." He grunted. "Fine, type it up." She smiled and went to do that. "Find a college by March," he called after her.

Dawn leaned in. "For a good school even next year might not be capable, Howard. You know the ivies recruit a year ahead. I was going to apply this year for two years from now." He grimaced. "I still have to take the SAT in April."

"Good point. We'll see." She nodded, going back to typing up her new contract. Howard looked at Clint. "Sorry she's going to make you help her shop."

"It's got some benefits," Clint said with a smile.

Maria giggled and nodded. "It does. I used to make Howard help me shop." She looked at him. "You missed our meeting."

"Why were we having a meeting?"

"Because I said so. I'll be in my study after you sign Dawn's contract." She strolled off. Howard sighed but she just smirked. When he came in she looked at him. "We need to talk, Howard." He closed the door and stared at her. "You haven't even been home in weeks. You're acting differently in public. There's been multiple stories speculating about our upcoming divorce. Tony offered to build me something to kill you with." She stared at him. "You always do better when you have a mistress since apparently I haven't tripped your trigger in years."

"I haven't...."

"Don't try." She pointed at a cabinet she had opened. "See those tapes? They're you with your mistress of the moment." He went pale as he looked at them. "Those are just the early years, Howard. I'm realistic. A lot like Dawn is but she'd kill Clint if he cheated." She crossed her legs, showing them off. They were still very toned. She looked at least ten years younger than her age without having had surgery. "So we need to work things out. A wife has needs that latex doesn't help with."

He stared at her. "Are you going to demand a divorce?"

"No. I'm not going to do that to any of us. We'd all end up miserable." He nodded, sitting down across from her. "Was it because I got old?"

"No!" He shrugged. "It... The mental was there but then things got busy and I ...well I had other goals. I changed, not you. It wasn't anything about you. They were just easier, Maria. They didn't want to work with me. They didn't want to talk shop. They were the brainless trophy wife types that only worried if I bought them presents."

"I can see that. I've had a few of those myself." He glared. "What's good for the dick is good for the pussy." He quit glaring. "We will work out an agreement," she said quietly. "I'm not going to be shamed in public. You're edging on that, Howard, and I won't have it." He nodded, shifting to cross his own legs. "You may have a mistress. You may not buy her any presents that are over fifteen hundred dollars. You will not suddenly end up with a new heir. I won't have Tony's legacy blurred. I think he'd do wonderfully as a big brother but he's too much like you. He's always in the lab and never outside of it. Which seems to make him happy but I'd never do that to another child and I'm not raising them."

"I haven't yet."

"She died of a car accident when Tony was ten."

"I did not know anything about her," he said quietly.

"Good." She stared at him. "You can find some actress wannabe and hype her career. You may not raise any speculation. You may not raise any rumors. You may not spend us poor giving her things. If you wish to buy a cottage for your mistress to live in, I would accept that but I will also expect that the same rules apply to me. And you do not make it Dawn or Pepper."

"I'd never touch the girls, Maria. They're like daughters." He stared at her. "I don't like you fooling around." She snorted. "I've been unfair to you. I realize that now. I'm sorry I failed."

"We both failed and we've turned our son cynical and bitter, Howard," she said quietly. "We'll both be happier with a mistress or whatever on the side. Can we make this agreement?"

He nodded. "I can do that. No catching anything."

"I haven't yet but I have heard about both of your discrete trips to the doctor." He glared. She smiled. "I was a spy during the war, Howard. Did you think I forgot that in all the time raising my sneaky son or working in the lab?"

"No." He shifted again. "You really watch those?"

"Yes, with some very nice latex friends." She pulled open her drawer to show him. She smiled at him. "The tape's starting to wear out but it's nice my husband was happy with someone. Which isn't healthy. I'm hiring someone to be mine."

"Get a free one," he snorted.

"We're putting him on the staff as a guard. It's an accepted tradition."

"I can handle that. I'll use the guest cottage at the estate for mine." She nodded that was acceptable since they never used it. He hated that house. It was cold and drafty. "You sure you want someone like that?"

She smiled. "Yes. I need someone who's a mental clearing aid the same way you do, Howard. Though I would warn them up front that your first love will always be the lab and the company."

"I can do that." He stood up. "Do we need formal paperwork?"

She shook her head. "No. Not really." She uncrossed her legs, which he noticed. She smiled. "I have aged very gracefully."

"You look good. I haven't appreciated it properly." He moved closer, kissing her. It was goodbye sex but it was still good. Even if she did push him against the desk to get her own pleasure from him. The couch in her study wasn't that great either but he howled when she used those toys on him. At the end they were both tired and sweaty. She got up to get them some ice water from her fridge. They laid there drinking and staring at each other. "Brunette you think?"

"You've always loathed blondes," she reminded her husband. "The one time I tried to lighten my hair you had a fit and made me change it back."

"I forgot about that." He finished his water and kissed her. "Make sure he's not a dumb muscle mass, wife. You're worth more than that." He went up to their suite to clean up. They had slept alone since before their son had been born. He really hadn't stopped to learn to appreciate things. Thankfully, they had stopped that trait in Dawn. She learned how to appreciate Clint and the beach. She'd never make his mistakes.

***

Dawn got the hiring order from Maria and looked at her then smiled. "We may already have that one filled. Have you met Doug, on the gateway, yet?"

"No, I have not." She smiled at her. "We could just need a new guard."

Dawn stared at her. "I saw his mistress," she muttered. "She's brain dead and in our new decorating department." Maria rolled her eyes. "Though, no more flowers on the pictures out front." She called out there. "Can you send Doug to me for a minute please? Yes, this is Dawn. No, not a mouse. Just a question. Thanks." She hung up. He came off the elevator a few minutes later, straightening his hair out. Maria's eyes lit up.

Doug was handsome, had good muscles that his uniform showed off. "Maria, this is Doug. I think when you travel to the Bahamas this summer you should take him. He speaks Portugese and French. He's presently stalled in a BA of literature." Maria smiled at her for that. "Which would mean he'd be *excellent* to help you organize your bookshelves again. Because I know it's being appraised soon. If you wanted, I could do the paperwork to move him part-time to your assistant and hire another part-time guard."

"I'd like that," she decided, walking him off. "What area of literature, Doug?"

"I like mediaeval poetry, Mrs. Stark. It's very lyrical and a bit deep without being overly dirty. It's the essence of hinting about wanting to sex someone up without being too filthy about it. And it's set to music."

"I do have a few books of older poetry." She took him to show him, and he read them to her, in a bad pronunciation but he was a great choice by Dawn. Who she found out hired her eye candy later on.

Dawn walked into Howard's office, smiling at him. "Busy?"

"Slightly," he complained. She put down a purchase order and he stared. "Why are we buying that much art?"

"The new decorating department hates flowers."

"So do I."

"It's all modernist art so the furniture will have to change." He winced. "The only one I've seen was a splotch one called 'universe' that kinda made me dizzy. I thought you'd want to okay those personally?"

He nodded. "I did." She smiled at him. "So you know?" he muttered.

"Oh, yes. Oh, and we're hiring a second guard."

"That's fine," he said with a hand wave. He looked at her.

She smiled. "I have a great eye for some things, Howard. Look at Clint. I waited for a lot of perfection."

"You did. He's really pretty and competent." She smiled and left him to talk to his mistress about spending his company poor to decorate. He went to her new office. "Modern art?"

"It's very hip."

"Tony likes modern art, not me. I like classical art. Though the flowers were someone else's idea. We need a fountain, make sure it's not a glass monstrosity." He tore up that order, making her pout. "Be reasonable with the decorating. We build weapons. Splotch art isn't really in line with that. I don't have to impress anyone anymore, Romana."

"I understand, Howard." He smiled and walked off. She looked at other catalogs after she had canceled that hold. Maybe she'd talk to his son. Some day it'd all be his. Though, he had the redhead on his tail all the time.

***

Tony walked into the Stark gym where Natasha was going to teach them how to dance better. "Romana just hit on me."

"I think your dad told her he didn't like modern art, that was you," Dawn said.

"At least Mom's new mistress, or whatever you call the male version, is decent and likes books."

"Your dad wanted stress relief, not discussion," Pepper said.

"I can see that but still!"

"Oh, you might want to not go in your mom's study," Clint said. "I went to return Dawn's book and she answered the door watching a tape of your dad and someone."

Tony nodded. "I didn't need to know that but I'm never going in there again." They all smiled at him. "Damn it. Pepper, would you please date me to make those sort of women leave me alone?"

"I demand more attention than the lab, Tony."

"Fuck."

"That's a fun thing that you can't do in the lab," Dawn quipped.

"Bet me," Tony shot back with an evil smirk. "I have plenty of flat surfaces and the cars."

Steve was now hiding in a corner. "Must we, guys?"

"Get in your usual groups," Natasha ordered. She turned on some slower music to teach them. Dawn did not have rhythm. Clint put up with it anyway and led more firmly. She turned it to club music and Dawn could do some but nothing fancy. A lot of teasing though by the way Clint was acting. Pepper had the same gifts. Pepper pulled Steve over to dance on Tony's other side and she noticed how blown Tony's pupils were. She got pulled behind Dawn and smiled at Clint. "I'm not one to participate much," she said quietly. "I much prefer directing or watching the play."

He grinned. "That can be fun too." He turned Dawn around, which made her blush. He was stone hard and Dawn was good against his front. She was so good he was going to bend her over something soon. She reached up to link her hands around his neck like Pepper had done to Tony. That was really hot and then she moved closer to Natasha, who was correcting the rhythm problem the easy way, by making Dawn move the way she wanted her to. Clint moaned. Dawn smiled at him. He kissed her.

Dawn looked at Natasha. "He thinks we're hot."

"I'm very beautiful and you are as well. Of course he does." She smiled. "Some day perhaps." Dawn grinned and teased her. She moaned and forced herself to change back to the slower dancing so they could learn that. Steve took to it well enough. Tony could do some and Pepper giggled as Tony was trying to make small talk. Clint and Dawn were working on it. She moved behind Dawn to help her. "Remember, you will be in heels."

"I'm usually in heels. I can't find the right size shoes." She shook her hair off her face and moved closer to him. Natasha pulled her back. Clint smiled and licked his lips, which took Dawn's attention off her feet. It was a bit smoother. They could work on that.

"What are you wearing?"

"Something silver with purple flecks."

"Please don't say you spent yourself poor on this one dress," Clint ordered.

"Nope. I'm a super sale shopper," Dawn quipped with a grin. "All the clothes in my closet were under a grand and that's usually worth closer to six or seven."

"That's good. I guess. I have no idea." She smiled and hugged him. "Purple?"

She nodded. "Yup. It's a very subtle design." She smiled as Natasha flipped back to the more modern music. That was easier on her. Clint was slightly growling in her ear but that was a happy sound. "I have tonight off," she quipped.

"That's a great thing," he agreed, walking her off. "Next week, Nat?"

She scowled at the shortened name. "Fine." She let Tony, Pepper, and Steve finish up together.

Pepper pulled Steve closer again. "So...."

He looked at her. "This is really...."

Tony turned and kissed him. "No it's not. I ignore her horribly because I'm a bit too much like the old man. Pepper needs someone who does more than flirt, Steve. And I think that's you. But you'd still have to share with me when I came out of the lab."

"I was taught not to share."

Tony smiled. "It pays to learn new things."

"Quit pushing, Tony," she ordered, then hugged Steve. "An offer, you don't have to take it and there's no strings." She kissed him gently then swatted Tony on the ass. "No pinching."

"Sorry, Pepper." He grinned. "Plus I'm going to be on the other coast for the next few years and she won't be seeing me that often."

"So you want me to be the stand-in?"

Tony shook his head. "I'd never accept less than a full partnership. I'm a bit greedy. I grew up a rich kid though so you can't really blame that on me." He moved closer to Steve, backing him against a wall to kiss him.

"Tony, quit pressuring him," Pepper said. He kissed her hard and fast, making her moan. "I still say you're part incubus."

"Well, I am a bad boy," Tony said with a trademark grin. He looked at Steve.

"I have no idea about any of this."

"That's cool. I've got a bit of patience." He stared at him. "Let's start with the basics. I can tell it interests you."

Pepper moved him out of the way, staring at him. "No pressuring," she warned again. "It's a lot to think about. Especially with how possessive you can get, Tony."

He nodded. "I do, yes. But I make up for it with my witty repartee."

"Usually," Steve said. He looked at Pepper, who smiled and kissed him. When his mind cleared he sighed. "I...."

"Just say yes. We're fantastic and we want you, just for being you."

Steve swallowed. "I... I need time to think about. It's a lot to take in."

"Only sometimes. I'd demand some equality there too." Pepper swatted him again. He looked at her. "Does that mean you want spanking games? Because I'm not really into being the spankee, Pepper."

She stared at him. "No, Tony. As a matter of fact, you're not getting anything tonight."

"How long have you been together?" Steve asked.

"It was a pretty foregone conclusion for me," Tony said. "I just had to work really hard at it." He moved some of Pepper's hair off her shoulder. "I could have done those last few credits anywhere." She smiled at him. "Pepper only saw me around the office but I discovered I did know what religion was and she was my goddess. I had to make myself a bit more worthy of her."

Pepper smiled. "You did fine, Tony." She smiled at Steve. "We've been fighting it for years and finally gave in after the battle but then we realized, after a lot of talking, that we both had fantasies about you." He was blushing again and it was cute. She kissed him on the tip of his nose and grinned. "It'll be okay. Think and come talk to us." He nodded, heading home to talk to his best friend. She looked at Tony, who pulled her closer to dance with her. She smiled. "You're a bit too smooth."

"I had a very close shave earlier."

"Then maybe you should quit racing your new car." She didn't get free, letting him wear his tension and stress out on her. She understood, she really did, but they both needed a buffer before they ruined everything. Steve fit just right.

***

Dawn walked into the business awards dinner with Pepper. Pepper was wearing a mint green gown that had a scoop neckline and barely capped sleeves. Dawn was in her silver and few traces of purple highlighting lines dress. Clint was very appreciative of it. They found the table.

Howard stared. "Dawn, Pepper. Very nice, ladies. Clint, nice tux." They sat down. Tony strolled up, taking off his sunglasses. "You finally got dressed?"

"Some of us needed perfection to match with Pepper, Dad." He kissed her hand. "Steve is not coming. He refused. He and Natasha are still doing the prom thing so will meet us at the club."

Howard shook his head. His son looked good in his designer suit. Pepper looked stunning next to him. "When are you going to straighten him out, Pepper?"

"It hasn't worked yet, Howard." He choked. She smiled. "He nearly died."

"Uh-huh." He stared at her then at his son. "You're now Tony's assistant and only his, Pepper. I know you can put up with him in close quarters so that'll work best. I'll keep Dawn until and unless Clint wants to work with Nick."

"If you want," Dawn agreed quietly, looking at Pepper. "Have fun in Boston."

"I can do that." Tony grinned at her. "Steve's planning on applying to an art school up there."

"Great." He settled in to get comfortable. "How boring is this one?"

"We're not being honored," Howard said.

"Great. So cheap dinner, go to the club. Dawn, that looks very twinkly." She stood up and he blinked. "That .... You finished growing finally." She smiled as she sat back down. "Huh. Bit wild for this group."

"I didn't dress for this group. Mom wanted a picture and liked it." He grinned at that. The main speaker showed up to introduce why they were having the dinner and they got served the rubber chicken dinners. They ate it without comment, even though they wanted to comment. The speeches nearly put Pepper to sleep but Tony started to play with her knee under the table so she had to keep swatting his hand. Howard was not amused and kept giving her looks. She finally let Tony do what he wanted. That got her an even dirtier look from Howard. They were finally done and were walking out when Dawn looked toward where her mother was.

"We have to go," Dawn said, heading for the limo.

Clint stopped her. "That's not our job, Dawn. There's people like Nick to do that." She looked at him. "Your mom's going to be fine. They'd protect something like a hospital."

"How? They can't do that."

"They can. They'd just call in specialists," Tony agreed.

"What specialists!" she demanded. "I have to go help my mother."

"That's not your job," Clint reminded her. "If Nick needs to he'll call in the Avengers."

She blinked at him. "They're not real."

"Yes they are and they're always with you," Clint reminded her, staring into her eyes. "The Avengers will always help you protect your mom and us." She blinked and slowly blacked out.

Dawn woke up, holding her head. "Ow. Weird dreams." She sighed, looking at her napping lovers. "What...." She sat up. "I'll kill them."

"That's not your job, that's ours," Clint said, waking up. He stood up, looking at her. "We were worried," he said quietly.

"You saw?"

"Took me a bit to get in there, but yeah." He climbed up beside her, letting her rest against his side. "It's the truth. We're always around you and you can always count on us. Especially me." She nodded, cuddling him. He kissed her hair. "It's been three days," he said quietly.

"I...."

"I know. We were worried. Headache?" She nodded. "Huge?"

"Slight. I can deal."

"Okay." He kissed her hair again and held her. "They got charged in federal court."

"I think I'm going to have nightmares."

"You and Bucky both." She nodded, giving him a squeeze. "I'm here."

She looked up. "Was you wiggling into it why I saw Howard and Maria having sex?"

"No, I got there before the Sunnydale battle."

"Eww. Okay." He smiled. She grinned back. "The kids?"

"They're good."

"Did you not want kids?" she asked quietly.

"At that age, no. Later on I started to." She nodded, relaxing again. "Though you did have some good subtle observations. Natasha does like to direct or watch more than participate." Natasha grunted. "You're most happy then."

"I can be both."

"But you never try," Clint said. He stared at her.

"I... there are reasons for that." She stood up to walk over. "I was always taught that liking girls was wrong. So I do fight that. I treat you like a gift to myself, a naughty treat that I do not tell others about." She brushed a finger over Dawn's cheek. "I do not mean to."

"If that's what you need then that's what you need," Dawn said quietly, staring up at her. "We're not pushy."

"I know. We will work that out." Dawn nodded. "For now, you must rest."

"Not really tired," Dawn said through a yawn.

"Hmm, yet you must rest." She smiled and tucked them both in. Dawn snuggled in on Clint's arm and it was better. She stared at Clint, who quirked an eyebrow up. She nodded Dawn was right, so was he. It was a fault she could admit to and could work on. Though it did thrill her the way they acted together without her. It felt like she was holding them back some and she didn't want that. She'd never want that. So she'd work on that some more and come and go as necessary.

Clint nuzzled Dawn's hair. "We're okay," he said in her ear. "It's all okay. We're all here around you." She sighed in her sleep and got comfortable. "I'm glad she's on the catheter."

"She is not one of the children who sigh and wet themselves," Natasha said.

"She is. Her bag just filled up." They shared a look and smiled. It was an automatic thing a lot of people probably did. On Dawn it was mostly cute.

Dawn nuzzled Clint and let herself fall back into her head. Even though something was blocking it slightly this time it was comforting. She could handle this for now. With all the family and the Avengers around her. Though she would not tell Tony that she had seen his parents having sex.

58: All The Old Ones Screaming 'Oh Shit!'

Takes place during part 57. While Dawn's down, others are handling things, and not always in the best way. Not always in the most peaceful way, and that's not always by their choice. Then again, there's a bad guy out there who really believes that Stark's lines should die. R for Major injury of major underage character.

Callia stared coldly at the receptionist blocking her way. "You're just a child. None of the reporters will want to talk to a child," he nearly sneered.

"I'm Callia Goddamn Stark. Yes, they will." He gasped. "Watch me blow people the fuck up if she doesn't talk to me." She walked around him and the editor. "Not here for you. Still hate that you called me all-but a future bimbo too. I do have brains and beauty, not just future boobs." She found the reporter she wanted. "Good! You're the instrument of my justice before I have to start building weapons. Dad didn't want me to interfere but I'll be damned."

"Sure, I can do that," she said, walking her off. "How is Dawn?"

"It's day two of her not having woken up yet," she said, gritting her teeth. "I'm the point where I'm going to go start making deals with bad guys to solve this shit. Even if Dad would be disappointed by me making deals with Loki and then overthrowing him." The reporter shivered. She calmed herself down. Callia handed over a USB stick drive. "That's them, all their names, their church, and their recent talks. How they're related to the one in North Carolina from a few years ago," she said, glaring at the guard stomping her way. "Don't even." The guard paused and stared at her. "Feel lucky I'm being pissed instead of tinkering, okay?" He blinked. "Hi, Callia Stark." He went pale. "Yeah, so I'm using her as my instrument of justice before I have to lose my blood innocence before I finish puberty. Do you mind?" He shook his head, backing off slowly.

"Callia, you're glowing a bit," the reporter said, going over that information. "Please pull it in. He's got two kids and he's really worried."

Callia waved at him. "I'm venting."

"Sure," he agreed. "Are you dangerous?"

She snorted and looked at him. "The only non-dangerous Stark is Howard because he's a ghost." She smiled sweetly. "I'm not presently armed, just a bit deadly." He nodded and walked off calling someone. Callia looked at the reporter again. "What else can I find to make your job easier?"

She smiled. "Calm down. We'll figure out what we can do." She stared at the NYPD officer coming closer. "She came to me to get her aunt justice."

"They said she's dangerous?"

Callia pulled out her wallet and her Stark ID card, holding it up. The officer blinked and stared at her, mouth slightly open. "The only not dangerous Stark is my grandfather because he's a ghost. I'm venting." She smiled. "I'm sorry if I freaked out the normals but you guys had to let thirty-six people who tried to stone my aunt out of jail and three of them escaped before the Feds got them. Then another two got released by the idiot judge." She stared at him. "One of them was found trying to stalk my little brother earlier since he had snuck out for a donut in the other tower." The officer shuddered. "So, either you guys get them or *I* get them." She smiled again. "I'll cry, puke a whole lot, and remember I'm a Summers as well as a Stark if I have to kill them, but if that's what it takes so they don't go near the rest of us and Auntie Dawn wakes up, I'll dedicate their blood to some nice god or goddess."

The officer nodded. "No report of them was made to us."

"Did you see your idiot DA on tv?" she asked nicely.

"Unfortunately."

"I'm wondering if he thinks that's going to keep him in his office."

"He's got liver cancer from all his drinking," the reporter said then cleared her throat. "Unsubstantiated."

"I can cure that so he has to find a mechanical one," Callia offered. "I can build lasers. I'm really good at building lasers."

The officer nodded. "You should probably finish calming down, Miss Stark."

She stared at him. "My aunt still hasn't woken up yet. We're being forced to play nicely and I don't play that shit. As I said earlier, I'm a Stark *and* a Summers woman." She gave him a pointed look. "Me turning into my auntie? I'll learn and still build stuff with Dad."

The officer nodded. "We'll make sure you get back to the tower without any incidences after you've let the reporter handle some justice giving for you."

"My idea to call down their god so he could ask them what the fuck they were thinking got vetoed," Callia complained, looking at the reporter again.

"You've done a lot of work for me, Callia. Do you know why they chose to do that to your aunt?"

"She won when they tried to give the kids to Barney. Even though they had bought the judge and made sure he was on their side." The reporter gaped. "They've been trying for months now to get the kids away from Auntie Dawn so they can *fix* them. They said in the court case that they'd beat any gifts out of Philip, who has none." She smiled sweetly. "I'm going to burn them."

"No, let the law and us reporters work, dear. You burning their church would get you in jail and they could try to charge you as an adult."

Callia snorted, but grimaced. "Fine. You sure you can help me make them fucking miserable?"

"I can sure try." Callia nodded and shook her hand, letting the officers walk her out. She relaxed until her editor came in. "She laid out a lot of vindictive actions they've been doing." She let her see. "This is bigger than us."

"Callia made a good choice. Go for it." She nodded. "If we have to, we can offer a senior news sort of reporter an inside and help." She nodded, going to work. The editor sighed. "She was really mad."

"She pointed out she is a Summers as well as a Stark." They shared a look. "She's slowly turning into her aunt when she gets mad. Tony had her in self defense since she was Philip's age."

"She is," the editor agreed. "They'll hopefully calm her down this year." She walked off.

The reporter turned on her police band scanner on a hunch. She heard a 'shots fired' call nearby and winced, getting up. It couldn't be but it had to be. Yup, there was Callia giving a semi-precise report on the guys who had just shot the officers and her hired driver and were now shooting at her, and what weapons she had. "Oh, shit." She ran out, calling Stark. "It's Melody at the EW office, your daughter's being shot at, Stark. Near here, police band has it." She hung up and rushed off. She wasn't much help but at least she could be of some help. She did have her self defense handgun with her. Plus a car to help Callia get away in.

***

Callia let the radio go and muttered something impolite that maligned goats' taste in humans. They fired on her again. "I really want Auntie's weapon summoning spell," she muttered, checking herself. She only had a self defense knife. The reporter from earlier waved from the end of the alley. "Melody, no! They've got higher powered guns and a sniper." She ducked as someone shot at her. Callia looked up and considered it then shoved the sniper with magic, making him shriek because he rolled off the awning he was on top of. "Uncle Clint is *so* much better," she muttered. "Hell, the new trainees at SHIELD are better." She heard someone coming up behind her and looked. "Not now!" she complained to the bad guy. She had been briefed about who worked with Barney.

"I can help."

"Give me your goddamn gun!" she said, grabbing it and shooting at one getting close. "Thanks for drawing attention to me!" She hit another one, wounding them.

Barney snatched the gun and killed them. "Always aim to kill, kid. Otherwise they can get up."

She looked at him. "Why help me?"

"Needed something to do and your dad's having a cow." He handed back the gun. "Go." He pointed. She shook her head, moving to the officers. "I can shoot them too."

"No you won't because I'll kill your dumb ass," Callia said. She stared at him. "Not like I'd miss you, Barney." She smiled. "Really." He laughed and walked off because they heard the whine of jet boots. "Barney was here," she called.

"What are you doing out of the tower?" Tony demanded as he landed, stomping over.

"I went to see Melody to make her my instrument of justice after I found one of the ones that got released going after Chris because he wanted a donut." She looked at him. "Got anything to hold wounds?"

"Yeah." He moved to help her with the other officer. He was hit worse. He called that in and that all the people had been killed by friendly bad guys.

Callia smiled at the officer she was helping. "You survived meeting Barney Barton. You're damn lucky. 103 people plus today's haven't." He groaned. "Calm down. I've got pressure on your wound. You're not bleeding too heavily," she said more calmly and quietly. "Just breath like it's lamaze, dude."

He nodded. "I had some of that."

"How old are yours? Maeve's only eight months."

"Two years, twin boys."

She smiled. "Twins have got to be hell. My twin sisters are hell on a lot of nerves, guys and not." He let out a tiny laugh then winced. They heard sirens. "Get your asses in here!" she shouted. "We're holding them from bleeding out!"

"You yell like a football coach," Tony said dryly. He waved them in. "Barney Barton was stalking her."

"I shot at two but he took the gun I took from his buddy Lincoln from me to shoot them then nagged me about wounding them instead of outright killing them." Tony stared at her. "Not like I'm going to die in this scungy alley, Dad."

"We're talking later."

She nodded. "I figured we are." She got out of the way for the paramedics. "Single shot that I can tell. He's awake and telling me about his twin boys."

"Great work." He pulled on gloves and removed the officer's vest to get to the wound that had clipped the edge. "He got a lucky shot but you got supremely lucky, Officer." He nodded, smiling at Callia.

She smiled back. "They're going to be paying for your care, even if I have to hack them." Tony swatted her. "They should."

"Yay." He stared at her. "No hacking. We'll be talking." He stood up. "Let's go, Callia. Guys, need us for statements? Barney left before I got here."

"We heard you coming in," Callia admitted. She pointed. "I gave one a magical shove off the awning and he fell down to the porch. I wounded the guy there and the one in the back behind the other dumpster." She looked at the staring officers. "Be damned if they're killing me."

"Quit channeling your aunt please," Tony ordered.

She looked at him. "You're lucky I didn't spill their blood and then dedicate it, Dad. Really." He shuddered. She looked at the officer again. "That one was one of the ones released from the stoning thing against my aunt and was trying to stalk my baby brother around earlier." She pointed.

"Okay," the officer said. "We're going to escort you back to the Tower, Miss Stark, and then we'll take a statement once you've thrown up a few times."

She nodded. "Gladly." She looked over. "Melody showed up to try to help me."

"She's still waiting," the officer assured her. He walked her that way. "We'll drive her back, Mr. Stark."

"Thanks." He stared at her. "I'll meet you in the office."

"Yes, sir."

"Thank you." He took off, flying home to rant at Pepper so she could get Gloria up there and yell at Callia herself.

Callia walked in. "Gloria, I don't need a lawyer."

"Bullshit." She smiled at the officers. "Even if it's just a statement so we can have an official record for us." She pointed at the secretary to transcribe it for them.

"That's reasonable." He sat down with Callia to talk to her while the parents and the lawyer watched. He got her calmed down after she went to throw up and came back. She gave a good statement. She had good attention to detail. Why the officers had been escorting her home made Pepper growl but Gloria held up a hand so she had to calm herself down. Callia got finished and the officer called that in. His boss agreed they weren't charging her but warned her to stay inside for a few days. Until they could recapture the last few.

Tony looked at the officer. "That would require your head DA to actually do his job."

"Melody said that he's dying of liver cancer," Callia told him.

"Great. So he's fulfilling a few life's dreams," Tony said dryly, staring at her. "You're in so much trouble. By the time we're finished talking, you're going to wish you didn't know how to read or spell trouble."

"That wasn't fully her fault, Mr. Stark," the officer said, standing up. "She was trying to protect her sibling. She probably could have called a reporter and had them show up," he told her.

"I didn't even think of that. I needed out in the air for a bit."

He nodded. "You need to go with a bodyguard from now on."

"They shot the hired driver guy."

"We've already taken him on and we'll notify his people. It's not your fault."

"It kinda is," she said, staring at him.

He nodded. "In some ways but they could've gotten you if you took a cab and killed the cabby. Or gotten you on the street and gotten other innocent bystanders. You cannot stop deranged people from doing stupid things. Even if you didn't have to be in that situation. Hundreds of people a year are killed because they were at the wrong convenience store at the wrong time." She nodded she got that. "Calm down. Summon like the princess you're supposed to be." She gave him a wry look at that. "And they'll be fine."

She looked at her father then at the officer. "I'd like to contribute to their care so they're not saddled with huge hospital bills. NYPD insurance isn't that great," she said when he opened his mouth. "It's only right. They got hurt trying to save me."

"I can agree with that," Tony said quietly, patting her on the head. "We'll work that out."

"It's not necessary," the officer said. "They were doing their job, Miss Stark."

She looked at him. "Their job isn't to protect rich heiresses, their job is to protect regular New Yorkers who can't afford bodyguards. If I had been thinking I would've gotten a few instead."

He shook his head. "Still, you're a New Yorker too. You get the same protection as everyone else, even though you can hire your own." He wrote down a name because she looked really stubborn and kind of guilty. "Talk to them. They're in City Hall and they handle all the benefits. If there's any additional costs you can talk to them about it." She nodded, taking it. He shook Stark's hand. "You've done a good job with her. I think most kids her age would've stomped off in a huge rage."

"I don't know, I wasn't normal," Tony admitted with a slight smile. "Thank you and them." He nodded and left. He looked at his daughter. "You don't have to feel that responsible."

"Yes I do. They got hurt helping me. Even if I was in a royal shitty mood and a snit, they were still helping me and got hurt and one guy got killed. It's my duty to help their families." She swallowed. Then calmed herself down. "It's what responsible people do, right, Mom?"

"Yes," she agreed. Tony stared at her. "I would too." She hugged Callia. "It is not your fault they got hurt. It is the fault of the idiots with weapons who came after you. Your only fault was going out to have a hissy."

"I needed someone outside the family to do the research and find them," she said. "That's why I went to Melody. She's got real reporter skills. Won an award for it back in college." Pepper hugged her. She looked at Gloria. "Am I in trouble?"

"No. They're in real trouble, especially if I find them." She kissed Callia on the head. "Calm down, puke some more. Even your aunt did the first few times." She nodded, going to do that. "You raised one hell of a kid, Mr. Stark. She's definitely a credit to your line." She and the secretary left.

Pepper flopped down in her desk chair. "I'm torn between hugging her and beating her to death," she told Tony.

"Me too. I have no idea how to handle this."

"You're going to let me beat the mini Dawn to death," Clint said from the doorway. "Then you can hug her while her ass is recovering."

She came out of the bathroom. "I'm expecting you might have to stand in line but can you thank Barney for his help?"

"My brother, the psycho bad guy, that Barney? Helped you?" Clint asked.

"Lincoln, that tall, kinda heavy geeky guy with the ugly fedora?"

"I remember showing you all their pictures just in case," Clint said.

"He showed up behind me and I stole his gun to wound two. Serious wounds but still non-fatal wounds." Clint smirked at that. He and Natasha had worked on that with her. She swallowed hard. "Barney showed up and took the gun then nagged me about leaving them able to live. So I told him why we were there while I was helping the officer that got shot. How one of the people that got let out was stalking Chris."

"Excuse me?" he asked too quietly. "One got out?" he asked, staring at Tony.

Pepper nodded. "Five of them got released because there's no evidence on the security cameras that they were throwing rocks. The judge said he did not want to, but that they only had circumstantial evidence. Two were in federal custody and the three earlier escaped but their rearrests were held off due to that. Though I did not hear about one stalking Chris."

"He wanted a donut. She did a bad dye job but it's the same lady, Mom." She looked at Clint. "They were escorting me back because I had a total meltdown and went to find Melody at EW to help me get vengeance for Auntie Dawn."

He blinked. "She's a good choice. Nat, five got released because they weren't on the tapes. Though at least one's probably dead thanks to Barney and Callia."

"I was so mad I was about to dedicate them," she said honestly and sat down with a sound like she deflated. "I suck. I really, truly suck."

"You do not," Tony and Pepper said firmly.

"You're a kid. You have slightly bad judgement," Pepper said.

"You have zero common sense," Tony added. "Which we'll be correcting." Steve stomped in. "She's okay."

"What the hell were you doing?" Steve shouted.

"I went to see someone to ruin the bitches who hurt my aunt," she shot back, making Steve look horrified. "Sorry, Stepmom. Still having an anger issue. Grandpa's going to be mad that I didn't turn green."

Clint came in to pick her up and look at her. "It is not your fault they shot at you."

"No, but it's kinda my fault we were there. I'm going to help pay for their treatments and contribute to the driver's funeral."

"You had a driver?" Steve asked.

"I had the guards call the hired car people Auntie uses," she said quietly.

Steve flopped down, staring at her. "Where is your sense?"

"I'm not sure if I'm calm enough to have sense yet," she admitted. She wiggled down and walked over to hug him. "They came after Chris. I went to get an outside source of help. Hell, Melody tried to help us there but they shot at her too."

Clint picked her up to hug her. "We'll talk about that nasty stuff." He walked off, carrying her to the infirmary. Dawn was still down. Natasha was in there with Coulson and Xander.

Xander looked at her. "If I had thought you needed help I would've been there. Next time, shout a bit?"

"I didn't even think about it outside contemplating who to donate their blood to." She got put down and hugged them then her aunt, fussing with her blanket. "Are the officers going to be okay?"

Xander looked that way and nodded. "I'm not seeing any problems and they might find the problem that's going to get one of them dead in a few months." She stared at him. "Health issue." He pulled her closer, staring at her. "You are not trained. You're not supposed to be handling more than defense of yourself and your siblings."

"They shot at us."

"Good point. Still...." He stared at her. "You're turning into me instead of your dad or Aunt." She shook her head. He smirked and nodded. "I'm getting you a battle axe so you can practice with it."

"They're pretty and so are swords, but no thanks?" He hugged her. She relaxed and they talked about it. Natasha stiffened when she heard about the dead ones, growling slightly. Callia looked over. "Not sure if more than one was there, Auntie."

"We shall find out," she said, patting her on the head. "Go do science things to take your mind off it until you have nightmares." She nodded, going to do that. Natasha looked at Clint. "I'll work on them, you have the closer mental bond?" He nodded and she left, going to handle those misbegotten souls since Justice had been denied.

An officer outside on patrol stopped her. "Ma'am, we were asked to please have you and all the Avengers, plus the kids, stay in the tower."

"We do have children and pets," she said.

"I'm aware of that but the last three that were out are now being rearrested."

She smirked. "That may not save them."

"As long as they're in police custody it has to save them or you become a bad guy." He stared at her. "Please let us try? There's other DA's and they're more than happy to charge them." She grimaced.

Tony came out. "We're being sequestered?"

"No, sir. We just really want you guys to stay in for a few days until things calm down. Your daughter got damn lucky earlier and we're hoping she doesn't have to have luck ever again."

"Me too," he admitted, looking at his tower then at the officer. "If they show up here, they're toast. I won't go hunting them down."

"It's not you being the hunter we worry about, sir, but I just stopped a reporter from bothering your second daughter."

Tony looked around. "Liz, how did you sneak out?"

"Donut," she said, waving it with a grin. "Nice donut, Dad." She smiled at the reporter. "She okay?"

Tony stared at her for a second. "Melody, Callia's okay. Shaken and rattled but okay. Steve's wondering if he has to beat sense into her."

"Honestly, I wasn't so sure she wasn't going to find her own uniform, Tony." She walked over to him with Liz. "She has good instincts of what I need and what I found later on is really bad. They're sponsored."

"By?" Tony asked. He put his hands in his pockets.

"Idiots. Huge idiots."

"Like other tech people idiots?"

"If I tell you can I have an exclusive when you ruin them?" she asked with a grin.

"Sure." She hissed in his ear and he growled, eyes narrowing. "You sure?" She pulled up her results to show him. "That is half their board," he sneered. "Yeah, you want how I do it?" She nodded. "Agreed. Liz, Mommy's in the office. Go see her." She pouted but went to do that. Tony looked at his security team. "The kids are not allowed to wander right now."

"We tried, sir, but somehow she got onto the walkway and came down."

"Fine. Call more people in for overtime to guard the tower in case more of my spawn sneak." He looked at Natasha then at the reporter. "Any still free?"

"One. One was caught on camera and not arrested. She was never identified but I got her." She showed them that footage. "Her."

"That's Susan Milieva," Natasha said. "She's a fairly well known counterpart to my former job."

"Russian?" Tony guessed.

"Half but trained by. She went freelance then to Greece when the Soviet Republic fell."

"So probably freelance again thanks to Greece being in such bad economic shape?"

"Possibly," Natasha agreed. "I have not asked. I will call one of Dawn's contacts to see."

"Please." He looked at her. "If so, I'd like to talk to her too."

"I can probably plan for that." She looked at the officer. "You would probably never be able to catch her."

He pointed. "Her?" She turned and ran after her. He looked at Stark. "Please try, sir. We need things to calm down. There's a few that are near rioting and a few are on each side the issue." Tony nodded so he walked off.

Tony looked at Melody. He smirked. "I got talked into correcting a biography that is only half shit."

She moaned. "I'd love to see an excerpt. How is Dawn?"

"Still down. It's a bad concussion but no fracture or huge swelling."

"Good. I hope she's okay when she wakes up."

"She'd better be or else I think we'll all be losing our shit," Tony said quietly. "Including my daughter."

"They ambushed her to get her into that alley from what she called in, that's how the driver got shot. The officers rushed her in there but got shot taking cover. Then Callia called it in."

"That's good but I still would've rather she had called and summoned you."

"If she hadn't been in that sort of angry rage, she probably would have. She has before." She smiled. "And she yelled at my editor for focusing on her burgeoning figure."

"You know she's hiding some of that by magic, right?" he asked dryly. "She still hates that she's getting breasts." Melody smiled. "Okay, let me go be more calm when I talk to my daughter."

Xander appeared, staring at Melody. "Go to the hospital where the officers are. The one that Callia didn't work on, have them check his stomach arteries." She nodded, taking that down and heading. He looked at Tony. "She's turning into me."

"So did Dawn," he said, staring at him.

Xander grinned. "She didn't even yell."

"She probably didn't think about it. Do you ...." Xander nodded. "Future, right?"

"Yeah. We both read her as a future heroic sort." Tony winced. "Phil said it could be that she'll design something. He can't see her in the suit since she gets air sick. A lot."

"I noticed she always took medicine."

"She's a bit dizzy when she walks too. Very light case of it but if she's the least bit stuffed up she doesn't tend to do a lot of moving that day."

"I had not realized that."

"Chris will have it, Tony."

Tony nodded. "Figures." He smiled. "It goes fast."

"It's the sort of engineering he likes," Xander corrected. "Like cars, it has parts, and he does like parts."

"He does. Thanks, Xander. What about Liz?"

"The little Mini Dawn as Clint started to call her? I read her as she'll do it if it happens around her but she's not going out as far as I can tell. Then again I wouldn't have read you before you got captured."

Tony nodded at that. "Or Dawn."

"Or Dawn. She was support staff."

"She does a good job of it." He considered it. "Anything on Maeve?"

"Not yet."

"We were wondering...." He looked around and walked them back into his tower since they were outside. "We were wondering about things like if it passed on from Dad."

"Ah!" He shrugged. "Don't know. Don't know how to tell either. She does not have magic." Tony nodded at that. "That comes from your side of the family." He smirked. "And slightly in Pepper's. She carries a latent trait for it. Yours is a bit closer. It's the same as that tiny voice that tells you what wire to cut when you're looking at something you're not sure about."

"I've gotten that a few times."

"That's another version of magic. It's like being able to touch something and tell what it is and who touched it? Yours is for electronic stuff. However that works. Never studied it."

"That's good to know. I can't...." He waved his hand in the air like Dawn. Xander shook his head quickly. "Even better. It'd screw my world up." He spotted Joyce. "Last I knew, Callia was with Dawn."

"That's not Joyce. Hi, I can see through illusions." The woman turned and fled. Xander broke her illusion device. The officers outside tried to stop her but Natasha got her in the ankle for them. He looked at Tony again. "I don't know. I can ask Phil."

"We were going to keep it in-family."

"He's not going to report on that stuff. Fury's not in charge," Xander reminded him. "He may keep private notes, and probably does," he agreed at Tony's look. "But he'd never share."

"Please. They're being tested at that gym Dawn goes to."

"That's a great place to start."

"With Caro, Etta, and Dawn's kids."

"See, now that's a weird thing. Mira... Natasha's gifts didn't quite pass on but it did enough to alter her to make it a possibility if she wants it to be."

"Like a really gifted athlete is only gifted if they train really hard," Tony said. Xander nodded. "We figured Clint had the same thing."

"He does. And it's passed on. Dawn's trained about as hard as she can and reached her peak, which is pretty high up. Mira's going to be able to follow Mom's footsteps if she wants it. I don't think anyone would push her towards it." He looked at Natasha as she walked in with the former spy. "Is your daughter going to gymnastics and dance?"

"If she wishes. I'm not going to force her to more than a martial arts for self defense."

Tony smiled. "The physical athletics you showed that got you taken in, she does."

"Great athletes often beget more," Xander said.

"Hmm. I will talk with Clint about that. I do not want her to dance. She hates music." She smirked slightly at Xander. "He asked?"

"Yup. And that's all."

"We were wondering more about...."

Xander nodded. "She's bored. A lot. Mira hates to let her nap. Lexi gets woken easily and that's why she won't nap next to her. Any sort of movement wakes her."

"I had that when I was little," Clint said from behind Xander. He had come off the elevator. "I thought I grew that on purpose though."

"Some people do and some people have it naturally. You probably enhanced yours out of need," Xander said. "She'd probably adore the old style canopy beds that had a tiny light in there for her."

"If that makes her sleep, I'm all for it," Clint said with a grin. "Anything other than that?"

"She's got her mommy's mind and then it got ...enhanced by those idiots," he said in Norse, which Clint was learning from Dawn. He knew that. Clint nodded slowly. "She's not an engineer. Diama looked to see if any of yours were. She likes Philip. Thinks he's adorable and her sort of boy some year in the future but he'll like more minor engineering stuff because everyone around him likes it and he picked it up. He likes weapons, which Diama doesn't, but he also likes flowers, which Fiona taught her to like. He'll never be a Stark engineer but he might make it to a Banner level. Not sure in which field though. He does have some artistic sight thanks to Mom."

"So maybe architecture?" Clint guessed. He had passed all that over to Natasha mentally.

"That's a great idea. Or ships," Xander said with a grin. "Maybe he'll design space ships."

"He'd probably like that and so would Mom. Languages?"

"Dawn is going to make your kids multi-lingual even if she has to force it," Xander said dryly in English. "You're all multi-lingual. She's going to make sure they are. And she's right, it does make for smarter kids." They both nodded at that. "Now...Lexi? She's got the mind for engineering. Diama adored her. Babbled at her. Said she wasn't hers but she likes math. She's not in the hard sciences though."

"So maybe something like finance?" Natasha guessed.

"Maybe. Not sure. She might end up taking over for Aunt Pepper," Xander said with a grin for Stark. Who smirked back. "She does like Mommy doing the family budget."

"That's something we can take into account. Mira?"

"Hates books," Clint said. "I can tell her a story and she's happy. If I read to her and don't show her the book she's happy. If I start showing her pictures in the books, most of the time she'll scream."

"Mira's a lot like you and me in that," Xander said with an evil smirk. "She'll learn from books if she wants to learn but hands-on and more practical skills are better for her. Like phone box Xander in that other realm. He learned over fifty languages because he got dropped in on them while trying to get home. He learned because he had to but he did pick them up very easily." Clint gave him an odd look. Xander smiled. "He did."

"That's so weird."

"Yeah, but still handy. She learns like you learn. If you split yourself into physical Clint and nerd Clint, that's who fathered your girls. Not that Lexi's not physical. She will be. You'll need a lot of stuff to wear that kid out. She's not ADHD like I am because she's got incredible focus, now. But she's very 'got to do something'. She hates laying on the couch."

"We're getting the girls walkers for their birthday," Natasha said.

"Sooner," Xander said with a grin and a nod. "They could use them sooner. Mira needs the getting away from her sister time too."

"Philip...."

"He's swung all the way back to babying Lexi and playing with Mira. Which Mira likes most of the time. Lexi is going to be the princess. Mira's going to be the undercover princess but she'll turn into the queen of the universe when she's pissed."

"I wonder where she gets that from," Clint said with a grin at Natasha. "Susan."

"Barton," she said quietly. "Why are you here?"

"Well, let's see. You put my wife in the infirmary here." He punched her. She went down with a small cry. He grinned. "We should talk, catch up." He hauled her up and held her from getting away. "We should probably start saving for Lexi's future closet, right?"

"Yup," Xander agreed. "Both of them and Maeve. They'll teach her bad shopping habits too. Pepper and Dawn will have shopping buddies." Tony moaned and rubbed his wallet. "The big, poofy wedding dress her sister wore? Mira might like that. She likes lace. She doesn't like flowers but she likes lace." Natasha arched an eyebrow up. "She was fussing at her shirt in the daycare so Phil checked to make sure she wasn't needing changed. He was amused. She likes lace and your uniform. She's like the girlier version of you, Natasha."

She smiled. "We can work their education that way."

"I told you she hated books," Clint said.

"We'll need to build you a treadmill so Lexi can read on it," Tony said.

"That might help," he agreed. "We have one in the gym though." He looked at his captive then at Natasha. "Let's go talk to her. We can use Dawn's space."

"I could like being shown how she got down there."

"Me too but if I know it's not her safe area," Tony complained.

"At least she finally cleaned it, Stark. Thanks, Xander."

"Welcome." He watched them head to the garage to get under it. He looked at Stark. "Chris is presently at your weapons table thinking bad thoughts about people who hurt his aunt." Tony hurried off. Leaving a Stark alone with weapons building stuff invariably produced something. Callia was teaching him about energy patterns when he got there. Chris was fascinated. Tony pulled them over to show them how repulsors worked. Chris squealed because he loved the suit. Callia learned something new too.

Maeve pouted from the doorway with Mommy. "Can she help?"

"Sure," Tony agreed. He took her to put in his lap so they could go over it. She was watching the pretty colors but that was fine with Tony. His kids would be who they were. "Xander said she's going to be your shopping buddy," he told Pepper, giving her a kiss on the cheek with a grin.

Pepper grinned. "It's good that my daughter likes shopping. Liz hates it."

Callia shrugged. "I like it sometimes."

Tony smiled at her. "Me too. Sometimes you gotta have the right outfit." She nodded that was true.

Pepper let them be Starks. She had to run the company.

***

Clint came out of his meditation after Dawn had finally woken back up. "She's dizzy, which we'd expect. No double vision for some reason but anytime she moves she gets green." Tony nodded at that. "It took her thirty minutes to stand up but when she did, she swayed a lot. It'll be a while, Stark."

"That's fine. Does she want to take medical leave or try to get some light work done from home?"

"Not sure. She's back asleep. The meds they gave her for the nausea knocked her back out."

"Ask her later, before she gets to go home."

"Doc said it'll be three days."

"Even better. It's safer here. She and Benji can commiserate about being on couch rest."

Clint smiled. "He called and told her to wake the bloody hell up, he was tired of worrying."

"That sounds like those two." He shook his head quickly. "Natasha had a visitor. I didn't even want to know."

"Where?"

"Conference three." Clint went up to see who it was. Tony went to spend some Dawn watching time with his daughter since she had snuck in. Liz was staring at her auntie while chewing on her thumb. She looked at her dad, who sat down. "She'll be fine, Liz. Just a huge head booboo."

"Bad guys?" Tony nodded. "Bad guys are dumb. Auntie shoot 'em." She climbed up in his lap, grinning at him. "Us time?"

"Did you want to go to the park?" She shook her head. "What did you want to do?"

"Lunchies?"

"Of course. I always feed you." He gave her a squeeze. "Want to try mini golf again?" She grimaced and shook her head. "Hmm. Museum?"

"Shop?"

He smirked. "That's you and Mommy Pepper time, not you and Daddy Tony time, dear." She pouted. "You show me after you shop with Mommy, remember?"

"Need suits."

"I need suits?" She grinned. "Oh, so we're shopping for me. I guess we can do that." She squealed and hugged him.

"Get a new blue one," Dawn mumbled. "Yours had a hole."

He grinned at her. "I can do that." He pointed. "She's awake if you want a hug."

"Just don't make me move." She let Tony hand her Liz to cuddle. "Hey, Lizzy." She grinned and kissed her then wiggled down and ran off. "She's putting on her shoes."

"She needs to change shirts," Tony called after her. "You good?" She almost nodded. "You sure?" he asked with a grin.

"I never had a hangover this bad," she complained quietly. "Or a concussion."

"You'll be fine, Dawn."

"Might be a few months, boss."

"You can work from home." She nodded, sighing at the end and holding her head. She was lightly nauseous looking. "I'll let you nap. Clint and Natasha are up talking to a contact. One of Natasha's former coworkers was there."

"Great," she mumbled. "Have her get into my phone book and ask Victoria. And hand her the letters in my desk drawer."

"I can do that." He patted her on the hip and went up to grab those for Natasha. He knew what she was talking about. He walked in to hand them to Natasha. "Your wife said to hand you the letters in her desk drawer for someone named Victoria?"

She looked. "I think this is the threat pile but I will get them."

"She said her number's in her contacts."

"Or she could be sitting there," Clint said with a grin and a point. "Victoria Winslow, this is Tony Stark."

"Charmed," she said in a British accent with a smile. She shook his hand.

"You knew my father."

"I nearly killed him twice," she admitted.

"That's less than I nearly did." She chuckled. He smiled. "Dawn hugged Liz and Liz insists that I need new suits. So we're going out." Clint nodded. "I'll take Happy."

"You'll take Coulson," Natasha ordered. "Victoria ran into Sheik Oman this morning at the airport, Stark."

"I think he's busy so I'll take Clay or someone."

"That's acceptable," Natasha agreed. "Your daughter is being shadowed by Jensen."

"Can't hurt her to learn from a great hacker." He smiled at Victoria. "Pleasure meeting you, Ms. Winslow." He went to change and gather Liz, and Clay, who was already waiting on him. "Natasha call?" he joked.

"Coulson asked us to hang around earlier. I have Cougar shadowing Chris. Pooch is in the daycare. Jensen's got Callia, and kids give Roque hives." He smirked. "He's watching from the other tower and growling."

"That works." He checked his wallet. "JARVIS, everything works, right?"

"MasterCard's local processing center is presently being hacked, sir," the AI said.

"If it's my daughter's doing, tell her to stop it."

"She's hacking NASA for space footage for her brother. He asked."

"That's fine. If they don't get mad." They walked out together.

Liz was beaming at everyone, holding her dad's hand as they walked out to the car. She waved at a few staring people. "Hi."

"You're very polite, thank you, Liz," Tony said with a smile.

She grinned at him then pointed at one. "Douchebag?"

He looked. "Paparazzi so close." The photographer scowled. He smirked. "She nailed it." He got Liz into the car and followed, letting Clay check around before getting in. Liz got buckled into her car seat. "Happy, Liz said I need new suits."

"You could use something, boss. Your blue one has a hole." He drove them off.

"That's what Dawn said."

"How is she?" Happy asked.

"She woke up, can't move even an inch without getting dizzy, and doesn't have double vision."

"They did an MRI and a CT?" Clay asked.

Tony texted that to Clint, who said she was scheduled today for the MRI. "Today."

"Good. That sounds like it rattled something. I've never had a concussion where I didn't have double vision."

"We'll see," Tony said. "We can both afford great specialists if we need one." Clay nodded that was true. Traffic was a pain today so they had a good ride to the suit maker Tony used. Liz pulled him up the street to point at something then looked up at him. He stared. "Liz, sweetheart, Daddy Tony doesn't wear Auntie suits. He wears Daddy suits." She pouted. "I'd look great in it, but I'd never handle the skirt. Some day you can wear those." She swatted him but grinned and let him walk her into the suit shop. Clay was shaking his head but smiling. The kids were all little hellbeasts at times.

***

Victoria smiled at Clint. "He has that air around him."

"Yes he does." They shared a smile. "Letters?" he asked Natasha.

"Let me find them." She got up to get them and brought back a small pile with a white ribbon around them. Then a pile with a blue ribbon. "I'm not sure which is yours and which is Ivan's or Frank's."

She smiled and took the white ribboned one. "These are mine." She looked through them. "That was most sweet of her. I must know where she found them."

Clint thought at his wife then smiled. "A small curio shop in Brooklyn who bought an old wardrobe from an estate sale in Surrey, which came from a charming garden cottage upcountry originally."

"I did not realize I had left them in that house." She looked through them, smiling at Natasha. "Did she pay a lot? I'll gladly reimburse her."

"She said it's your birthday present and no, they were fairly inexpensive. He had no idea what he was holding, including three different antique pieces that she told him about." Victoria smiled. "Frank's?" he asked, pointing at the other bundle.

"With his work spouse. He had a long term undercover once that made him take a supposed spouse."

"Ah." Natasha handed those to her.

"I'll make sure he gets them, dears." She tucked those into her purse. "Is she really all right?"

"No double vision but a lot of dizziness," Clint said. "She's got an MRI later."

"Hmm. That might be a great thing. If necessary I'm sure you can find her a good specialist."

"We have one consulted," Clint said. "One that deals in head traumas." Victoria smiled at her. He heard whistling. "Philip?" He ran in with a squeal. "This is Victoria. She hasn't seen you since Mommy was carrying you."

He stared at the pretty lady, grinning shyly. "Hi."

She smiled at him. "Hi." She held out a hand and he came over to kiss it instead of shaking it then hugged her like she was his favorite teddy bear. "You are most sweet, young man. You're adorable."

"That's sissies jobs," he said with a shy grin at her. "Boys are cute."

"Yes, you are." She gave him a cuddle. "You have done an excellent job with him, Clint and Natasha. He's absolutely charming."

Philip smiled at her. "You talk like Uncle Benji."

She smiled and laughed. "We're from the same country."

"Ooooh. Foreign hotties like on movies? Uncle 'Drew showed us."

She kissed him on the head. "I'm too old to be hot, Philip, but thank you for that charming compliment." He grinned and ran off. "He is adorable!" she said with a smile for them.

Clint grinned. "He's smoother than I ever was. Has to come from Dawn."

She patted him on the hand. "You're charming when you want or Dawn never would've kept you." He smiled. "Let me find Frank."

"He's in Florida," Natasha said. "I warned him about Susan and the few others that were trying patiences and to thin the pack of freelancers."

"Too bad you didn't end her," Victoria said. "Pity really."

Natasha smiled. "I inserted an organic tracking dot. Whenever I wish to play, I can find her."

"Even better. I have a few I'd like to do that to." She kissed them both on the cheek and left, going to the embassy to see Ivan for tea. He smiled as she walked in. "I did not know you put those letters into my old wardrobe."

"I did not. One of my compatriots stole them from me and put them there to discredit us." He poured her some tea, making her smile and hand over the letters she had sent him. "Hmm. I have missed these. Who found them?"

"Dawn."

"Charming girl."

"Her son is most adorable. He kissed my hand and cuddled me. Called me a foreign hottie like on the movies." She sipped her tea with a smile.

"He seems to be most of the time. She has done good with him. What else did she find?"

"Frank's unmailed letters during that horrid undercover while he was with Mariana."

"He will enjoy burning those." He sipped his own tea and they had a nice, easy afternoon together. He had already seen Susan and was amused at her tracking dot. Clearly Natasha needed a toy. Motherhood was making her too sedentary.

***

Tony came back from the suit shop with two bags and two more being sent later. He leaned into the office. "Who's suing us?"

"The IRS for attacking their supposed audit team." She smiled. "The last one, not the first two that caused problems. Did they seal something?"

"My draw account but not my main one. I used that bank card."

"I'll look into that and make sure all the bills are paid." He grinned. "Liz, did you make Daddy shop?" She smiled and nodded. "Good, he needed a new blue suit."

He smirked at her. "She wanted me to get a silver one but I made her pout. Go help Mommy, Liz?" She ran over to help her mom with the paperwork. "Let me know what's going on."

"Gloria's got it."

"Great. We need to pay her more."

"You have her on personal retainer as well," Pepper said with a smile.

"Even better." He went to put his suits up. Dawn and Pepper would be proud of Liz's taste in suits. Even if she had wanted a silver one.

***

Dawn blinked at the man beside her bed. "Who're you?" she asked.

"I'm Dr. Carnelson. I'm a neurologist."

"Okay." She blinked a few more times, he had clearly woken her up. "I'm just really dizzy."

"So I've been told. I have your MRI results." He put a picture up.

Dawn stared. That looked too familiar. "Is that a tumor?" she asked quietly.

"No. Though I was asked that once already?"

"My mom had brain cancer thanks to someone hotshotting her with some chemicals to try to kill my sister's spirits." She made herself sit up, even though it did make her puke. She caught her breath and looked at him. "So just swelling?"

"So far. We'll need to take a few more once the swelling goes down."

"Will I get the double vision then?"

"Hopefully by then it'll be gone." He stared at her. "You're lucky. They could've killed you."

She nodded. "I stopped myself from killing them. Right now, I'm not sure if that's a great thing."

"It probably is." He came over to check her eyes. "The swelling's bothering your right ear," he told her. She nodded slowly, still a bit green. "We have medicine to help that."

"I'm already on it," Dawn said. "That's why I can move this much."

"I'll check on that for you."

"Please. I have two eight-months-old girls to care for and a three-year-old son."

"We'll find something that works, hopefully before you go home." He smiled. She grinned back. "What is that scar?"

"Someone hit me with a needle full of acid," she said, touching it with her fingertips. "They were trying to convince me to break them into a lab so they could steal stuff."

"Not that one. Though, let's do a test. Close your eyes and touch your nose?" She tried but missed on both sides. He did the other usual evaluative tests and sighed. "That swelling hopefully will not cause any lasting problems but it needs to go down."

"Healing spell help?"

"I have no idea. I've never worked with a true practioner, or any believer that I'm aware of." Dawn nodded slowly, reaching up to hold her forehead. "You're probably reacting slower."

"I'm making myself react slower. Moving faster makes me more nauseous."

"Okay. Let me go check on your medicines." He went to do that. They had her on what he'd recommend but he added a second with a note about spacing them. "Try that?" They nodded. "That swelling's bothersome. She's missing targets."

"She said her hands feel like they're asleep and not fully attached," Steve said from where he was helping Chris get a few stitches. He looked over. "She said that late last night when she woke up for the second time."

"How long was she down?"

"Three days," Shivs said.

"Hmm. It should go down and not leave any damage but it may take a week."

"We'll see what we can do." He nodded, going in there with the doctor to talk to Dawn, who was once again in the fetal position on her left side. "Hey."

"Hey, Dr. Shivs."

He stared. "Are you talking slower on purpose?"

She yawned. "I feel like I did when I was on those antibiotics."

He checked. "That's because you are. Just in case. I can cut those out tomorrow, Dawn." She smiled slightly. He looked at the other doctor. "After the germs that got sent to her desk, we had her on heavy antibiotics for three weeks."

"That's probably a good idea. Her immune system would be low at that point." He checked her eyes again. "We'll redo the CT tomorrow." She nodded a tiny bit. "I've adjusted your medicines so you're getting another anti-nausea pill."

"Shot," Dawn said. "Please make it a shot. I hate needles but please make it a shot. I'm still barely drinking water, Doc."

"We can work on that," Shivs promised. "I'm pretty sure it comes in a liquid form, Dawn." She used her foot to pat him on the arm. "Your foot's not making you dizzy?"

"No, not half as much as my arms."

"Let me look at your back." He did and found a few good bruises. "Clint's taken good care of these for you."

"He usually takes very good care of me."

"He does. I'm impressed he didn't take more than ten minute breaks until you woke up." He patted over her hair, which made her puke again. "So, CT tomorrow?" he asked the other doctor. "I'll forward them to you?"

"Do one of her spine where the bruises are too." He nodded at that. "Hopefully you'll get to play with the children in a week."

Dawn looked at him. "I have fussy kids. They've already tried to sneak in with Philip's help. He carried Mira in to see me."

Shivs smiled. "We caught him and watched to make sure he didn't drop her while waiting on Natasha to come get her, Dawn." He patted her on the arm, making her wince but it'd be okay. "All right, this is your room for the week. I'll update Clint and them. I'll see you in the morning for the new CT. Amanda's your nurse and do not fuss."

"Only if she's going to come tell me I should belong to her church instead," Dawn complained. She lit up a fairy light on her hand to test that skill. "I wanted that to be blue." It was bright orange. She let it go. "Swelling?"

The other doctor nodded. "Swelling."

"Okay, I can handle swelling. Mom had some great teas she found for headaches after surgeries. Maybe they'll help."

He smiled. "It could. I'll see you in two days, Dawn."

"Yes, sir. I'll be here." He smiled and walked out making notes on her chart.

Shivs leaned over. "You might have to get back in touch with your magical core."

"Healing spell?"

"Probably not. I wouldn't risk it for this. I'll send Tara a text though." She smiled at him. "You rest. I'll remind Amanda to leave you alone. She's the only nurse in today."

"That's fine." She blinked. "Let me nap again."

"Sure." He left, going to talk to the nurse in the office. "Amanda, you may not nag Dawn about her religion of choice."

"It's wrong," she huffed.

"That's your opinion and as a nurse, you're not allowed to make that choice for your patients. So drop it." He stared at her. "Dawn and Tara are probably going to be trying a healing spell sometime soon. If that makes you that uncomfortable, switch with someone and get a second nurse in today." She huffed off to yell at Dawn. Dr. Pigalli caught her and walked her off to yell at her. Then fired her when she went on a 'God would be proud of me converting the heathen bitch' rant. The other nurses got asked and they would like some overtime before the holidays. They could get a few new nurses in within the week so that was great.

Shivs called his old partner to see if he knew of one that was good and could start work that afternoon. He did not want to clean out Dawn's puke bucket for her. That was a nurse's job. It turned out one of the old ICU nurses that couldn't handle that sort of stress was retiring in a week. He called her and she came to interview. Tony interviewed her, Pepper interviewed her. Clint and Natasha talked to her about a few things. She charmed them all and it was good. She tutted over Dawn, who scowled but yay. She understood about concussions. And about the guy who'd obviously just had brain surgery recently by his bandages when he showed up to fuss over Dawn. He didn't get to fuss too much either but he nagged her into it.

***

Clint walked into the daycare that night, smiling when his son bounded over to pounce him. "Hey, Philip."

"Mommy coming home with us?"

"Not tonight." He sat him on the table, looking at him. "With her head booboo making her so dizzy she's got to stay for a few more days. It's looking like it'll be early next week."

"I take care of her," he promised. "I fuss!"

"Yeah but she can't get up to change diapers."

"Beya do."

Clint smiled. "If we can talk the doctors into it." He hugged him. "We'll see in a few days. They just want Mommy better before she comes home." He kissed him on the head. "We are getting the girls some toys. Would you like to help and get a toy too?"

He beamed. "Toys," he cooed. That cracked Clint up.

"Nat's coming to get the girls in about twenty minutes," he told Miss Nancy.

"That's fine, Clint. Are they getting a lot of toys?"

"They're getting walkers."

"Are you sure they're ready?"

"Yep. Xander said they're bored." She laughed. He grinned and carried Philip down to the car. Philip wiggled so he let him go potty first then into the car. He drove them to Toys R' Us, which was probably a huge mistake but he wanted the girls to have good things. Philip squealed when he saw the sign. He looked back once he parked. "We are getting the girls walkers. If you see something you think they want, tell me. Then we'll look for yours. Okay?"

He beamed and nodded. "Blocks!"

"Okay, sure, we can get you blocks." He grinned and got out, getting the baby out and locking the car before going inside. He got them a cart, because Philip would run off otherwise.

"Daddy, too big for seat," he complained.

"Then you'd have to hold stuff like the boxes."

"Never mind. Do that for mommy when she shop for me. Eww."

Clint hugged him and walked him off. Walkers were easy enough to find. It was the big kid toys that were usually less marked and sorted. "Hmm. The violet one? Daddy likes purple and it has toys."

Philip grinned. "Yup. Girls like purple too." He got those two boxes into the cart and Philip pointed. "Bouncy chair, Daddy! Maeve has and likes!"

Clint walked them over there. "Hmm." He started to pick up one with the musical mat. "This one? The mat plays music when you step on it."

"If Lexi have, Mira have," he reminded him and pointed. "That one for Mira." He got her one of her own. They could put them on separate doorways. He checked the requirements. They had that and if they had to, he could rig up hitches into the ceiling in the living room for them. He walked Philip toward the blocks and spotted the strollers. He tipped his head and looked at his son. Who grinned and nodded. They went to look. They didn't have many that would fit three kids. "Me too big."

"You're not. This one you can sit on until they're too big for it. That one has a normal seat though." He considered it and his son. "The one with the seat has special brakes."

Philip wiggled until he could stand up and pounced his dad since his back was turned. "Try it on?"

"Yup, we can do that." He tried him in that one. He barely fit. The other one had a seat so he could face backwards and he liked that so Clint tossed that into the cart too and got Philip back into his seat. He took him to the block aisle. Philip's eyes lit up. "Okay, want logs or blocks?" he asked. Philip pointed at the huge bucket of blocks. "That's for older kids." He showed him the tag on the front. "The pieces are too little and the girls will swallow them."

"My room," he complained. "They not come."

"Some day soon they will," Clint assured him. "The same as you started to walk, so will they. And you're too young for those too. They say 4 and you're only 3." He found the big bucket of little kid blocks and logs. "Which one?" Philip pointed with a pout. Clint kissed him on the head. Clint found a bigger bucket of blocks. Philip smiled. "Okay, but don't let us step on them."

"Won't! Would break!"

"True, they would break, and so would we." He put that into the cart and checked out. He winced at the over five-hundred-fifty dollars he had just spent on six items but oh well. Their kids needed them and they could yard sale them later or something. "Does the stroller take a lot of putting together?"

"Not really. We can help."

He grinned. "I know a few mechanical geniuses." He winked and took his receipt, walking them out to the car. Philip climbed into his seat while Clint put the stuff in the trunk area. He called Natasha. "I'll get the girls after all. This wasn't that long of a stop. He wanted blocks and he knows we'd break them if we step on them, Nat." He hung up and closed the trunk, putting the cart back onto the sidewalk and reaching in to buckle Philip in, then getting in to drive. All the doors were shut and locked so he headed back to the tower. Philip helped him carry in the stroller, which was heavy but folded easily it said. Tony looked up as they walked into the lab. "Can I borrow a few tools?"

"Yup." He came over to help him. The stroller got put together within five minutes. Philip sat on his seat with a smile. Clint grinned. Stark laughed. "That'll definitely help on the days you guys walk." Clint nodded and left, going to pick up the girls.

Natasha sighed at the new stroller. "Did you have to buy that?"

"Yup."

"I bought them one."

"I can't put yours together. I can't even figure out how to strap the girls into the seats, Nat."

"Neither can I," she admitted with a soft sigh at the end. "Philip could use the exercise."

Philip stared up at her. "Philip is gaining weight so he can grow again and make you shop." He grinned. "Just to make you lose more hair, Mommy."

"I can tell." He smirked at her. "Fine." She kissed him on the head and got the napping girls into the stroller. "How much was it?"

"The most expensive of the stop at Toys R' Us." She winced. "Philip found them something they might like. He said Maeve loves hers." She winced again. "I used my own account, Nat. With the 'divorce' rule they're still putting half of my paycheck into my old account."

"There's a divorce rule at SHIELD?" Miss Nancy, the daycare worker asked.

Natasha grimaced but nodded. "Fury hated that so many agents got to complain that their spouses took all of the money out of their joint accounts during divorces he created rules so that only half of our paychecks could be put into one via direct deposit. The rest had to go into an account bearing only the name of the agent or onto a reloadable card.

"One guy had to fight like hell because he had his sister on his account so she could manage his bills when he was gone. Birth certificates had to be brought in and all that. They tried to talk him into doing paperwork so she could manage it without access to his account that way but he refused because she was going through a divorce and might need it for her kids. They kept trying to load it onto a debit card that had fees and all that. Fury finally had to overrule them in that specific instance."

"And the one with the twins," Natasha said. "Very nice assassins, who perished the year I joined, a few months later. They shared an account and I got to witness all the fighting they went through because of it."

"Yeah, and that one," Clint said with a grin. "Most of us keep it to fund a quick getaway account in case we need to go into hiding or something. Sorta like our retirement funds are really more savings accounts that earn pretty decent interest but almost no one uses it as a real retirement account."

Miss Nancy shook her head. "I guess you guys get to retire early due to injury?"

"That too," Clint agreed. She gave him a look. "Really." She snorted but patted both the girls and handed Philip the diaper bag.

Philip grinned. "It's my purse sometimes."

Clint looked down at him. "We'll get them a more subtle one then, son." He grinned. Clint pushed them off. "This rolls pretty easily." Natasha took it and nodded, letting him have it back before they got off the elevator in the parking garage. There was a small section that was Avengers only but some people still managed telephoto lens shots from the nearby buildings. They checked the car and Natasha gave him a pointed look. "They'll probably love the bouncing chair."

"Music?"

"Lexi likes music."

"We'll be driven nuts."

"Then we'll hide it and the girls can have different bouncy chairs." She nodded but looked at the receipt, which earned a moan. "That was my feeling."

"You should have went to New Jersey or Connecticut, they have less sales tax." He shrugged and got them all into their car seats. Natasha was driving this time and that was fine. She visually checked the kids, smiling when Mira gave her the grumpy look. "We are heading home. Give me ten minutes, Mira."

"Twenty. Traffic's a wreck," Clint complained, buckling up. He understood why Natasha didn't want to be seen being too motherly but one of these days he was going to have to get her into a mommy and girlish mood. She shot him a dirty look and he grinned. "You can."

"If I have a headache, perhaps." She backed out and took them home through the alleys. Much less traffic in them and only one person tried to jump out at the SUV. She leaned out. "Must I get out and shoot you?" He ran away. She was careful not to hit anyone's things, or the dumpsters, but they made it to the garage in about fifteen minutes. She had to go slower in the alleys. She parked and they got the kids into the stroller, which she had to handle so Clint could carry in the boxes of kid supplies. "Did you think to get diapers?"

"Last night, Nat."

"Excellent. I thought we were out."

"They're in the pantry closet with the other pack you keep forgetting we have and the big case of diaper wipes." Philip laughed. "They are." Philip hugged Natasha's stomach once they got out of the parking garage, earning a smile. "You're a good boy, Philip." Who had great timing since Clint saw a reporter capture that on camera. "Guys, let us go in please."

"How's Dawn?"

"Mommy has pukies 'cause head hurts," Philip said, leaning around the edge of the stroller to look at her. "She all green in the bad way. Grandpa Grr Guy would make fun of her green."

"I'm sure he would," one of them said with a grin. "Nice stroller choice, Agent Barton."

"Thanks. They needed one. Nat's was a bit complex."

"The girls couldn't escape from mine," she said with a smirk.

He grinned back. "They can't run away yet anyway." He got them into the door and upstairs. The spell over the house was still holding. The reporters pouted but yay. At least the market and pharmacy in the neighborhood loved the reporters for all the stuff they bought there. He and Philip opened up the walkers and they popped up. That was handy. He put in the removable, washable seats. The girls got put into them. They both stared at him. He shifted them apart. Lexi bounced and squealed but Philip just teased them. Then Mira rolled a bit and looked startled. She squeaked and stared at her brother.

He grinned. "That's walking. You can both do that."

Natasha looked at the swings. "Are we sure this is secure enough?"

"If not, we'll put up some screw-in hooks with chains to hang it by." He grinned at her. "One on each side of the couch."

"That may be handy." She looked up. "I'd like that idea better." He got his bow to fire up the piton arrow. She climbed it to screw in the bolts they had for decorating and things - Philip was collecting wind chimes for some reason. She made sure they were secure by sliding down the chains as she got done. That worked well. The girls were trying hard to run after Philip, who was taunting them to chase him. Both girls liked their bouncy swings and Lexi looked startled when her bouncing played noise. She looked down and did it again. Mira fussed but when she was given the mat she scowled so it got handed back to Lexi, who was having great fun. Mira was in the sun, which she enjoyed. They both squealed and bounced for hours in that.

Clint grinned. "Our son's a genius. He picked those out."

"He is." She kissed Philip on the head. "They have toys too." They attached those and the girls liked that even more. Now Lexi had noisy things that also played music. Mira had to switch her mirror since it was directing the sunlight in her face. She was happier and could see the birds across the street. "I'll make dinner," Natasha decided.

"Sure," Clint agreed, settling in with Philip to go over his workbook pages from daycare. They had copies of all his books here for the girls and Clint got him a few new pages to go over in his copy. That was great for Philip. Coloring with Daddy was fun. He never told him bunny rabbits couldn't be purple or green, unlike Mommy Natasha.

***

Dawn blinked awake that night, blinking at the usual night shift nurse. "Time for new meds?"

"Sorry to wake you." She pulled out some medicine to put into the IV. Dawn watched as her arm started to turn red as the medicine went up it. "It'll go down in a minute."

Dawn mentally called for Clint. Who called the infirmary and talked to the nurse. Dawn mentally called for him again when she started to feel really dizzy in a different way. By the time she was passed out, Clint was back there and the nurse was not happy.

"They're paying me ten thousand per egg we can harvest," the nurse begged.

Clint stared at her. "She's not on fertility meds."

"We've been given her some instead of her birth control shots."

Clint shook his head. "No, you're not, and she's still on the pill too." The woman glared at him. "Hey, Doc?" One of the new docs came in from the caf with his dinner and coffee. "JARVIS tell you?"

"Yup. Get out of my sight before I have Stark shoot you. Or I let Barton use you as a training exercise." She huffed off. "I'll make note in the records and with the state licensing board, Agent Barton."

"Cool. Dawn said her arm's all red?"

He came in to look and gave her some allergy medicine for it. Dawn was almost able to blink. "She gave you a sedative to knock you out so she could harvest some eggs," he said in her ear. She snorted and growled lightly. "Clint's got you and he ran her off." She patted around until Clint put his hand under hers then she let herself drift off. "Want the chair?"

Clint climbed up onto the bed behind Dawn. "This is why we have the huge bed, Doc."

He smiled, going back to the office to make those notes and call the State licensing board. Stark leaned in a few minutes later. "It was handled. Dawn's sedated but not badly."

"Great." He went to check on her.

Clint heard a thought from Dawn. "You're not Stark."

"Of course I am."

"No, you're not. You don't smell right." Stark looked confused. "JARVIS, is this Tony Stark?"

"It appears to be physically but his biorhythms are off, Agent Barton. I've summoned Mr. Stark from dinner."

"Thanks."

Tony walked up to his doppleganger and pushed him against a wall, patting his side. "JARVIS, let's get the bubble set up again. This one has one too."

That Tony was looking at his side. "What's that?"

"An explosive."

"I did not know that. I came to check on Dawn."

"We'll remove it if we can."

"JARVIS, please put up blocking routines around me so nothing can set the bomb off," the faux Tony ordered. "In all wavelengths. Not even sound if possible."

"I have done so. It is on the security bubble itself, sir."

Tony took him to the surgical suite to let the doctor help him remove the bomb. The two Tonys talked about where he had come from. He had no knowledge of anything beyond being in the building. Tony found out where and had that area remotely scanned. "I'll be damned," Stark said. "There is a lab here." The bomb was fully removed and handed to the SWAT team that had been called in by Clint. He walked off. "You busy?"

"The nurse sedated her."

"Why?"

"She was going to get ten grand an egg she harvested from Dawn," Clint said dryly. "She didn't know she was on the pill too."

"Great," Tony said with a grimace. "Those are coming from here."

"Really?" He grinned. "Call Maria Hill?"

"I can do that." He called her on the room phone. "Hill, Stark. That not Barton that led to Dawn finding him? Found out where they're coming from. Here. Please do. I might need them arrested, yes. I have no idea. I haven't heard a *thing* about such plans."

Clint cleared his throat. "During Dawn's concussion dream, she found six groups that were embezzling through fake purchase orders and one that was formatting ideas on sedition," he said quietly.

Tony stared at him. "What?"

"During a budget for the board, where she had to put progress reports with their sub budgets."

"Pepper and she have thought about going back to that system but it takes them weeks to do it because Accounting can't do half of it."

"It was in her budget file under another file than to be done but she found a few in that one."

"I can check her computer."

"It was under Howard's log in in the dream. She put it the same as the log in he had."

"So Dad wouldn't have to remember them. Dad hated the PC movement at times." He went up to get into Dawn's computer. She did have a budget folder. She did have a 'looks wrong to me' folder that she was updating as she looked it over for errors and other problems. He found the 'suspicious' folder too and looked at them. Eight files. He looked over them. Two got left alone to be gone over later. They were like that sometimes and Dawn knew that. That might take a fine toothed comb to find anything. He found one and straightened up as he read it. He projected it for Steve when he and Maria came off the elevator together.

Maria Hill blinked. "Since when do you have a sub-group planning emergency scenarios to train against?"

"I don't." Tony looked at her through the virtual display. "Never have. It came out in Dawn's concussion dream."

She blinked. "Is that like a not quite prophetic one?" Steve asked.

"We think a lot of those sort of things show up as things you're subconsciously worried about," Maria said. "We've had a few agents who have had similar situations. They suddenly woke up and remembered or knew that something was bad. Any others?"

He pulled up the others. "Embezzlement Pepper can deal with."

Steve pointed at one. "What's that one for and why would someone within textiles need chemicals?"

"Because that one was the one making the not goo clones. Which I never got a *single* report on."

"The fake Barton," Maria said.

"And the fake me that's down in the infirmary." She went down to talk to him. He looked at Steve and grinned. "They've apparently tried to shove Andrew and Jonathan out of the original forming lab. The one I decided not to use that way after it was done."

"Do they know?"

"I haven't seen them in days. They haven't checked on Dawn," he realized, going to check on them and the kids. The kids were always in daycare. The quad was sedated in bed. "JARVIS, you should have told me."

"I do not scan their rooms, sir. You gave them privacy," the AI said. "I don't even have working scanners in here."

The doctor knocked and came in. He checked. "Pretty heavily down but looks like they're under a controlled state with that cap on MB's head." Tony nodded at that. He got them down to the infirmary with some help and they got scanned too. No one took any harm from it. The kids went up to play with the Stark kids for the night. Pepper could talk to the girls about telling someone if things were really wrong or strange. Tony had to help bust up an idiot ring before they grew. Maria Hill was not amused this has taken her from time with her family. Steve was not happy for the same reason. When they ran into their plans for taking over the city they were even less amused and Tony had to shut down the machines in there while SHIELD agents came in to crawl over everything and find the ring of idiots.

Coulson walked in doing up his tie. "Agent Hill, I have to report two of them are now in the infirmary cuffed to beds. I caught them coming in from dinner."

"Great." She pointed at the plan.

Coulson looked. "They can't take over that area. The Russian mafia owns it and they'll never give way. They clearly only have D&D or comic level planning."

"They knocked out Jonathan and Andrew," Tony said from where he was working.

"Hmm. Jonathan and Warren had much more comprehensive and realistic plans on how to end up ruling humanity." He walked over to help with something.

Maria stared at his back. "They did?"

"Yes, they did," Tony said dryly. "Warren's was kinda scary and yet very efficient. I might not have noticed it for years until they started to rival Stark."

Pepper leaned in. "Please do not let this look bad on the rest of us. We didn't take these guys in, did we, Tony?"

"No." He spun to look at her. "We didn't take them in like we did the trio. We hired these guys. They do fantastic work. That not-goo clone doesn't dissolve at a lie, has light programming, and can last about six weeks."

"Huh. Can we find a way to market that?"

"Yes, to some intelligence sources," Maria said smugly. "We'll talk about that tomorrow. People, if asked, please refer them to Stark or Potts. We do not make statements."

"Yes, sir," most said.

Coulson looked over. "I'm nearly impressed. Three lab assistants, including Banner's top lab assistant. Two full staff scientists from varying floors. They gathered a good network of what they needed."

Loki appeared, looking at the map. "I can do better than that in my sleep."

"The Russian mafia wouldn't let you take over either," Tony said smugly.

Loki smirked. "I don't find them that much of a problem." He disappeared.

"If he's working with them, that means we can arrest them, right?" Tony asked. "Terrorism charges?"

"Maybe," she agreed. "I'll have to look into that." She called someone at the office to look into that situation. What she got back amused her. "They're in Loki's way but they do have plans on how to take over the city and take any weapons you may have here."

Callia leaned in. "Are these the guys that made the not-Uncle Clint?" They all nodded. "Great. Can they come get the guy I tied up in the closet?"

"Who was it?" Tony asked, getting up and walking over. Coulson followed.

She pointed with a smile. "Not Uncle Xander."

He went to look. "You're definitely not Xander. You match. You're not wearing a hideous shirt either." Phil shot a dirty look at him but pulled that one out to look over. "They've all got self-destructs," Tony said quietly. "Can we move him?"

"Definitely."

"My closet has blocking things in it so I can lock Liz in there without her whining at JARVIS," Callia admitted. Tony scowled at her. "What! She tried to cut me yesterday! Said I was fat too!"

Coulson went to talk to that kid before she became the evil empress of Stark. He came back, looking at her. "You let her watch a plastic surgery show so she was going to help."

"I don't need plastic surgery! I'm fine the way I fucking well am!" Tony swatted for the swearing. "Hey!"

"Mouth," he shot back. "Does she want to do surgery?"

"She thought it was really neat so she was going to try it," Coulson said.

"Okay. Liz is not allowed to watch any medical shows any more."

"I had her watching the show where ladies are in labor when she asked where Maeve came from," Callia said. "She ran off screaming 'eww' the same way I did when Chris was born. She took a three-hour long shower and then came out to watch more of them."

"Sure, if she wants to go to medical school, we can do that," Tony agreed. "I'll talk to her later and make sure she knows she's not to attempt surgery on you or the pets."

"She'd never touch my pets. She knows I'll kill her. Or over Chris or Maeve, which means she could only try her demented little experiment on me."

"I'll make sure she knows," Tony promised. He heard a whine and Coulson shoved the not-Xander into the closet. He exploded in it.

Callia looked then at her father. "You're buying me a whole new wardrobe, including shoes," she vowed. "Insides are gross." She walked off. "Liz, no trying to cut me either. If you do I'm having the dog bite you. I'm not a toy." She stared at her sister. "No experimenting on humans. It goes wrong and then people cry."

Liz pouted. "Sorry."

"Thank you." She hugged her. "Go play. Leave Uncle Phil and Daddy to clean up the mess they made with the goo clone in my closet." Pepper came out of the kitchen and went to look. "Daddy owes me a huge amount of clothes."

"You needed them anyway," Tony quipped, coming out. "We'll clean that up and you can redecorate your room."

"Great. Now if only I could make it bigger so I could raise my bed and put up a ramp for the dog to climb up so he could reach it."

He stared at her. "Hydraulics?"

"Too loud."

"We'll figure it out."

"That's an idea though." She grabbed her father's tablet since hers was in her room. She could figure that out. Chris plopped over to look over her arm. "I'm creating a lift kit system for my bed, Chris."

He grinned and took her to show her the one on the cars. She looked it over. It didn't make a lot of noise but enough. "Noisy," he said.

"Very noisy and it jerks. This'll be on my bed so it can't jerk." He beamed and they settled in to work on it together. He liked things like that. Liz came in pouting. "I'm redecorating my room, Liz. Find me three pictures and only three pictures, for my walls. Science or pretty." She ran over to the computer with a squeal, babbling at JARVIS to help her. "My tastes please, JARVIS," she ordered.

"I can do that. Modern?"

"No, not splotchy, lines, or anything like that."

"I can do so." He found a few prints for Liz, who liked some of them and she pushed them aside to get for her room.

She found a few for Callia. They were in pretty colors and black. They were modern but not too modern. She found four. "Four?"

"We'll see."

She pulled those virtual displays over. "Four."

Callia looked and blinked. They were pictures of fiberoptic things. One was a colored fountain spray that looked really cool. One was a fiberoptic DNA picture that was pretty and if you didn't know it was DNA it was still pretty. The other was of highlighted/painted old style 50's and 60's robots. They had overlaid the painting and highlighting brighter colors over the washed out robot picture. The last was the same sort of thing on dogs. "Not the dog one. Find me where I can buy them."

She ran back to do that for her sister. "Then you can help me find curtains." She and Chris figured out how to do the moving thing and where to put buttons for the cats and dog to use. Underneath her bed was a pull out desk table. If her bed was down it would come out and take up most of her bed instead. When it was raised it was a good work area. She put up a few purely practical architectural things for the cats. Some moulding around the ceiling that had spots she could put statues, or a cat. A few beams that could be painted pretty colors for design elements and for the cats to climb on, walk across, and hop from.

That way Kitty Natasha could get away from Kitty Dawn sometimes when she didn't want to play. The corner that had nothing able to be put there suddenly had a twisting ramp that could be climbed up easily by the cats or ran up carefully by the dog. He wasn't much of a climber though. Her desk area got redesigned so she had more work space. "I really need my own lab back." She decided on a rug that could be washed instead of the carpet. Maybe tiles? No, the dog hated cold floors and she hated marble. "Liz, find me floor stuff too."

Liz looked back and pushed something over. "No scratchy from claws."

Callia looked at it. "That's not bad." She sent it back. "In red." Liz nodded, finding that for her too.

Pepper walked in. "What are you doing?"

"Redecorating my room?" she said with a grin.

"It should not require major construction."

"Only in one wall? So I can put in a pull-out work table? I can ask Uncle Xander to help me."

Pepper looked. "That wall goes into my closet, Callia. There's not that much room unless it folds up somehow."

She changed that part. "I can make a fold up table." Chris grinned and helped her.

"Why do you have beams?"

"Cats."

"And the moulding?"

"Cats."

"Oh." She left her to it. "We get final approval."

"Okay."

Pepper left them alone. She didn't understand. Then again, she wasn't a tweenaged Stark.

"Maybe a roll-out door like a garage?" Callia suggested. "That might be more sturdy as long as it locked. I really need my own lab back so I have work space. No, Chris, we need more closet space. Girls require a lot of clothes."

***

Callia found an odd message in her email. //You really should be in a more supportive environment. Somewhere your genius and beauty could be nurtured together. That way you don't have to hide anything from your father because he'd try to steal it.//

She considered it, staring at the non-identifying Hotmail sender's email. It had to be one of two people. She decided to send one back to see which one it was. She also made sure that the original message was printing off and then her response would be saved so she could print that off.

//I'm sorry, you must have be confused with another genius. I'm in the greatest supportive environment ever. I'm allowed to work on whatever I want, mostly whenever I want outside of classwork or pre-agreed upon activity times, and however I want. Nothing is being stunted in my mind or body. As for your allegations that I'm hiding things from my father because he might steal something? Do you really think Tony Stark has to steal ideas? He has thousands of them a day and disregards most of them as not important at that time.

//Frankly, I hid things from him because a girl's gotta have secrets sometimes. That and it's better for me to work in my own space. Working with my father in his lab is fine, but it's also too easy. Too easy when I have a question to ask instead of figuring it out. Too easy to lean on him for suggestions when I'm stuck instead of coming up with my own solutions. Too easy fall into the shadow that Grandfather made him fall into. Dad had to work a lot harder to come out of that shadow. He and I have both made sure I never have that issue.

//Also, as to your allegation that my 'beauty' is not being nurtured, I'll have you know I have many pretty days. If I want to have a dressed up day, that's great and I have a number of female role models who have taught me how to play my assets up and down, and how to be the most beautiful I'll ever be. Dad taught me impression management before I was five.

//Frankly, beauty and success in the lab are often inversely correlated. Half of the really pretty scientists never get taken seriously. The same for engineers. Beyond that, only morons would think that wearing pretty clothes is practical in a real lab with grease, dust, wood and metal shavings, and dirt. There's a reason why you wear things you can clean easily in the lab, it's because they get dirty if you're actually doing work. Thank you for your concern but I do not want it, so please do not respond to this email or write me again. Have a better life.// She sent it then printed it. She walked it to her father's lab. "Got thirty for a few complaints?"

"Sure," he said, turning around to look at her. "I'm just mentally swearing at our people who decided to hatch plans to overthrow everyone."

She grinned. "They'd keep me and the other kids."

"Probably. Still looks bad on us."

"They'll probably try a defense that it was for a new video game." She settled on the stool next to him. "Here."

He read over the emails. "He'll think I wrote this. You sound way too adult."

"If he writes back we'll figure out which moron it is: the guy in Norway or Hammer."

"That's right, he's probably able to con his way into getting email access in jail at least." He put them aside. "We'll handle it no matter which one it is."

She grinned. "Okay, second whine. I need my lab back. I have no work space in my room. My projects are taking over my room. You can't expect me to build stuff on my bed."

He blinked a few times. "You're supposed to be using in here."

She snorted. "And how many times have you brought in stuff that you're tinkering with?"

"Good point. My dresser looks like a failed project graveyard until Pepper makes me bring it all back in here."

"So does mine and she suggested I clean it. I told her I had nowhere to store it. You've got all the space in here full of shit you're building." Tony gave her a pointed look. "You're the one working on the rectal reclamation system for NASA," she said dryly.

"True." He stared at her. "You'll start to build things again and then this building will have more lasers."

"Dad, I've already mined this building with lasers. The only ones that don't have it are the mansion we never talk about and the house in Aspen I've never been to."

"You were there before you were a year old."

"Couldn't build lasers back then, Daddy." She grinned. He smirked back. "We need more room. Your lab is tiny compared to the one in LA. And the one you used to have under the house."

"The one under the house is coming back. It's still being built."

"Great. When you die, when I'm sixty or so, I'll take it over. How many buildings am I going to have to build myself until then?"

He considered it. This was a bigger than average in the building lab but it wasn't the size he was used to working in. She was right about that. And she was good enough to need her own, even though he needed better watching over her shoulder. "What's your idea on that?"

"Well, we've got three. We can either expand this building, which will be a bitch to do." He nodded that was true. "Chris was looking that up for me. He said we'd have to take off one whole side and eventually connect them, which means no working in those labs or offices for nearly eight months." He winced. "We could build a second building and just connect it but on that side there's no easy way of doing that." She pointed. "That's the only really good area to build in. Unless we add onto the parking garage, which could come with a risk of something huge happening and us crashing it down onto everyone's cars."

"We don't have the extra height to add on top of the Avengers area," he said. "We have two free floors I had toyed with renting out."

"We need to renovate anyway. When you rerenovated, you left Mommy Pepper with barely any closet. Have you seen what people consider a closet these days?" She pulled up pictures.

"Who gave you those fancy closet ideas?" he asked dryly.

"Yahoo news did a story on closet systems. Now they're not closets, they're dressing rooms. They have bars and tv's, and one lady in Texas has a three-story one with an escalator." He shuddered. "I know, that's for Auntie Dawn's clothes." She sighed. "You guys need more space in your suite. You're sharing a shower. Which I heard there's romantic reasons for but your tub's not big enough to share. You and Steve basically have to argue over who gets the sink each morning. That's what usually gets me up."

He nodded that was true. "Pepper keeps all her clothes downstairs."

"Each of us kids is going to need a suite, Dad. Chris is going to have more clothes than anyone but Mommy Pepper. You need a real closet of your own for your stuff. I need one for mine."

"I'm not buying you that many clothes."

She snorted. "Have you forgotten that next year I'll not only have athletic gear like the leotards for classes but also school uniforms, clothes for working in the lab, and formal stuff?" He winced. "I also need more room for the pets. Chris and I designed a bed and I can teach the Xander Puppy to use the switch so he can get down but it leaves me with a folding table for work space or a dresser." She showed him those designs.

"I wondered where my tablet was."

"Mine was in my room."

He looked it over. "Beams?"

"Cats."

"Moulding?"

"Cats."

"That figures. Dawn's like to hide on top of the cabinets."

She looked at him. "We need the room. If we take over the four apartment levels that you never rented out with Mommy Pepper's, we can do all three together. You and I can have a lab space each. Chris and I can share a floor above yours for safety reasons. You can have a whole floor and we can link it to that parking garage over there so you can expand onto the Avengers level and put all your cars in the same lab plus make sure theirs are safe and give you another entrance or exit. It would give us enough space for each of us to have a suite, with bathroom so I don't have to share with the Lord of the Hair, Chris." He laughed, shaking his head.

"I know in the old days kids used to share rooms and a whole family shared a single bathroom. There's no way this family can do that. Those families clearly had no clothes and Liz's hair stuff for her frizz and curls takes up half a bathroom cabinet. That gives you the penthouse for the kitchen, living, and library spaces in case you want to party. The next floor down is you guy's suite with Maeve's on one end. The next one down is mine, Chris, and Liz's. Then there's room for two spare ones." She pointed. "Spare guest rooms in case we need one. Then take up the old apartments as our labs. You can attach yours to the parking garage."

He looked at those ideas. "Chris?"

"Yeah. With Liz's help." She settled on her stool again. "Plus it would give me a spot to get the hell away from the kids. Please get me away from the fussing? I could even link mine to my lab and Chris's to his while Liz gets the middle one since she won't need a lab space. That gives her an art area to draw in, look at things in, all that. Chris and I would get the smaller rooms since we'd have the labs to play in. Mine's bigger due to the closet but I'm pretty sure he won't outgrow that yet."

He looked at her. "That's going to cost a ton to reno, daughter."

"How much is our sanity worth, Dad? You're so cramped you're pacing in the hallways instead of in here. You can't leave the lab because you can't find where things are because you're having to jam it together. You miss tinkering on the cars because you can't fit more than one up here. And only if you're not working on the suits. All that's back in LA. If we're going to be here at least half the time, we need equitable solutions. We can still come play with the cars with you. Mine and Chris's labs can have exits into yours too. Which is probably necessary by building safety standards."

He considered it. "I'll talk to Pepper and Steve."

"He's going to remind you that kids in his day packed into a house like sardines."

"Probably," he assured her with a grin, looking over since Steve was in the doorway. "Aren't you?"

"Probably," he agreed, coming in to look at that. "That's way too fancy."

"It's really not compared to what others have in houses that cost as much as ours. Ours is a slum based on similar priced condos, Stepmom." She pulled that up. Steve stared at them, mouth open. "Yeah. We have no closets, your tub isn't big enough to cuddle in. Or your shower. We're cramped on lab space. Call it the second phase of our plans to take over the city."

Tony rolled his eyes at that. "We're not taking over the city."

"Then you might want to stop Chris."

"I'll talk to him tomorrow," Tony said, glancing at his watch. "He should be in bed."

Callia snorted. "No he's not. He's in my room trying to figure out how to put in a pull out table if I'm renovating my room. The only other option is to reno that old mansion that you like to ignore we own and move all the Avengers into it for safety reasons. That would mean creating wings for us and a room for training and stuff. Which, if you never get around to it, I might take it over when I'm an adult so we're not staring at each other all the time and I can have boyfriends over."

"You'll drift around wandering lonely in that house and wonder why you feel so depressed," Tony said. "I did."

"By then I'll have college friends and my own geek circle, Dad. I can move them in to have a geek think tank. Chris can take the old estate we ignore we own out in Cali."

"We sold that," Tony said.

"Really? Huh. Did we check it for Grandfather's papers?"

"Yeah. We all but tore the walls out. You can have him go check the next time he shows up."

"I can do that," Howard called. He faded into view. "You have awfully grand plans with no budget, granddaughter. Remember, the fashionable thing is to not leave your kids all your money."

"Unlike you, Dad's not going to get into a drunk driving accident when I'm seventeen. Beyond that, Grandfather, I have my own money." She smiled. "I can buy this tower." He spluttered. Tony gave her a look. "I can."

"What did you sell? Because that's the only way to get that sort of money quickly."

"She, um, one of the SHIELD researchers wanted something she built and bought it for research purposes," Steve said. Tony stared at him then at his daughter. Who shrugged with a grin. "Andrew and Jonathan sold two of theirs and she was on there as a helper so she got a cut of that too."

"Then I wisely asked Auntie Dawn to help me invest my new money so she took me to her financial guy. Well, lady. We worked up a budget and all that, just like the first one did for Auntie, and now I'm in low risk, long term investments. So I can pay for my own college, just like she did."

"You have a college fund," Tony said.

"Yes, but if I use it, someone else will say I'm sucking off your genius tit, Dad. This way, I'm doing it on my own. I'm not climbing out of the shadow you had to." He hugged her. She cuddled back. "It'll be easier. Some day Chris will do the same thing. Not that we don't love you but we heard what you went through. How often you were 'Howard's son Tony Stark' instead of Tony Stark, genius billionaire, can design weapons to fuck you up."

He pulled back to look at her. "I'm proud, you know that right?" She smiled and nodded. He spanked her. "Quit swearing. Before I send you to a finishing school." He hugged her again. He finally let her go. "I think it might be easier on you but I think a lot of people will wonder why."

"And I'll quip and say this way I don't have to crawl out of the same shadow you did. That you let me make myself and prove myself before letting me out into the lions den of society and their stupidity." She smiled at him. "Which'll probably look better to boys when I'm old enough for one."

"You'll probably get a few panty points and a few wallet hunters," Tony said. "I got plenty of those. And they were usually very good in bed."

She snorted. "You said I couldn't be a slut like you, Dad."

"Good point, I did. I still need to finish that chastity belt design."

She pointed. "You stuffed it over there with the toy designs for Maeve. Which Chris found and I had to make up a really good lie very quickly. He took it to Mommy Pepper, who took it from him and told him he didn't need to know."

"I really have got to have Dawn clean up this place," he said, looking around. "This is really cramped." He looked at her. "How much renovation will that plan take?"

"Some. Not a lot. It's already subdivided and has plumbing near most of the areas. So it'll be a lot of destruction, some rebuilding, maybe a few months. They can do the upstairs last once we're all in our new rooms. And labs." She grinned. "You could even put in a couch to nap on. Or for Stepmommy to sit on while you worked on stuff and he stared at your brilliance while wondering what the hell you were doing."

"I do sometimes," Steve agreed. "No swearing."

"Sorry. Habit."

"Yay," Tony said with a smirk. "Just think, you're my assistant while Dawn's on medical leave."

She sighed. "Sure. I'll help you clean up the lab. I'm pretty sure I lost some drawings in here too."

He swatted her but grinned. "I'll think about it."

"Sure, Dad." She hugged them both. "I'm going to nag Chris out of my room and maybe nap for a few hours."

"Try to really sleep?" Steve suggested. "You could use real sleep."

She sighed. "I don't sleep like that, you know that." She went up there. Chris was conked out on her floor on top of her dog, who was licking his hair for him. "Does he taste good?" Her dog barked. She got her shoes and took him out from under Chris, who thumped onto the floor. He didn't wake up a bit. She got the leash and a bag from the security desk. "Last walk," she told them. They sent a few guards with her, just in case. She spotted the few reporters. She spotted the two paps hiding to take pictures of her and the dog. She spotted the super bad guy and the minor bad guy. She mentally checked, not even carrying her self defense knife. She had broken a prime rule and it looked like she might just be paying for it. "Take my dog inside please," she told the guard quietly.

"But..."

"Take the leash." He nodded, walking them both that way. She heard the shout and ducked, but the fire in her back still happened. Thankfully, minor bad guy was easily kicked by major bad guy since she didn't seem to be able to move. Major bad guy apparently thought that he was overstepping his boundaries. "Mother fucker, now I understand why you say that when you're in pain. Dude, emergency alarms!" she ordered. The guard dropped the leash. "Inside, Xander Puppy. Get to safety." He barked and nuzzled her. Not going to work. "Inside. I need you safe!" The dog barked and growled at the guy coming over.

"No, don't bite him, he might give you rabies!" She swore mentally. Then she realized. "JARVIS, all systems, armed. Now. Vampires. Attack the bad people." The security system came up with a whine and fired on the guy advancing toward her. The other one got shot too. JARVIS was a really good shot. More guards ran out. "Would you mind not taking pictures and instead being a decent human and *helping* perhaps?" she yelled at the reporters.

Tony came out with the freeze ray and got everyone around them. "Let the NYPD sort them out before I let God do it." He knelt down. "Hey, kiddo. Down, Xander." He whined but nosed his human. "I know. We'll get her okay." She looked at him and let out a bitter snort. "You, no sarcasm. Not yet. Wait until your mother cries over you."

She nodded. "If I have to, I'll be the best Stark in a wheelchair too," she quipped. "Just get me away from the idiots who stood there and snapped pictures before I fucking destroy them all with the security system too."

"Going," the doctor promised. They got her onto a board and onto the stretcher, taking her upstairs. "Dog, follow." It ran after her, barking at them in the elevator. "She'll be okay." The dog settled down to whimper. She patted her hip and he jumped up to nuzzle her. She petted him. "He can't go into the scanner with you."

"He hates the MRI. He likes to bite it."

"We can keep him out of it," Tony promised. "I'll send him in to guard Dawn." He did that and the dog hopped up to cuddle her. Dawn blinked at him. "That guy in the Mercedes that used to try to snatch you? He just shot your niece in the back."

"Get me a new dose of meds. I'll go handle that shit."

"Already done," Tony said. "Why didn't the security system come up automatically?" Tony asked the air.

"The NYPD has ordered us to keep it turned off at all times," JARVIS said. "I could not, sir."

"No! Hell no! You're to be on and pending action at all times, JARVIS. No matter what the NYPD says or doesn't say. This is my building and I said so."

"Yes, sir. Hidden but on."

"Yes. Fine." He went back in there. His daughter was in the MRI. He looked at the doctor. "I've probably got to vent."

"It'll take a half-hour, Mr. Stark, and you can't go in there anyway due to your arc reactor," he said quietly, looking at him. "Go vent. I've got a good neurologist coming in already complaining that we're not really an ER."

Tony snorted but walked out. There were huffy higher ups. Tony hit one. "My building's security system is none of your business. It will be staying on because my daughter might not be ending up a wheelchair if it had been."

"New York law...."

"Has nothing to do with private property. And speaking of, get the hell off it." The man spluttered. "Guys, take him before I beat his ass." They did. He looked at the frozen ones. There were SHIELD agents moving them. "No, you know what, move the reporters to the conference room. I wanna talk to them specially," he sneered. "Or just off to the side. Others can hear their humiliation too." They got them separated.

"Mr. Stark, how long before this beam wears out?" one of the agents asked.

"It won't until I turn it off." He took the wand he had dropped from an officer's hand. "Good way of getting killed." He shot it at the ones the agents were removing. "Were they civilians?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then they probably couldn't have helped. Beyond calling for help or something." He stared at them. They slunk off.

"It's the group effect," one of the agents said. Tony stared at him so he backed down. "They probably would have, Mr. Stark."

"Uh-huh. Hopefully it never comes up again." The building hit a cruiser going off. "JARVIS?"

"It was being stolen so I rendered the front left tire inoperable at the moment," the AI said. "A simple tire change will fix that."

"Thank you." He looked at the rest. Two bad guys. "Which one?" They pointed at the one missing his head. "Great. Did he shoot her?"

"Yes, sir," the lead agent said. "The other one, the one who's bleeding out in very slow motion, was advancing on your daughter."

"Even better." He unfroze them. "Take them and go. Before I finish losing my temper. And if that one lives, he's mine." They nodded and got out of there. Agent Coulson could debate that punishment with him.

Phil came out of the building, shaking his head. "I'm not going to waste the paperwork to arrest him. Stark, you want him, he's yours. I believe he's already listed as dead in the databanks thanks to a supposed car crash a few years back." Tony shot him and the agents sighed but took him off. He looked at Stark. "She'll live."

"Which is why I haven't destroyed the reporters yet."

"Good. I'd like to see that. I'm here to keep you from using the suit against normals," he said when Stark looked at him. "As far as I'm concerned, most reporters are normals but not all."

Tony smirked. "Good. Any idea?"

"Not a healing god."

"Okay. If you do hear from one...."

"Xander's up there. He can be in the MRI room with her."

"Thank you. Not the dog, right?"

"No, not the dog. He'll still growl and bite it for whirring at him." They walked over to the reporters.

Tony unfroze them. "How dare you stand there and take pictures," Tony said. "I should do the same thing to you."

"We were going to call for help," one said.

"Only one call to 911 was going on about this event," the AI said from the nearest speaker. "The caller was inside and afraid to come out but was begging for help because they were advancing on a child. That was before she was shot."

Tony looked at them again. "You're damn lucky I don't have the suit. You're pathetic versions of humanity that deserve to die horribly. I can't believe too many humans would stand by and watch a child get shot so they could get a story out of it." He glared at the two paps, taking their cameras and tossing them down to crush them.

"I'll sue you," one vowed.

Tony sneered. "You're going to be damn lucky if your shitty offices are still standing in the morning. Because I have no problem destroying them. And then buying your company and closing them."

"We make a good profit," one complained then went pale.

"And since that's your only concern, you should be considered an accomplice to her shooting. As I said, you're damn lucky we have not bought your shitty magazines and destroyed them," he said calmly and quietly. "You are not allowed anywhere on Stark property ever again."

"Freedom of the press," one sneered. Tony hit her.

"That doesn't count for stalkers," Tony said dryly. "As you caused harm, and intended to let more harm be caused for a *story*," he sneered at her. "I would suggest you move, change your name, change your career, all that. Because I'm so very close to personally taking an interest in your lives in a very negative way. As Dawn says, I have a line of 'I'll be damned' and you've just crossed it. Since inside that building are two of the deadliest assassins *ever* and one of the best snipers *ever*, I think you should run before they quit crying on my daughter. JARVIS, make sure we have a record of these people and if they're ever caught on Stark property again, in the next thousand or so years, have them immobilized and ejected by force."

"Agreed, sir. It would be my pleasure to make sure such simian slime does not get near another child. Sir, the Commissioner is huffing toward you."

Tony turned to glare at him. "Your stupidity and arrogance meant my daughter got shot in a way that means she may be in a wheelchair. This is notice I'm suing you for the cost of her care."

"New York laws do apply to you too, Mr. Stark."

Tony snorted. "I own this whole block," he pointed out. "Including the city streets and sidewalks. I made sure that was in the contract. I can do anything I want on private property." He stared at him, making the man sweat and take an involuntary step backwards. "Your shitty policy means that each time there's another attack here that the Avengers have to handle, it causes more property damage than if my security system solves it first. It also means I have less time in the suit helping some ungrateful people." The man swallowed hard and backed up again.

Tony didn't follow. "My security system is staying on and I'm still suing this fucking city for everything they fucking own. Because if you hadn't went around me, with an illegal court order as we never heard a thing about it, my daughter might not be in an MRI right now to figure out what sort of spinal damage she has. And that is going to be your undoing. Because if I have to become that which I've fought, so fucking be it." The man was shaking. "Go. Away. I don't want you on Stark property either." He rushed off.

"Mr. Stark," one of the officers said quietly. "I hope your daughter's all right." Tony looked at him. "I really do. She seems nice and she really seemed to care when a few officers got hurt helping her the other day."

"She did. She's still having nightmares about them getting hurt."

He nodded. "So do some of us," another officer said. "Can you put the guns on standby?" Tony looked at him. "It'll freak out the normals and you know how some of them react, sir. Just on standby and hidden?" The guns withdrew to their hidden compartments. "Thank you, sir, and we appreciate the hell out of you having them for things like giant robots. Means you get it handled before they step on someone we have to help. Or anyone innocent." Tony nodded. "Want us to banish the reporters?"

"Let them slide home on their slime," Tony said quietly. The officer nodded and pointed. The others got them out of there. They took their ID's to make sure who they were in case they were charged later on as accessories. Agent Coulson nodded at him. He stopped him. "Most of the NYPD would rather be able to protect ourselves than waiting like princesses in a castle tower for rescues," he said quietly. "Can you please make us simulations so we can train?"

"I can and have. Your commissioner has three of them."

"Thank you, sir. I'll talk to my union guy tonight to see if he can get them." Phil nodded and left. "Clean up, people. It's going to be a panicky night." He saw a window get blown out and looked up. There was a bright, deep green glow. "Looks like Miss Summers heard about her niece." They all cleaned up faster. They were all sure that Dawn knew what evil was and could easily go there if prompted. Women did evil easier and better than anyone, even an enraged parent.

***

Tony came up to see the specialist complaining at Dr. Shivs, who had apparently come in specially for this. "We have all that." He looked at his doc. "Anything?"

"She's out." Tony looked over, his daughter was napping. Then looked at him again. He put up the MRI scans. "There's some swelling from the damage. We'd expect that."

"How much damage?" Tony asked. "Can I build something to help?"

"She might need something to amplify or bridge around the broken ones," the specialist said. "If you get one done, I have a few patients who would adore testing it too." He looked at him. "Want the truth or a pretty soporific?"

"Truth."

"She'll walk if she wants to. It'll be work. It'll probably be a year of work. She might end up on crutches."

Tony nodded. "Okay. Is that if the swelling doesn't get worse or is that best case?"

"That's worst case. If the swelling goes down quickly and doesn't cause any more damage she'll walk but it'll still be a lot of work for about a year. She might not need crutches."

"Okay," he decided. "What do I need to have put in to help her? We're pretty well all elevators and floors here."

"We have most of what we need. She'll need a good physical therapist."

"I can use the one Benji goes to," Callia said quietly.

"I thought you were resting." Tony came over to hug her.

"I hurt."

"We can solve that. We have to get a new bottle from the pharmacy at the hospital," Shivs said. She nodded. "Sorry, kiddo. Be about an hour."

Dawn leaned on the doorway as she walked in. Xander puppy hopped up next to the mommy to whine and lick her until she petted and cuddled him. "JARVIS, scan the emergency kit in my kitchen and the one in my bathroom. Anything in the class they need there?"

"Yes, both have something. Should I have someone bring it in?"

"Yes. And tell Clint I want his bow since I broke the window." She looked at her niece. "We'll work on it." She hugged her.

"Auntie, you're going to fall on me," she said.

"I'm tougher than nausea and so are you." Callia grinned back. Dawn gave her a gentle squeeze around the shoulders. "We'll figure shit out, niece. You'll walk."

"Of course I will. I'm not scared of a little bit of hard work, even if it takes a year." She looked at the doctors. "What sort of PT?"

"There's all sorts," Dr. Shivs said. "They'd have to decide that. I'm not sure if they have facilities for water treatments or not."

"We have a pool," Tony said. "We have a spare room in the employee gym where they do yoga and stuff."

"That'll help. I'll see if we can get her there. If not, I'll get a good recommendation." He looked at the other doctor, getting that one's card.

"He's good. He's dealt with head injuries and spinal injuries before." Dawn stumbled and he helped her sit down. "What did you do to yourself?"

"Concussion. I'm dizzy as hell and the meds don't help yet."

He blinked at her. Shivs got Dawn's file so he could look at it. "The swelling's down?"

"And made me more dizzy."

He looked at it. "Do a PET," he said, looking at his friend, who nodded. "Can you here?"

"Yeah, we have that capability."

"Good. If we have to, there's the implant that can help with the extreme shaking some patients experience and that can help with this too." He handed it back and looked at her. "Your neck's off-line." He looked in her eyes. "Double vision?" She slowly shook her head. "Hmm. We'll see if that would work. I recognized the scrawl so I'll talk to your doctor. I'll be in and out of here for the next few days anyway I'm sure." She grinned. "Back to bed and you're probably too dizzy to shoot at anyone, young lady."

"That's why she's got us," Clint said as he walked in, handing Shivs the box. "JARVIS said you needed that because you didn't have anything strong enough and Dawn wanted me to shoot someone?"

She looked at him. "The reporters who didn't even shout a warning, just stood there and watched my niece be shot in the back, and nearly killed by a second one. Though, the lesser one that shot her is on Barney's team and I still call dibs on his soul."

"Sure," he agreed. "Let me get you back there, I'll get their pictures, and be damned if they're going to survive that one. Short stuff, you good?"

"Nope. It'll be a year." She blinked at him. "The funny thing is, I was talking to Dad about redesigning the house earlier because we needed more room. Then I took the dog for a walk." She cooed over her dog. "Doc, the cats?"

"Not while you're in here with that open wound, kiddo. Sorry. You'll be able to rest upstairs in a few days, once it's sealed. Then the hard work begins." She nodded. "We'll figure it out." He patted her on the foot. "Wiggle the toes periodically. That way we know if the swelling goes up or down." She nodded, doing it for him. Then her fingers. "It'll only affect your lower half, Callia."

"Do I have to have a bag to poop into?" she asked with a grimace.

"No. You should have control," the specialist said. "Feel like you need to?"

"I'm not sure I didn't."

Clint shrugged. "Most of us do when we're shot. It's an involuntary reflex." She grinned at him. "Even Bucky probably. When you get up to the leg cramp stage, let us know. I can teach your dad have to give great massages. Even better than the lamaze ones were." She smiled. "We can help him fix your shower too."

"We've got a shower chair floating around and hers is adjustable with a pull-down head," Tony said quietly. "Thanks, Barton."

"Welcome, Stark." He picked up Dawn, making her grab her head. "C'mon, back to bed until you're not dizzy."

"I feel like a damsel."

"You're still my princess and you can be an injured one for a few more days." He tucked her back into bed then looked down at the street. There were a lot of reporters. "Who?" JARVIS put up their pictures. "Huh." He saw one and played with his arrows, picking one. A slightly blunt tipped 'warning' arrow he used on the trainees. He shot it at her, making her scream as it landed in front of her. The other reporters looked then up at the open window he was no longer standing in. They heard screaming start and looked out. "Hey, they're beating their own."

"Shit, we need to stop them before they all turn cannibal," Dawn complained, starting to move.

"Sit," he ordered. He smirked. "Let me handle this." She stared at him. He grinned. She pulled him down to kiss her. He winked and walked out there, still holding his bow, his quiver on his back. He cleared his throat, getting attention. "People, Stark wants to be left the hell alone for a few more days. Until he's no longer angry at the whole reporting industry for standing there while his daughter was being injured. The rest us feel the same way after hearing about it." He looked around the group, ignoring the crying one on the ground. "Disperse before I call SHIELD agents to guard the building."

"Is Callia all right?" one asked. "Most of us only care about that. We'll find out what happened from the idiots when we kill them. Because if it was my daughter, I have a claymore on my wall. It may be a fan blade but I'd make sure it'd work."

Clint grinned. "Stark can probably borrow from Xander. I'm sure he's got a few laying around somewhere."

She smiled back. "Probably or an axe. Is she okay?"

"They're saying she'll be fine eventually."

"Wheelchair?" another asked.

"For a while. She's going to have a long bit of healing coming up from what was said. Those ones who stood there and *watched* I'd like to talk to. I'm not sure if it's worth getting fired for at the moment but I'm siding on 'yes' as she's my niece too." The reporter started to cry harder. "Tears don't move me. The only crying girls I pay any attention to are Dawn, Mira, and Lexi."

"Not Natasha?" one asked quietly.

"Nat would never let anyone see her cry. I've seen her shot and not cry." They all shivered. "By the way, she's here and she's just as mad." They dispersed. The crying one was removed by the PD that the AI had called. He looked over at Nat and Bucky. "Callia's in a bed."

"Why?" Bucky demanded.

"Because one of Barney's cohorts shot her in the back. Another bad guy was going to finish her off but she activated the security system the city had turned off."

Natasha stared up then at him. "Anyone left?"

"They're both dead, unfortunately. But a few reporters and two paps just stood there and watched, Nat." Nat let out a happy sounding growl. That meant a hunt. "JARVIS has their ID's." She nodded, going to find that. She'd have to be subtle so it wasn't tied to them. "Bucky, go tell Steve. I doubt Stark has and they're both at the office overseeing a raid." He nodded, getting a cab to SHIELD. Clint went back inside to guard the infirmary for now.

He could help Natasha hunt and be subtle later. Then they'd get back to work against Barney's group. Apparently they were getting cocky. His phone beeped with a message. "Stark, Barney said that the idiot former cohort of his was on a private mission, not part of theirs, and it was not sanctioned. He was being privately paid." He looked up. "Anything you want me to answer back beyond 'fuck you and I'm going to kill your ass too'?"

Tony took the phone to reread the message and sent one back. He looked at Clint. "Natasha?"

"She's getting their ID's then we'll be...subtle." Tony nodded his head slightly. "I sent Bucky to tell Steve since they're overseeing that raid."

"I forgot. I totally forgot. Or Pepper."

"Mommy came in to hug me and cry on me then went to make sure the other kids were okay before she was coming back not crying," Callia said.

Clint leaned on the foot of her bed. "You let us talk to them."

She smiled. "I'd love for you to talk to them. Can I be the evil bitch queen and demand their hearts in a pretty jewelry box?" Tony cuddled her. "I'm mad!"

"Of course you are," Clint agreed. "I'd be pissed as hell. So would anyone else. You're supposed to be mad. If you're anything else, you get put on psych drugs for being abnormal and depressed." She grinned slightly. "Try to rest. It makes the time in the infirmary go by faster."

"Have you been shot before, Uncle Clint?" He nodded. "Has Auntie?"

"Yup. We can compare scars sometime." She nodded, snuggling around her dog. He looked at the doctor.

"Why do you guys keep a kit like this?"

"Because we might need it. Nat and I are both good enough to use everything in there. Dawn's good enough to use about two-thirds."

Shivs stared at him. "I want formal medic training on her, Barton, and you two."

"I have informal."

"I want paperwork." He stared at him. "That way I know who I can trust to call me about injuries in the field."

He nodded at that. "I can do that. Not like I'm not on leave right now since she can't even make it to the bathroom without getting sick." He left, going to check on Pepper, who was crying on Maeve. He flopped down next to her, doing what he'd do to Dawn, pulling her closer. "Hey, she'll be okay, Pepper." She looked at him. "She will. She'll walk and run and jump and play and all those kid things. It'll just take a bit to get back there." He stared at her. "She's freaked out and just as mad. Tony's so mad the bed's vibrating. I sent Bucky to tell Steve since Bucky can probably hold him down if he needs to be. I nearly shot one of the reporters but I gave her a warning I was coming so she'd be paranoid. The other reporters beat the shit out of her."

She sniffled. "I don't know why they did it. Is it because of Tony and the Iron Man thing?"

"No, it's probably because she's a kid genius who can build lasers. That bad guy, he hates Stark."

"You know who it was?" He put up the incident video. JARVIS had shown it to him while he was studying the ID's. He paused it and enlarged it. "I know him," she growled.

"Knew, Pepper. He's not getting back up unless they clone him." She looked at him. "The security system." She nodded, swallowing. "So it's not because of Iron Man or being an Avenger. Yeah, there's some of those. None of them would probably come after the families or the kids outside of Barney. And he said his imbecile was acting on private orders, not from their people."

Pepper wiped her face off and put Maeve onto the couch. "Thank you."

"Not a problem. It's what family does or so Dawn tells me."

She poked him on the arm. "You're good family." He grinned and got up. "Is she asleep?"

"She can't sleep thanks to the vibration Tony's causing. We donated something from our emergency kit since you guys didn't have anything that strong in the infirmary." He banished the video when he spotted Liz staring at them. "Your sister's fine."

"That was a bad guy," she said.

Clint glanced at Pepper then at Liz again. "He didn't want Callia to be smarter than him, Liz. She's injured but she'll be okay. You can cry on her tomorrow."

Liz nodded. "Is he coming back?"

"No."

"Good." She looked at her mommy. "I'll clean the litterboxes for her."

She hugged her. "We'll figure that out tomorrow, Liz." She nodded. "Don't you dare tell Chris. We'll tell him." Liz pointed at where Chris was staring at the doorway. "Chris, go to bed."

"Watching for sissy."

"She's not up here," Clint said. "She's in the infirmary for the night. She's got booboos, Chris. Go to bed so we can help her." He nodded and went back to bed. He looked at Liz. "Be good."

"I try." He grinned and left, going to sit with Dawn and watch over them. "Mommy?"

"I'm okay, Liz." She cuddled her. "Your sister's going to be okay too. I just needed to wear out some stress. Sometimes big girls and women cry to do that. Okay?" She nodded and ran back to her room. Pepper put Maeve down and looked up. "JARVIS, let me know."

"I will, Pepper."

"Thank you." She went down to the infirmary, nodding Tony to move. He did and she laid down with Callia so he could pace and vent. Tony kissed her on the ear. "It was Spenster," she said quietly.

"I saw."

"Is he a bad guy normally or just because I'm a Stark," Callia mumbled.

"He runs Bradley Inc," Tony said. She snorted and sneered. "Probably, yeah." She nodded at that. "He's probably jealous. Chris is smarter than he'll ever be and you're even smarter." She smiled and snuggled in better. "Try to sleep, princess."

"Liz is the princess. I'm the smart one, Dad."

"Sure, you're the smart one." He kissed her on the head and went to the gym to throw things while screaming.

***

Bucky signed in and went up to the ops floor. Steve was paying attention to the raid going on but glanced at him. "Need you for a while."

"It's going to have to wait. They're critical."

"Now, Stevie. Right now." Steve frowned at him but took off his headset, nodding at Maria to take over. She did and he followed him to the corner. "There was an incident at the tower."

"What?" he demanded. Everyone stared and he pointed. He looked at his best friend. "Lab accident? Another flash mob?" he asked more quietly.

"The guy who runs a close rival to Stark for the weapons stuff, when he was doing it, hired one of Barney's crew to shoot your eldest daughter." He stopped him from slumping to the floor. "She's alive but injured. Her back, Steve." He blinked at him. "It's done some damage. Stark's already had a specialist in. Clint told the idiot reporter mob that formed afterward that she'd walk but it'll take some work."

Steve made himself stand up fully and nod to be let go. "Are they dead?"

"Yes. She activated the security system the city ordered turned off from what the reporters said. I wasn't anywhere near there. Nat and I were looking for Philip's birthday present."

"Good." He looked around the room then at his best friend, running a hand through his hair. "I need to vent."

"That's why I'm here. So you can vent and lose your shit as it's called now a days."

Steve took a calming breath. "I need...." The whole room cheered. "Maria?"

"We have him, sir, extraction commencing." She looked over. "If you need to go home, go."

"No, I need a gym cleared and locked down." She saw the look on his face and nodded, sending that order. He walked off with Bucky following. "I can..."

"Shut up, Steve. You wouldn't let me go through this alone without at least being in the corner and I'm going to do the same thing. You're still my best friend." They got let into the gym and it was locked behind them. Steve walked over to the heavy bags. Someone had thoughtfully given him a few extra ones. He started to take a swing and stopped, unable to connect. He inhaled. Bucky walked out and he rounded on him but Bucky hugged him. Steve let himself go for now. Bucky was his best friend, he could do this safely around him and no one was watching.

Maria came out of security after making sure the cameras were off. "People, Callia Stark was shot earlier tonight," she told the bridge crew.

"Rumors started already," one agent said. He looked at her. "Is she okay?"

"I haven't heard but Steve didn't look like she was permanently on life support." That got a nod. "So let's be easy on him the next few days. He's going to be busy being a father."

"Yes, sir," they agreed.

"I'd hate to be the next villain," one quipped quietly. Maria glared at him. "I'm pretty sure everyone's going to get the their anger out somehow. I'd hate to be that method."

"Me too," she agreed. "Enough levity. Get them back home."

"Approaching copter rendevous point in two minutes," one of them reported. "They're not reporting anything, sir." She nodded, watching it going on. In the back of her mind she was mulling what she'd do with this parent's worst nightmare.

***

Callia woke up to pain. A lot of pain. "Owowowowowowowowowow!" she moaned, trying to reach them. She couldn't bend. Someone pushed her back down and worked on the cramp. "Other leg." He worked on that one and she moaned and whimpered until it ended. "No more of those, please," she begged, looking at her Stepmom. "Pretty please?"

"I can't promise but we'll do what we can," he said, patting her foot. "It's almost two. Go back to sleep." She looked around. "I sent Pepper up to bed and your dad's glaring at the MRI scans in the next room trying to figure out how to manipulate the universe to help you."

"Time turner," she said. He smiled and curled up on the bed behind her, letting her relax. "Where's the dog?"

"Pepper took him back upstairs. I've added a few extra guards to the tower's guards for the next little while." She relaxed again. "Want to talk?" She shook her head. "You sure? I remember being real sickly and being in a hospital bed an awful lot." She looked at him. "Not for the same reason but not being able to breathe thanks to my asthma freaked me out a lot."

"I guess suffocation would." He tweaked her ear. She relaxed. "I'm not sure yet. Right now I'm just mad, Stepmom," she said quietly. "Really, really mad."

"It's one of the normal things to be. Then you bargain with God, then you accept and make plans. They're called the stages of grief."

"I'm hoping I won't be grieving."

"Any sort of loss, even a temporary one, has them," he said.

She nodded, looking at her legs. She wiggled her toes to make sure they still worked. They did. "I guess I have to give up gymnastics." He nodded. "And I'll need to adjust my usual look. I'm not sure a leotard would be so easy to put on when I'm always sitting down."

"I don't know. We'll ask Dawn and Natasha. I have no idea about girl's leotards." She snorted but smiled slightly. "Want some water? Sometimes the pain killers give you dry mouth." She shook her head. "Okay." He cuddled her. It was the best healer there was. He had learned that from his mom. She relaxed and eventually fell back to sleep. He watched her sleep for now. He needed to be alert for work tomorrow but he'd manage it. He'd went on less sleep before.

Tony came back in, nodding at him. "My turn," he mouthed. Steve shrugged and cuddled her harder. Tony stared at him and nodded again. Steve nodded and moved. "You can have her tomorrow when you get home. I'll take overnight, and Pepper can have her during the day."

"Sure," he agreed, grinning at Tony for scheduling their cuddling times. Things like that were how Tony coped with problems. He could handle that until they all calmed down.

***

Dawn was woken up the next morning by her niece screaming, "Oh my fucking God! All they care about is that I'm not taking the damn suit!" She was still hellishly nauseous but her niece needed her. She got up and wobbled over there, cuddling up to her in her bed. The morning papers both had 'Callia Stark: Not the next Iron Man' headlines. "Start a blog to inspire others and shoot back at the reporters. You can use mine today if you want."

Callia looked at her. "Can't I just beat the shit out of them?"

"No, but I can." She grinned. "Let's start the easy way." She looked around. "JARVIS, please call Helen at Vogue for me?"

"You should be in bed," the AI chided. "They're coming to get you for another scan soon, Dawn."

"I'm even closer. Please. The number's in my phone's contacts but I don't know where my phone is."

He sighed but dialed it. "They're on, Dawn and Callia."

"Thank you, JARVIS," Callia said. "Helen?"

"Yes, dear. How are you feeling?"

"I was doing slightly better this morning after a night of cuddles and leg cramps and then I saw the damn morning papers. By any chance are you within line of sight, and preferably thrown heavy things, of any of them?"

She laughed. "Not really but I can tell them you were highly insulted. Everyone did expect you to take it over."

"No, Chris was going to take over," she said dryly. "He likes robots and engines and all that. I adore cars but I want to make things that may or may not be weapons. I've never been in line for the suit, it's always been Chris."

"We hadn't heard that."

"Yeah, well, yay," Callia said. "I can't believe they did that to me!"

"I know, dear, but getting so upset won't help you heal any faster."

"It might make me get off this bed and take the lasers I've already built to them," Callia offered.

Helen laughed. "I'll let them know. Is there any sort of official statement you want to make beyond 'leave me alone, you're all morons' to the traditional press?"

Callia looked at her aunt, who shrugged. It was Callia's call. "Thank the ones who've sent good wishes or whatever. It's clearly helped since it looks like I'll walk again. The ones who stared, and I've memorized each and every single one, should probably run before I manage that. I'll train for marathons to chase them across the universe for standing there and watching, and in two cases *smiling*, while they tried to kill me."

"I can gladly put that out verbatim, Callia. If you need it, there's a few good groups locally that help disabled children."

"I haven't done any research yet. I'm still at the really fucking angry stage," Callia said, getting cuddled better by her aunt, who winced and turned a bit green. The nurse stuck Dawn with a needle, making her yelp. "Sorry, her anti-nausea shot just hit her butt cheek."

"Is she pregnant?" Helen asked.

"Concussion, Helen," Dawn reminded her. "Very bad concussion. I'm dizzy just from blinking right now."

"Oh, sorry, Dawn. There's wild speculation you know."

She looked at the ceiling. "If I want another kid, I'll gladly forget my pills and pounce Clint more often. Then again, there were people trying to force me to give up eggs again." Natasha walked in. "Callia is watching all this. It's giving her something to do since she can't roll into the lab right now. So, let's calm down the stupidity. Please?"

"I'll try, Dawn. The articles do state that it's due to...what happened and how some of them did stand around, Callia. They were calling for their arrests or hangings in a few cases."

"No, that's my fun," Callia pouted.

"I think it should be, dear. You try to rest and let us know how you're doing since I doubt you're going to be going to the scientific gala in a few months."

"I'm supposed to be. I'm being given an award for something," she said, looking at her aunt.

"We can have your dress tailored so it looks nice in a wheelchair."

"I think it was in the closet that the goo clone thingy blew up in."

"We can check." She smiled. "Thanks, Helen. It's keeping both of us from beating them to death."

"Get better, ladies. I'll see you at the gala." She hung up.

Dawn looked at the waiting doctor and her wife. "I still feel like shit," she admitted.

Natasha nodded. "You could for up to six months."

"There's no way I can take six months off my job!" Doctor Pigalli laughed and helped her up so she wouldn't land on her niece. They got her to the MRI and CT again.

Callia wiggled her toes, or tried to. "Doc, I can't wiggle my toes." She came over to look, shifting her position. That helped. "That totally sucks ass."

Doctor Pigalli stared at her. "Quit swearing." The child glared at her. "Tough." She looked at her wound. "We can scan you again. Give me time to get Dawn out. It could be that the swelling going down is causing the backlogged tingles from going up." Callia nodded, still scowling at her feet.

Natasha settled in to cheer the young woman up. "You need to remove that illusion."

"What illusion?" she asked, not meeting her eyes.

"The one that's making you look less developed," she said. "It could throw off your scans. Just as Dawn's to protect herself does." Callia groaned and rubbed over something. Natasha looked and grabbed a scalpel to make a tiny cut over the henna line on Callia's hip. Suddenly she looked a bit older, a bit more developed. She also looked a bit thinner. Dr. Pigalli took the scalpel with a huff but she checked her over again. That had helped. Dawn was allowed to wobble out. Natasha looked over. "She got that masking spell from you."

Dawn looked at her. "Still hate the breasts, huh?" Callia nodded. "Me too. Mine keep throwing me off balance." She went back to bed, after some dry heaves. "Not even morning sickness was this bad," she complained into the toilet. "Even when I was being poisoned weekly." Someone thumped in her room and she looked out there, standing up and mentally yelling at Natasha since she was in the next room. She moved out, glaring at Barney. Then she threw up on him. "Sorry, concussion, dude." She heaved herself onto her bed, glaring at him. "You made me move before I was prepared to. It's always a bad idea."

Natasha walked in and stared at the disgusted bad guy. "I should leave you like that but it would only punish the rest of us." Phil appeared and took him off. "Thank you." She tucked Dawn back in. "You must rest."

"I was! I just threw up again." Natasha handed her the diet soda beside her bed and went back to talk to Callia. Dawn sipped but that much movement was too much. She was back in the bathroom heaving again a minute later.

The nurse came in to change the sheets on the bed and get her something more subtle than soda. "Maybe some tea?" she suggested.

"Hell no!" She was ready to cry. This shit had to stop! She prayed to the Goddess for mercy and then had to move quickly when a sword came down. She looked up. "Not that sort, thanks." She carried the sword out, putting it near her bed with a pout. The nurse helped her back into bed, handing her some ice water. She notice the look. "I prayed for mercy."

"Hmm. I don't think you need that sort." She patted her on the knee. "Let me get you some broth? It'll help your throat. You're sounding a bit hoarse." Dawn nodded, sipping her ice water, still pouty. Though, the nurse would be pouty too. Natasha came in to sit with her, helping her fall back asleep. She'd be talking to Tara later about healing spells for both pouty ones.

***

Dawn woke up gasping and holding her head. Still dizzy. Still in the Stark infirmary. "Damn it, I hope that wasn't a vision," she mumbled, hitting the nurse call button. The nurse came in and she blinked at him. Since when did they have a male nurse at the infirmary?

"You got sedated by a nurse," he said calmly and quietly. "Trying to harvest your eggs. I'm one of the new ones."

"Oh, okay. I'm not sure what was part of that dream and what wasn't."

"Sure, tell me and I'll let you know." She did. About the energy in that portal and how it warped, about how the love gods all got in on a curse on her. About how Dr. Peter's family had found it all out. He sighed, tucking her in and checking her pulse. "Callia was shot. Haven't heard a thing about radiation. Haven't seen Dr. Jennings, saw him in the hype about Atlantis and all that stuff but I haven't seen him here." He smiled. "No radiation from the tiny openings up above Dr. Banner's labs but I'll mention it to him." She smiled and relaxed. "Your spouses had to take care of the kids for a few hours. They'll be back soon. Is your head feeling better?"

"I think the new pain in it is canceling out the dizziness."

"That's possibly a great thing and maybe not. I'll check with Dr. Pigalli. She'll be here in about an hour." She nodded and laid back down. "It's probably just a side effect of the sedative she gave you. Drugs do funny things, especially ones like sedatives." He patted her on the hand. "Call if you need me."

She looked around. "You switched my room?"

"We did, we had to clean that one up a bit. The night nurse thought that there was something in the air vents and she said it smelled a bit, mostly due to the broken window." She nodded and relaxed, letting herself drift off again. He walked out, glaring at the person who had given her the extra sedative. "Did you have to do that?"

"She'll kill us," Barney said. "Even while sick. I'm shocked she fell for the male nurse thing. There's no such thing."

"Yes there is," a deeper male voice said as he came out of the shadows. Tall, bald, black, eyepatch. "I've had a few on the hell carrier," Nick Fury told them.

In the room, Dawn blinked. She knew that voice. She asked Clint if she was at the infirmary and he said they all weren't sure where anyone was but no, she wasn't. "Huh," she said through a yawn. "Yeah, not going to work." She concentrated. The magic was giving her headache a new shove toward greatness but okay. She could handle that. Then suddenly there was Stark in her ear telling her to calm down. She wasn't wearing her comm, she checked. She blinked and looked around. It felt like she was on the hell carrier. Huh. She thought that at Clint, who agreed and he was going to have flashbacks. She promised to help his if he helped hers back to Romania and getting free.

He agreed and she switched places with him. He was in the 'infirmary' mock up. She was in a cell. Great. Of course, the cell wasn't near the engines. She walked out after blasting the cell door open, patting for her usual necklace. Nope. But that was okay. They weren't near the US and she had a few secrets that only her spouses knew. Not like her other identity only lived on modeling. She pulled something, checking it over before shooting the guards coming her way. She pushed down on that pain, on the dizziness, and walked off. She found the main console and blew it. That opened the other cells. She smiled at Phil. "Natasha, get that off him, dear." She strolled off. "Let me talk to Mr. Fury."

Clint grinned at the shocked people as he walked out, shooting them. "Even if you took eggs, they won't work."

"We have ways of making them normal."

"With the heavy duty birth control she's on? I doubt it." He shot him too with a grin. "Wanted to do that for years." He checked, they were in virtual reality. He told Dawn. Who yawned and blasted them free. Clint got up to handle things. Dawn was holding her head. Dawn was not happy. Dawn was going to throw up right after she brought this carrier down. "If we crash, we'll probably be more hurt," he said in her ear.

"Huh, then you can all take leave with me." She blinked at him. "Find Phil and Nat."

"Just us in here, princess."

She looked and poked. "Isn't that a VR wall?"

"That is." They looked. Then at each other. "Fuck it. Any idea?"

"Yeah. I think this is your nightmare, not mine."

"It definitely is one." He concentrated. She kissed him and he moaned, and woke up holding his head. "Okay, yeah, that's not good." He blinked, Dawn was napping next to him. Still curled up so clearly still hurting. He checked his watch, checked on Nat, who hadn't woken up and was at home with the kids. He went to the main infirmary. "I think her concussion spread because now I'm having the weird dreams." Dr. Shivs stared at him. "What?"

"Well, you're very well built, Clint, but that's more than I usually see of you." He checked, he was in boxers, then he looked at the doctor again. "Bathrobe? Your niece is in here."

"She's seen me on the beach before."

"Fine." He put him into a chair to look him over. "I'd say it was a flashback and you shared so she may have fixed something in it?"

"No, she got Dr. Jennings and his parents talking about space radiation and the tiny holes upstairs above Bruce's lab. They couldn't solve it and it was causing a lot of the problems. There was a curse from the love gods because Nat and I should've worked and didn't but Dawn wasn't supposed to be there and made their plans work so they hated her."

"They did that to Xander for a while," Shivs agreed.

"Yeah, she gets a lot of nightmares about that sometimes." He scratched the back of his neck. "Then there was a we woke up on some sort of hell carrier redo with Barney's group and Fury was leading them. And that was VR inside VR inside multiple VR's, which is probably one of us having flashbacks to Romania."

Shivs stared at him. Then he pinched him, making Clint wince. "So, see, real."

"I did that there and it didn't help."

"Huh."

Phil appeared with a yawn, reading that. He looked towards Tara's apartment. "Fury's not there." He tapped out a text message. Tara sent one back saying that he had disappeared two days earlier and she had told Maria but she wasn't worried. Phil tracked the ferret spell. There were three in the area. He tripped all three, figured out which one was Fury, and redid his. Someone picked him up but Phil went to grab him and brought him back to the kids with a smile for the awake Craig. "Here, have him back. Don't let him use the window." He went back to the infirmary. Clint was still there. "Nicely slightly prophetic."

"Her dream?" Clint asked.

"I haven't seen Dr. Peter. I can ask someone to look for the curse she saw but I'm doubting it. We would've seen it before now. No, that poison she got hit with wouldn't need a cure if she purged it properly and I'm figuring she did because I haven't felt anything like that in her." He yawned again. "Go back to bed, Clint, and let me consider things. Is she still dizzy?" He nodded. "Then maybe I'll ask Peter. I doubt that sort of radiation would have any effect but I'll mention it to Bruce." Clint relaxed and went back to bed. He looked at Shivs, who shrugged. He showed him.

"I can see Dawn doing that but no, that doesn't do that. That may be why her mom's tumor went that way and we just got someone with a strange cancer that has a lab near there," he realized, pulling up their chart to go over it. "I'll call Banner."

"Not at three in the morning. He's not that sort of guy," Phil said dryly.

"I can bring this to him at breakfast. Pigalli will be in then."

Phil nodded, going to check on Dawn. The swelling was going down. She'd be okay eventually. He hoped. Clint blinked at him so he shrugged. "There was a cancer patient found up near there," he mouthed. Clint nodded once. "So she must've realized that somehow. What was that gun?"

"Not like she's told us," he muttered. He kissed Dawn's neck, waking her up enough to moan and flip over to hold onto him, muttering about the earth's rotational problems making her dizzy. They smiled at her then Phil went back to bed. Clint could reassure her in the morning.

59: Coping Like A Champion Old One

Everyone seems to be coping until people with *ideas* decide they want a Stark kid of their own. Which is never a good idea. R for violence and killing bad guys.

Dawn blinked at Clint the next morning. "You had better not be dizzy because I passed it over. I'd hate myself if I did that to you," she said quietly.

He flipped her onto her back so he could stare down at her. "You didn't. Would you please quit stressing about that stuff?"

"I...."

"I know."

She rubbed her hand over his cheek. "You didn't sleep well, did you?" She pulled him down to cuddle him.

He sighed, liking this. "Wasn't I comforting you?" he asked.

"This works both ways." He grinned and kissed her good morning. "I probably have dragon breath."

"Yup, you do." He kissed her again. "Wanna try sitting up?" She shook her head. "You sure? You feel less dizzy today." She shook her head again. He slowly helped her sit up, watching as being fully upright led to her turning green and holding her head. "We have got to figure that out." She stiffened. "I checked, Dr. Peter's parents were never here. You never had to have a moment where you thought you'd ruin us by touching us," he said quietly in her ear.

She looked at him. "Can the rest be a bad dream too?"

He cuddled her. "She'll get better, Dawn. A lot better." Dawn rested against his shoulder. "Want a shower? I'll help."

She smiled. "I think there's a nothing more than cuddling rule in the infirmary, Clint."

"I'm pretty sure that's all I'm up to anyway." She stared at him. He shrugged. "Strange dreams of my own." She kissed him and he moaned, sharing it because she poked.

Natasha came in with breakfast on a tray. "You can eat after you shower." She handed over coffee for them. They trudged in to shower together. Which made Nat happy. She loved to watch those two play. It was like a naughty thrill.

"Still not that hot this morning," Clint said. He looked at her. "It'd kill Dawn's head."

"If it'll kill the dizziness, I'm all for it," Dawn quipped.

"It'd probably just make you more dizzy," Clint said, kissing her once her teeth were brushed. They climbed into the shower together, him helping her with her hair since the bruises meant she couldn't fully lift her arms at the moment. They got out and came out to put on better jammies. Clint looked at his then at Natasha. "You sure?"

"I am. Because your flashback last night proved you need to be with her." She took another kiss.

"I should be getting out soon," Dawn said, taking her own kiss from her wife. She looked at the food then at Natasha. "Liquid stuff?"

"Try the eggs."

"I don't like seeing eggs on the way back up. And they hurt, Nat."

"You haven't thrown up in a few hours," Clint said. Dawn looked at him. "Try and I'll buy you a candy bar." Dawn slowly shook her head. "Or better soup for lunch." She sighed but did try to eat it. Her throat was torn up enough that she barely managed to swallow. Natasha gave her cereal instead. That could get really mushy and was hard to throw back up because it dissolved quickly. The nurse knocked and came in. "We're still camping," Dawn said between bites.

"The doctor thinks you can pack your tent in a few days," the nurse said with a smile. She checked Dawn over, looking at Clint. "Day off?"

"He needs to rest," Natasha said. "He had a flashback nightmare."

"Ah!" She made note of that. "Andrew said he had some bad dreams when he was in here too." She finished taking Dawn's morning vitals and left them to eat. It was good that Natasha had gotten some real food down Dawn. They'd see how long it lasted down there.

"Aren't you eating, Nat?" Clint asked.

"I ate with Fussy, Cranky, and the Diva this morning," she said dryly.

"Got Philip up too early?" Dawn guessed. Natasha nodded. "How long did it take him to pick out his clothes?"

"Nearly an hour."

"When he has those days, give him a choice of three outfits, he'll pick none of them but tell you what he really wants, which is usually in the wash."

Natasha smiled. "I'll have to remember that."

"Pepper had Chris try to lay out clothes the night before but he complained because the next morning he had changed his mind and it took longer."

Clint shook his head. "I can see our son doing that."

"Our son turns into a diva whenever he's not happy," Natasha told him. "I have no idea where your drama queen tendencies come from but they were passed on," Natasha quipped, staring at Clint. Who just smirked at her. "You need to rest. Lay back down." She took the tray and tucked them both in then left them to nap. She went to talk to the doctors, who were having a conference. "I made Dawn eat cereal, she couldn't swallow scrambled eggs." They nodded, making a note of that. "Clint had nightmares all night so I tucked him back in with her." Pigalli looked at her. "Romania."

"Okay," she said. "Can we help with that?"

"Do not sedate him. Allergy pills perhaps but nothing stronger or he'll feel trapped and end up in a corner for a few hours." She nodded, making a note of that on Clint's chart. "Dawn's still dizzy but she managed to almost move her head without being too green. They shared a shower so Dawn got her back clean. Had coffee."

"That's good news," Pigalli said. "Anything else happen?" Shivs handed over the nightmare explanation that Clint had told him. She looked at it. "That may be. I'll have Banner check. I wouldn't put it past a hole like that to have some sort of spatial radiation coming from it but I have no idea about that. The thing about Fury?"

"Phil recaptured his escaped self," Natasha said dryly.

"Great. Keep him a ferret. Dawn doesn't need that stress." The spy smirked at her for that. "Any other good news?"

"Callia looks warm from what I can see." They went to check on her. She was warm. She had six blankets, three cats, and a dog on top of her though. They moved all but one blanket and the dog, which made her sigh and try to get comfortable. Natasha worked on the leg cramp she started and Callia fell back to sleep. Natasha also got to take the dog for a walk. A reporter outside stared at her. "Yes?" she demanded quietly.

"Is Callia still in bed?"

Natasha looked at her. "Yes. She's probably going to be in bed for weeks." The reporter's hopeful look fell. "She's still in the infirmary but some of her pets snuck down to visit her." Which probably meant Tony cat and the others were in the ceiling again. She'd have to get someone other than Clint to track them. She ran into Benji. "You look miserable this morning as well."

Benji frowned at her. "An Addam's now? I hear that's their pleasant greeting."

"Dawn and Clint had nightmares all night."

"Hmm. Me too, bloody stupid chips," he muttered, heading up there. He leaned into her room. "Dawn, if I can be up and slightly cheerful when I feel like I've had half my brain removed, you can be up and dizzy. C'mon, let's get up." She groaned but got up and put on a pretty robe he handed her with a smile. "Better, right?" She shook her head, grabbing her new, clean bucket to take with her.

"Bring her back when she pukes," Clint ordered with a sleepy wave.

"Taking her to the daycare. Your son called me this morning," Benji complained. Dawn and Clint both groaned but Dawn leaned on him to get down there. She was fully green and had to get sick from the elevator's motion but she made it. Benji helped her sit on the floor.

Philip hugged her with a grin for him. "Fank you."

"You're welcome." He patted him on the head. "Remember, she's still really dizzy so you can only have her for a bit then I've got to hand her back to your father."

"Daddy hogs you," Philip told his mommy, getting a cuddle. He wiggled free after a minute, pushing Mira and Lexi over. "See what we gots them?"

"They're kinda mobile. That's great. Hi, girls." They squealed and waved. She hugged them both then sat back with a groan.

Philip stared at her. "You're still sick?" She nodded, pouting at him. "Poor mommy bear." He cuddled her and told her a story about ducks, which didn't make much sense but it was good of him. Caro and Etta ran in and pounced Dawn too, making her groan but hug them both. "She still sick and pukey. Be gentle with my mommy."

Etta cuddled Philip. "It's okay. She get not sick."

Dawn smiled. "We all hope so." The girls beamed and snuggled in, letting Benji read to them for now. Dawn watched him when he started to slur. "Guys, he's a bit tired. How about I put him down for a nap and I see you guys after lunch? After nap time?" They cheered and Mira fussed a bit but another hug calmed her and Lexi both down. She walked Benji off. He was blinking hard. "C'mon," she told the elevator. "We don't want the kids to see this." She got him onto it and the doors closed. She got halfway up there when the seizure struck. "Doc!" she yelled when the doors opened, putting her foot in the way so the doors couldn't close. She came rushing out. "Seizure. He was reading to the kids and started to slur and stutter, repeating words."

"Okay." She and Shivs got him up and into the infirmary once he quit twitching. "Dawn, bed." She trudged that way. They hooked Benji up to a few monitors to make sure he was fine and started the CT machine. Both the chips were out so he shouldn't be having these problems.

Callia looked over at Benji when he sighed and blinked up at the ceiling. "It's great that most of the real geniuses in the building are in the infirmary today."

He blinked at her. "I was in the daycare."

"You had a seizure. Auntie Dawn got you away from the kids so they didn't have to see it."

"Thank God," he muttered. "The kids would be scared of me." He relaxed again, rubbing his forehead. "That sucked."

"Yes they do," Pigalli said, rolling him in there. "CT."

"Great." He laid still as ordered then went back to rubbing his head. This was not a good thing. "The kids didn't see, right?"

"Dawn had you on the elevator so probably not."

"Even better."

She smiled at him. "Looks like something's pulling too tightly for your brain. Let me call your surgeon to read these." He nodded, going to sleep thanks to the headache pills they had given him.

Callia curled up, watching how things went, wiggling her toes every few minutes to make sure they still worked. She could watch over him for her aunt. It took her mind off being in there for her own reasons.

***

Dawn looked at the next morning's news headlines and groaned. She got onto her live journal. "People," she muttered as she typed, eyes squinting through the headache. She could wiggle her fingers without getting nauseous at least. "I have no idea what you think you know but you don't. Walking wounded, really? Though I am extremely dizzy at any slight movement, I'm not walking wounded. I'm not sure why you made allusions to people injured in a combat zone but we were not. New York is not YET a combat zone, even though there's parts that seem to be closer to it than others.

"Seriously? Calling our injuries that, putting it on that level, trivializes their pain and trauma. They earned theirs in combat. I earned mine due to stupid humans who hopefully will never breed. And if they have bred, I hope like hell that any god, goddess, goat deity, snake deity, sun deity, moon deity, or fairy looking to save kids takes theirs from them before they turn out just like their parents.

"Callia's injuries were due to criminals who were jealous that she's smarter than they'll ever be. See Engineering Weekly back in '98 for a profile on the head bad guy, the one who paid the other one to immobilize Callia so he could finish a child off. And that alone proves he was a worthless, spineless waste of his mother's time - before anyone asks, because a waste of sperm is a normal scumbag but mothers have a lot more invested in their kids. Wasting ours is always worse.

"I have no idea who has delusions of literary honors due to that allusion but we are not war vets with purple hearts. Honored to have gotten our injuries in the service of this country or because we got injured, no. Honored because of what we do after our injuries? Maybe in Callia's case. That'll depend on her. Until then, please stop the stupid. The world has too much already and we don't need more piled on top of the epidemic levels we already have." She posted that and put her tablet aside.

Clint kissed her on the temple. "Everyone has a slight case of the stupid virus, but not all of us are fully infected."

"I know." She cuddled him, wincing as she moved. "I have to remember, it'll go away. Hopefully soon."

"It'll go away," he promised, cuddling her. "You couldn't type yesterday."

She smiled. "Thanks, Clint."

"It's what a husband does beyond cleaning our weapons."

"And give amazing back rubs?"

"And give amazing back rubs," he agreed with a smile. He helped her flip over and got to work on the unbruised parts. She was sore from this bed. Which, so was he but Dawn could get him later.

***

Callia looked at her wheelchair. "I'll have fantastic arm muscles," she said. She was staring at her enemy and it had to be beaten.

"I can get you a motorized one," Tony offered.

She shook her head. "Not yet, Dad. Let's see if I can handle this."

"It doesn't have a great turning radius."

She smiled at him. "You reminded me that I've only been in the driving simulator a few times on the way to New Zealand."

"Good point." He pointed at things. "That'll help cushion your back brace." She nodded. "It's got a padded seat, with a gel pad. Dawn suggested that for comfort. It's got good brakes so you won't run over the cats unless you have to." She smiled some, staring at the chair again. "We can modify it if we need to."

She nodded. "I need lasers on it." Tony laughed and hugged her. "Have you found the rest of my cats in the ceiling yet?"

"They came out for wet food and catnip last night," Pepper said as she and Steve walked in. "You sure? We can find a motorized one."

"Then I'll run over Liz and Chris." She smiled. "This is good. I'll want to get out of this one, Mom."

"Okay." She kissed her on the head. "Anything we need to consider about your clothes?"

"Panties suck ass," she said. "I keep getting wedgies because they're pulling."

"The right size might help that," Pepper said with a grin.

"They were."

"Hmm. We can find you boy shorts."

"I didn't like those. They curled up in the corner of my thigh. Right in the crease there." She frowned. "Boxers?"

"Boxer briefs," Tony said. "Much more comfy. They make some for adult women so they should make them for your size."

"If not, I can wear boys boxer briefs. Same thing really." She shrugged. She went back to staring at the chair. "Zippers are binding. I realized that yesterday when I kept having to shift mine."

"We can do drawstrings or elastic waists," Pepper assured her, stroking over her hair. Callia looked up at her. "No problems with shirts or anything?"

"No, but I need a lap desk sort of thing for my tablet, one that'll be out of my way for things like dinner."

"We can arrange that," Tony promised. "And lasers if you really want to put some on." She smiled at him for that. They helped her into the back brace they had decided was a good precaution for now. Tony had reinforced it with bulletproof carbon fiber and kevlar. Callia shifted it, her shirt was bunching up under it. "Tank tops, Pepper."

"Then I really need to start shaving, Dad."

"I don't need to hear that," he quipped.

"We can handle that," Pepper said. "There's ways around having to shave those or your legs."

Callia looked at her. "Laser hair removal like on the informercial?"

"Real laser hair removal, not the expensive toy. I know a spa that does a great job."

"I could like that. Might make me less sweaty after PT too." Tony shook his head. "I haven't had a leotard to try on yet."

"Some have snap crotches, that could help," Pepper said, making that note for her. "We'll figure it out."

"Scientific gala," Callia reminded her. "My dress was in that closet." Pepper grimaced but nodded. They could find her something and have it tailored. "I guess I don't have to worry so much about shoes."

"They should look pretty but not really," Tony said, putting his hands in his pockets. "You ready?"

"Nope, but might as well." They helped her transfer to the wheelchair. She settled in then winced. "The cushion has a ridge." Tony helped her up and Steve turned the pillow around. That felt better. She shifted a few times and nodded. "Okay, let's get this show on the road. JARVIS, please update my tablet with my upcoming appointments and make sure I cannot miss them."

"I already have, young miss, and you have one at two with your mother." Pepper smiled.

Callia grinned. "Sure." She rolled off slowly. "Chris will be disappointed if I can't eventually go faster." Tony snickered, shaking his head. They got onto the elevator and upstairs. The house was actually picked up and her cats were lounging on the furniture. She rolled in and let Xander puppy hop up to sniff and lap her. She cuddled him. "Good boy. You tried so hard to protect the mommy and I adore you for that." Natasha hissed at her. "Hey." She stared at her. "Get used to it. We both gotta get used to it."

Liz stared at her sister over the back of the couch next to Chris. "What's that?"

"It's a wheelchair. Where my back has the booboo, I have to use this since I can't walk for a little while."

"Rides?" Chris asked, his eyes and smile bright.

"Sure, but I can't go fast yet."

"We fix," he assured her with a grin then turned around. "Kitties, mommy home!" The rest of them woke up to meow and check on their human. Natasha still wouldn't come near her but she leaned over with a wince to pet her. She dodged it and hissed again.

"Fine, be that way, bitch." She gave her a look. "No lovies without coming closer. I can't chase you all over the playroom." Dawn was meowing so she petted her, getting happier chatter instead. "Hi, dear." She got nudged. "Hi, Clint kitty. And Phil kitty." She petted them. Tony kitty jumped down from his spot onto the back of her chair, letting her reach back to pet him. Dawn meowed but Tony kitty was going to explore this new thing. She went back to petting the ones on her lap. They were happy she had a lap to pet them from. "Don't worry, we'll play chase again soon," she promised quietly.

Chris came over to look at it. "Inefficient, Daddy. No motor."

"There's kinds with motors but she wanted this kind, Chris. That way she gets out of it sooner."

He stared at it, tipping his head. "Heavy?" Callia nodded. He patted it. "'Mun." He gave her an experimental push which sent Tony kitty out of the way. "Sorry, Tony kitty." He gave her another push then looked. "Brakes?" Callia pointed at them so he figured out how they work and tried to push her again. "Not good enough. Not stop." He frowned. "We fix and make better," he told his sister, who smiled and kissed him on the head. "Eww, girls!"

"Girls are future mommies," Callia quipped. She hugged him. "We can fix it together." He grinned and hugged his mommy then went back to his tv show. She looked at the kitties. "Aren't you glad you don't have kittens?" They all cuddled in around the dog in her lap. "I need a bigger chair," she said. It cracked her father up. "I do, that way one of them can be with me when they want to sit next to me instead of on top of me."

"We'll see," Tony said. "Maybe a pull out platform or something so you have your lap back." He patted her on the head. "We cleaned your room too. There's no more rug for the wheels to get caught on, or the pet fur to need vacuumed from. All your remaining clothes are actually put up. Your bed's clear."

"I can watch tv for now," she said, looking at him. "I've been in bed for days, Dad."

"True. Know how to get in and out?"

She nodded, they had shown her yesterday. She rolled over to the couch and carefully locked her brakes. "Move, guys. Let mommy move." They got up with a slight nudge and she looked. "I'm at the wrong angle." Tony helped her shift some and she basically flopped over instead of gracefully moving herself but she was new at it. She moaned as she wiggled into sitting up, swatting at the helping hands. "I have to learn how to do this."

"We can still help at first," Steve reminded her. "Until you're better at it."

"Maybe." He helped her sit up and adjust her shirt. She sighed. "Thanks."

"Welcome." He kissed her on the head. "Need something?"

"Chocolate and hazelnut candy bars with an iced mocha coffee?"

Tony laughed. "No." She pouted. "Sorry. Not spoiling you with that. Your siblings will take it from you and you can't defend it right now."

"Good point," she muttered. "I could use some candy though." Liz got up and got her some of her gummy bears. "Thanks, Liz." She hugged her. "Come cuddle me?"

Liz was looking at the brace over her shoulders. "Why?"

"It helps hold my back up when it hurts," Callia said. She pointed at a spot on Liz's back. "I have a booboo here. That means my legs don't work as well as they should. They don't like to move yet. I have to teach them how to walk again. The brace helps when I want to slump or slouch. Really, it causes a lot more pain."

Tony got her one of her pain pills. "Here." He held up another one. "Liz, Chris." They stared at him. "These pills are Callia's and you may not touch them. They can hurt you. They're really strong medicine and you may not touch them. Got it?" They looked and nodded.

Liz looked at Maeve. "You no touch either," she told the baby. Pepper hugged her. "Mom!"

"You're so great." Liz grinned at that.

"And modest like a proper Stark," Steve joked. Pepper swatted him but smiled and sat down. "No touching any pills you might find in the house, kids. You know that, right?" They nodded. "Good." He settled down between Chris and Callia. Tony got Callia's free side. They settled in to watch Discovery channel. Tony had suggested How It's Made for the kids instead of Nick Jr. They all seemed to like it and Liz was amazed that science built things like toothpaste and bicycles. Chris was in heaven. He loved watching them make things. Callia smiled because it used to be her favorite show too.

Pepper even found one on how they made wheelchairs for Chris. "Remember, Callia needs hers so you can not take it apart, at all," Pepper reminded him, staring at him. "It has to always stay whole. If you need one to experiment on, build one." He nodded, looking at the chair.

***

Dinner that night was easier. She shared the side with Maeve since the high chair took up less space and she wouldn't be bumping elbows with her. The table was a bit high but Callia could build herself a platform to park on. She drafted an idea and had the automated forging system start it for her. Tony looked over. She showed him, getting a nod and a stroke over her hair. After dinner was when the fun started. She rolled toward her bedroom. She checked her clearance. She'd get through. "Good thing this is a kid's chair," she quipped, making sure she was straight on. She squeaked through.

Tony looked at the hinges. "I can get some offset hinges tomorrow so it'll swing further out of the way, Cal."

She smiled at him. "Sure, as long as I still have a door." He smiled and nodded. She moved toward her bathroom. That's a problem. "Dad, can I have one of the rolling lab chairs?"

He looked at her bathroom door then the wheelchair. "I didn't even consider that we might be injured some day," he said quietly.

She looked at him. "Most people don't build to wheelchair standards, Dad. You never expect to need one. For that matter, I'll only need it for a few months." He nodded, going to get her a lab stool. He brought it back up. She blocked it with the door frame and slid over to it with help. That let her roll around the bathroom easier. "This is easier than the chair, kinda. Hard to steer though." He laughed. She managed to hit the toilet and then wash her hands, face, and sweaty parts with a washcloth. She brushed her teeth and rolled the stool back to the doorway, sliding back into the chair so she could roll back to bed. She had to give Dawn kitty a look. "I don't want to roll over you, dear. Move please?" The cat hopped up to her lap. "Sure, for now." She parked beside her bed and slid over with some help. Tony tucked her in and kissed her on the head. "I'll get better, Dad. You know I will."

"I know." He grinned. "We'll work on it together. Not like I don't spend a lot of time in the gym." She smiled and he left, closing her door part-way but not all the way. He walked out to stare at Pepper and Steve. "We need to remodel."

"We can put in bigger doors," Pepper said quietly.

"She had ideas about changing everything," Steve said.

"Which was nice," Tony agreed, staring at Pepper. "She gave us a huge closet. Showed me how they're the new showpiece of the rich guy's houses."

"I saw that same article and was horrified at having an apartment inside your closet." She smiled. "We don't need it."

"We kinda do," he admitted. "Your clothes are still downstairs. My lab's really cramped. I wasn't realistic when I gave myself that one, Pepper. I have things everywhere and can't find a single thing, probably even if Dawn sorted on me. She'll need one. Chris is going to need one." He slumped. "She had great and fancy ideas." He had the AI find those on his tablet and pull them up on a virtual screen since that tablet was in his lab.

"That's very fancy," she said. "We don't need all that."

"We kinda do," Tony countered. "You and I both need the closet space. Both our rooms are starting to look like the project graveyard. Chris's is starting to. Her wheelchair won't fit into her bathroom, it won't go through the doorway, and her walker when she transitions down to it will be about the same width." Pepper winced. "If I enlarge that doorway for her, it'll take out some of her closet. The other coast's house is going to be a bit easier, though we'll have to deal with the stairs issue. There's a few places that have a couple of stairs. I'm not sure if her room is going to work with her wheelchair either. I need to talk to the contractor tomorrow."

Pepper sighed. "That's way too much, we'll be separated from the kids."

"This level will still be the living room and all that. It'll mean no snooping in the kids' rooms when we have someone over. Chris caught your sorority sister in his the other day." She nodded, looking at Steve.

"I think it's too fancy but I can see the overall benefits. Tony does need a bigger lab. That would let Callia and Chris have their own labs and Liz have a lot of art and decorating space. Maeve's room is pretty basic but it's the same size as Liz's." Pepper sighed. "I still don't think anyone needs a closet that size."

"The kids' closets have the same basic hanging area as Dawn's does at her place," Tony said. "And Pepper takes up three closets downstairs, Steve. A lot of my favorite suits are back in Malibu."

"Your closet in Malibu and mine in both locations would about fill that one," Pepper agreed quietly. "I need to send stuff to consignment or donate it to that place that gives people suits for interviews."

"Dawn donates some of her used gowns to the place that gives poor teenagers cheap prom gowns," Tony said with a smile.

"I like that idea and I have a box of them that can go." She shifted to cross her legs at the knee. "I think that's too much. By the time we get all that renovated, she might be down to crutches."

"Her floor would need to be changed. It's slick," Tony said as he sat down. "She'll need it to be less slick by the time she's in the walker."

Pepper stared at the drawings. "Liz?"

"Chris and Callia. Liz was helping with decorating suggestions and found her some pictures she wants to buy for her room. They were redesigning her room before she came to talk to me."

"She does need some work done to her room," Pepper sighed. "We'd still be on a different floor. What if Chris or Liz got sick in the middle of the night?"

"Baby monitor," Steve said. "Same as we do with Maeve." She looked at him. "JARVIS would tell us too."

"I can put up a closed-circuit system for just their rooms to just this apartment," Tony said.

"That gives them way too much opportunity to turn into you and lock themselves in the lab," Pepper said.

Tony nodded. "Isn't that why you mandated the dinner rule?"

"It was," she admitted.

"We usually have to herd them for dinner anyway. It'd be a stop in the elevator, same as it now," Steve said. "At least we'd have an easy place to look for them."

"I'm going to have to put up new security protocols when we move back to the Malibu house," Tony said. "I just realized that we're going to have to find where Chris is skating down that long, winding driveway most days." Pepper moaned and nodded.

Howard faded into view, staring at the house plans. "Too bad she won't be using that lab all that often."

"It was my back that was hurt, not my head, jackass," Callia yelled from her room. "There's plenty of great scientists that limped and I can build something to help me walk better if I have to. So go the fuck away! I only want supportive people around me and clearly you're not a *real* Stark because we don't do that shit to each other."

Tony looked in there. "Well said, less swearing." He walked in there. "In his day, once you hit the chair, a lot of people didn't do great things."

"Yeah, well, plenty did and he was probably a bigot against them too," she said dryly. "He needs to be banished, Dad, before I banish him to hell."

"I'll find some way to stick him to the house in the Bahamas or something." She smiled and relaxed. "Can't sleep?" She shook her head, turning to curl up on her side with his help. "We'll figure it out. We're talking about the house here and the Malibu house. It's got a few stairs here and there." She smirked. "We'll figure it out." She yawned and nodded. "What sort of think tank?"

"Someone to take the weapons ideas and other ideas I come up with and turn them into something non-weapons." She yawned again. "Like to take my lasers and use them for less harmful and maybe even helpful things."

He kissed her on the head. "I think that'd be a great idea. We'll go over your plans to renovate it in a few weeks." She grinned. "Since we're doing here anyway. Your mother and I need more closet space and it's either take over your room or fix the house." She laughed. He petted her until she fell asleep then walked out there. "Dad, she does not need this shit. She's still in the scary 'what if I can't' stage of starting back to full strength. You don't do that to people!" he finished in a near shout. "It's *wrong*! It's demoralizing!"

"A little push, a challenge, will make her work harder."

"I don't think she's going to have a problem with motivation," Tony said dryly. "Because there's too many people who think like you do in the world. Get out of my house, all of them. Stay out of them." He stared at him. "I will find a way to send you to a house in the middle of nowhere and have you haunt there." Howard huffed but didn't leave. He called Tara. "How do I banish my father and stick him in a house we don't usually visit?" He took notes as she looked that up, scratching one thing out. "Can I do that? You sure? Thanks, Tara." He hung up and walked off to get what he needed. Herbology, as the daughter called it, would have most of it. He came back mixing the herb mix. It got thrown on Howard and he chanted. Howard faded no matter how hard he fought and left with a pop. "Better," Tony sighed, flopping down. "Because I hated him lurking too."

Pepper hugged him. "You turned into a great guy even without your dad being around," she reminded him quietly.

He leaned against her shoulder. "You helped."

"I did." She smiled and he kissed her. "I... I need some comfort, Tony."

"Yeah, me too. I'm still stuck in what if land too," he said quietly. Steve nodded he was too. They went to their room to cuddle. This was scary parent territory. One most parents never had to visit. This was most parent's nightmare and they were now living it.

***

Dawn got released and walked out leaning on Clint to the parking garage. She was still really dizzy. Walking was not fun. She was going on couch rest at home. She was still holding her head and moaning a bit every few steps. But she only threw up once thanks to the elevator. Clint drove them home and helped her out, letting her wobble to the doorway. "We'll have to fix the stairs for Callia."

"We can cut out a ramp," he said. "Could be nice to use with the stroller too." He checked their security system's readout.

"I'm not sure if we have enough room."

"Huh?"

"You can only set ramps so high and at so much of an angle."

Xander appeared, helping Dawn up the few stairs and into the elevator. "You don't have enough room. You'd be about a foot short and it'd end up without any turning radius at all in front of the elevator."

"A chair lift would be too much," Dawn said. "What about a platform lift?"

"That you could probably do," he agreed. "That'd take up about the same amount of space as the stairs."

"A what?" Clint asked.

"You've seen the chair lifts that you put over stairs?" Xander asked. Clint nodded. "Same principle but like the platform lift on the back of a moving truck. It'll lift you from one level to the other. It's for use in places where there's only a few feet to clear."

"That'd be handy with the stroller too," Clint agreed. "Do we need to clear more room for it?"

"They have ones that'll slide out," he said. "You can put it with the handicap door button if you want." Clint nodded that he hadn't thought of that. "It shouldn't be that hard to do. I can look it up." Dawn grinned at him. "I do miss construction sometimes." He helped Clint settle her on the couch, looking around. "Your bathroom down here is probably not easily accessible either."

"We're adding a small water closet," Dawn said with a point. "The kids need it because they never remember to run for the potty upstairs or in our room." Clint stared at her. She pointed at the stairs. "There, dear."

"The plumbing?"

She smiled. "There had been some and they had to reach it over for ours. It shouldn't be that hard since they left pipes there in case I wanted to add on later. I had them in case we needed another bathroom."

"That's not that hard. We can build out that under-stair area," Clint said, staring at it. "Few walls. Toilet and sink?" Dawn nodded. "Not that hard and depending on the door it'll be easier on Callia, or one of us if we get that injured. Always a chance," he admitted, staring at her.

She kissed him. "I'd love you even if you were bedridden and quadriplegic on an air tube."

He smiled. "Good, just in case." She swatted him. "Can you call the guys who renovated for you?"

"Yeah, I can do that later." He smiled. "Maybe a pocket door. A curved one there?"

"We'll see," he said, taking another kiss. "Water?"

"Please." She looked at Xander, giving him a hug. "It'll be okay. She'll be okay and we can all help by going to the gym with her."

"We can," he agreed. "She needs some arm strength for right now." He winked and popped over to Stark, staring at his goddaughter and niece. He tucked her back in and went to look at the gym. They'd need some arm strength machines. He found Bruce in there. "Long night?"

"Heavy thoughts and Joyce had nightmares."

"She's upstairs."

"Joyce is taking tomorrow off to spoil her." He looked around. "Will this be good for her?"

"Some things. For a while she'll be working on regaining movement. Water therapy and the like. She needs arm work too though." Bruce pointed and Xander looked at the arm pull machine on the wall. "I'm not sure if she can use that."

"We can find another machine," Tony said from the doorway.

"Didn't mean to wake you, Tony," Xander apologized.

"I was worried about that too."

"Dawn's thinking about putting in a small lift for the chair and an additional bathroom."

"She'd adore that." He came in to look at the arm machine. "Won't work. It's too high." He tested it and nodded. "I can get or make her something in the morning."

"Dual sided arm presses?" Xander suggested. "It's some forearm strength but she's got good enough at that."

"Yeah, she does. It's upper arm and leg strength, so a leg press machine. I can handle that." He looked around. "Some of this stuff is older."

"And works great," Bruce said, staring at him. "Get a multi machine system. One of those entire gyms in one machine ones. It'll fit in the bare space," he said with a point. "The treadmills that had been there got moved to another room because they annoyed people."

Tony went to look then came back nodding. "I can do that. That'll give her arm and leg press action. I'll research those tomorrow." He looked at Xander. "How's Dawn? I haven't seen her today."

"On the couch. Elevators are still making her turn green in the wrong way. She still can't really manage shoes."

"I doubt she'll be managing her heels with that dizziness," Bruce said.

"Did you get that strange dream they had?" Tony asked.

Bruce nodded. "And it did probably contribute. To Joyce's too. Joyce went on a swearing rant about the hellmouth." He smiled. "I nearly hid in a closet. I never knew Joyce could say such things."

Tony grinned. "Pepper too." He sat down on the machine next to Bruce. "I'm stuck on what I'm supposed to do next."

"Next, you be a supportive dad, you fix the little things that have to get done, and then you help her get back into as close to her original shape as you can."

"She was hiding her body," Tony said. "She had on an illusion to make her look less stacked."

Xander grinned. "Phil and I noticed that. We figured she was embarrassed by the boobs."

"Possibly," Tony admitted. "She and Pepper are talking about hair removal so she doesn't have to shave. Which she needs to. She has hairier armpits than Dawn did before Pepper got her laser hair removal there."

"Which didn't fully work since Dawn still has to shave," Xander quipped. Tony grimaced. "You take it as it comes and you enjoy all the successes she'll have, Tony. That's all any parent can do, even if their kids are healthy and run everywhere."

He nodded. "I do that but I feel like I'm forgetting something or failing at something that I'm missing. I don't know what *that* is."

"That's nothing, it's all in your mind," Bruce said. "You spoil those kids rotten."

"I do," Tony agreed. "But they're not brats like so many heirs." He looked at him. "Callia's already sold something to SHIELD for research purposes."

"That power cube?"

"No. Rodney's got that so he can go over it and check it against ZPM stuff." He considered it. "She said she wants to start a think tank. Her ideas and geeks to turn it into more practical, human necessary things."

"I think Stark could profit from something like that," Bruce agreed with a grin. "Plus she'd be out of your shadow."

"That's why she sold stuff, so she'd never have to fight like I did. Oh, I banished Dad."

Xander checked and nodded. "He's in the wreck of your house in the Bahamas."

"Dad always liked that house but a hurricane took out most of it." He looked at Bruce. "Chris is going to have to fight."

"No he's not. Chris will never let there be a shadow. The same as Callia didn't. Beyond the 'chip off the Stark marble block' comments she hardly ever gets called your daughter."

"I was "Howard's son Tony' until I was twenty-five," Tony said.

"Callia's almost never getting that except as a mention that she's your daughter at the start of most articles. The 'daughter of Tony Stark, Callia' sort of things. Chris will probably be the youngest driver on your F1 team."

"Maybe," Tony agreed. "He'd probably like that. I have to show him that." Bruce smiled. "Pepper reminded him he's not allowed to take apart Callia's wheelchair to tinker, he has to build a second one."

"He's already ordered one," Xander said dryly.

"JARVIS, did Chris order the right type of wheelchair?"

"He did. I talked him out of a racing one, citing that she didn't need that sort of mobility at the moment. He's tinkering with the idea of the goat powered motor in it instead."

"It'd have to go slowly enough for safety reasons," Tony said. "I can see him trying to drag race in one," he sighed, rubbing his head. "At least this is a headache Dad never had."

"That's because he'd have never heard if you did unless you got arrested for it," Bruce said.

"Even then he didn't always hear," Tony said dryly. "I got bailed out twice before Dad heard a thing about me going to jail for being a smartass. Actually, I don't think he heard about any of them outside the time I went to the science expo in Asia by sneaking onto the plane there and got caught on the way back by Customs." He shook his head. "I was seven." Bruce patted him on the arm. "How did I raise slightly normal kids when I'm so screwed up?"

"Just lucky and Pepper," Bruce said with a grin.

"Yeah, it's her, Dawn, and Steve's fault. Or else my kids would be a lot more like me."

"They really are," Xander said with a smile. "Chris is in your lab." Tony hopped up to see what he was doing. He smiled at Bruce. "Thanks," he mouthed then disappeared. Bruce got back to his workout, happier with the world now. They had all calmed each other down.

***

Dawn blinked awake because something was poking her. "Hey," she said, getting up slowly and carefully. She kissed Philip on the head. "Which girl needs something?"

"Daddy changed. 'Ractor here?"

"Oh, the guy to fix the stairs for Callia." She pulled on a robe and wandered out with him hovering next to her and patting her wrist on the way. She smiled at him. "You take very good care of me, Philip. Thank you." She flopped down onto the couch, grinning at the contractor. "I only need two things."

"I heard from your spouse. We're doing the Stark remodel too. Their kids did a really good job. One has a great eye for color."

"That was probably Liz. She's got a great eye for fashion too." Dawn pointed behind her. "Bathroom?"

"You planned on possibly needing one so we can do that."

"And stair lift."

"I saw the news articles. We can do one that'll slide out, like they do on the city busses."

She grinned. "That'll work. However's easiest."

He smiled. "I like that you're easy. What were you thinking for the bathroom? It'll look odd to just stick a room there."

"I was thinking a curved wall and a pocket door. Make it a pretty wooden one maybe? Dark wood to match the kitchen cabinets?"

He looked at them then nodded. He walked over. "Coming out to here?" She nodded slowly, then grimaced and held her head. He smiled. "Concussions suck, I've had a few myself." She smiled at him for that. "ADA compliant?" She nodded again. "That's not that hard. Giving her enough turning and parking room might be a bit tight but it should be easy enough to do."

"We could use the second bathroom anyway," Clint said as he came in from the roof. "The mail carrier is not amused by not being able to find our house anymore. I pointed out we have a PO Box and he said there's still things like papers and ads that come here." Dawn rolled her eyes. "I talked to the post office guy and he agreed it was a great idea." He sat down beside Dawn. "How much stress?"

"Stark's going to have to move for at least a few weeks while we work on a few things. I can have three of my guys do yours at the same time since she'd probably have to follow, being their assistant and all." Dawn blinked but nodded. She yawned a bit. "Fancy pedestal sink?" Clint pulled up pictures. "Those are pretty. Where?"

"Local showroom. Liz sent them."

He smiled. "She's a cute little girl." He was quiet for a minute and let Dawn fall back asleep. "Did that myself with mine," he said quietly. "It's not that hard. Not that expensive either. We'll have to tear up the floor, lay the new feeder pipes but we've got the starters already capped off. Shouldn't take more than a week to do it total." Clint nodded. "Lift's are expensive. I haven't found the hidden type yet but I know the generic step lift," he said, pulling out a brochure he had found online. "Those run from just under four grand to up to sixteen. I found that one, which is pretty much prettier than the others that looked like a not-fully enclosed elevator, on a UK site but couldn't find a price."

"I like that style. It only has to go up those few stairs. A hidden one or that style would be okay but would she have enough room to get on it from the doorway?"

"That's my huge problem. She'd have to get there sideways. We can put the call button on the handicap button for the door if you're putting one on."

"I'm not sure," he admitted. He looked at Dawn then at him. "Do we need the handrails?"

"By safety standards, yup. I think I can get one that the hand rails come up with it coming out. I'll call the local people who do stuff like this. I've got an email in to them but haven't heard anything."

"If so, bring 'em here and it'll be okay." Clint got one of the cards off the coffee table for him. "Here, she did a Fidelus."

"I noticed that," he said with a smile. "You got a whole lot of grumpy reporters hanging out trying to catch pictures of the kids."

Clint grinned. "That's why we have a Fidelus."

"Makes sense to me too." He tapped the card on his tablet a few times. "How high end do you want to go?"

"Make it not ugly, usable when it's just us and the stroller or groceries? If you have to redesign that lobby by breaking into the store area we've turned into the gym, that's fine. Make it something that our next five years of toddlers will not be able to break?"

He grinned. "I can do that. I'll get city specs on ADA compliant bathrooms for that one and bring a final estimate in a few days."

"If I'm recalled for a mission, she'll still be here. She's not moving for at least a week, if not longer."

"I can do that." He shook Clint's hand. "I'll call to warn you I'm coming." He went back to the office to call around. Stark might need that sort of information too. No telling what his house out there might need.

***

Tony called his contractor on the video calling system. He had someone at the office out there go bring him back to the office for this call. "I'm going to piss you off," he said quietly.

"I saw about your kid and figured you'd need some changes made," he admitted. "How many?"

"We're not sure," he sighed. "Right now she's in a chair. She's hoping to work back to crutches."

"Okay, so that slightly sunken dining room is going to have to be changed. We're working on the flooring but we can hold off. I had them stop work when the news came out just in case. All the bedrooms are on one floor." He showed him.

"The doorways, they're going to be too narrow."

The contractor winced. "That's going to be a problem in one of the rooms." He pointed at the plans Tony had up. "That one's room doesn't have room to switch it or to a pocket door."

"Can we make it one of those hanging doors?"

"Not unless you're going to turn that into a closet."

Tony smiled. "She and her brother designed a remodel for here with great closets."

"I've seen the plans for a few future jobs with those. Call them dressing rooms now."

"Pepper calls them closet apartments." The contractor smiled. "What are local ADA compliant rules?"

"I'd have to look up the current ones, Mr. Stark. I've done some checking but haven't heard back yet. Probably because it was Saturday when I called. I'll touch base again today. How about I do that and call you tomorrow with the architect?"

"That'll work. Thank you."

"Things happen. At least yours will get out of the chair hopefully. A lot of kids don't after car accidents."

Tony nodded. "I know. I'm hoping. She's determined. She went with a non-motorized one because it'll make her want it more."

The contractor smiled. "I'll take that into account too." He hung up and went to call those people with the architect. He walked in. "Do you have current ADA compliant regs?"

"I have last year's somewhere. Why?" He dug them out and handed them over. "Which job? Am I doing another job with your company?" The guy turned on the tv in there to the entertainment news station. They were running constant updates on Callia for the last few days. "Oh, no."

"Stark just called to see what we can do." He turned off the tv to look at him. "She's in a non-motorized chair at the moment and hopefully will be getting out of it."

"Okay," he said, pulling up those plans to look over. "Stairs to the lab. Those three to the formal dining area. One up to the living room seating area, two in the theater area." He grimaced. "We can make some ramps." He looked up. "He's sure he doesn't want temporary ones?"

"She might end up on crutches."

"So stairs would still be a liability." He frowned, looking it over. "Let me get this year's regulations."

"I said we'd call from his office tomorrow sometime. Once you and I talked. I gave the boys the weekend off once I heard about it. We're on the flooring so it'll need to be now. I know this room," he said with a point. "Has a slightly narrow doorway. That's one of the kids' rooms."

"There's no way to change that with that built-in closet there."

"And there's nowhere else to put it."

"Okay. Give me a few hours to think and plan while getting those rules."

"Cute fact, he said that kid and his son gave him a remodel plan for their condo out in the tower in New York. He looked pleased with it too."

He grinned. "Great. The world could use more architects." The contractor left and the architect settled down to figure out what he was going to do. Accidents and incidences happened, he knew that. At least they were still in the process of creating things. Not in the finishing stages. He called the local disability group. "I'm an architect and I need current building standards for wheelchair and walker compliant houses. Where can I find those?" He smiled, taking down their web address. It had them on there. "Thank you." He hung up and got online to look at them. He'd have to change more than that one doorway. They were all too narrow by about five inches. He called in his assistant. "I have nothing to do today, right?"

"You have a meeting in an hour and one this afternoon."

"I have to redesign the Stark house."

"I saw she had gotten seriously hurt."

"It has to be ADA compliant." He printed those out. "For future reference." She nodded, tucking them away for him. "Any hint that they might not show up?"

"I think one's going to do like that commercial and ask you to design the house around a certain thing."

"Okay. Can you get my partner in here?"

"I can." She went to get him, tapping on his door. "Doug, Steven wants to talk to you for a few minutes."

"Huge problem?" he asked, looking up from his working on a scale model of a new condo development.

"He has to redesign the Stark house."

"He get fussy?"

"His daughter got shot in the back last week."

"Oh, shit," he said. "Sure, I can help." He went to talk to him. "I'm only working on the scale model for this Friday's meeting." He looked at the plans then at the rules that were printed for him. "That's going to be a lot of fixing. Where are they in the construction?"

"Flooring. So about two-thirds done."

"At least it's not the painting and finishing touches phase." He took the file to look over and make an attempt while his partner met with his next client. He heard the laughing once they were done and went to look in at him. "That good?"

"They want me to design a home to showcase a painting." He showed him the picture.

It was a Picasso-esque painting. "The shell house?"

"Too modern. They wanted it slightly classical."

"The shell house with more angles?"

"That might work," he agreed. "Or the UFO house with less glass."

That got a nod. "You're going to have to change the layout. Can you get the plans for the reno's he's going to have to do to the tower?"

"I can and did through his assistant's desk. It wasn't his usual one so she must be off today. They sent some really pretty radical ones. Including a lift kit on the bed." His computer beeped and a new set of plans came in from Stark. "Oh, those were the kids designing her a bedroom remodel if it didn't expand. These are the new ones for the condo there. As done by Callia and Chris, with Liz's input it says." He showed him.

"Those are nice," he admitted. "The kids have a good eye." He pointed. "All the doorways can easily be widened or turned into pocket doors." They settled in to make those more accessible and work on the local Stark house. Doug had went to MIT with Tony Stark and he knew how important these little details were to him.

A minute later a video message came in. Callia smiled and waved. "Hi, architect guys. It's Callia. Dad asked me what sort of wood I wanted so I looked it up. I like the look of birch, it looks clean, and I like hickory, it looks interesting. A majority of lighter birch with some hickory accents would be great. I like more toward modern but I am *not* the glass and steel sort. Classic wood with modern touches. Leaning toward techie but with that touch of class as I'm not a rapper and I don't need bling.

"Glassed in cabinets in my closet please? I have five cats and a dog that drools. He's a boxer." They had to smile at that. "And cat fur gets on *everything*. So glass doors on that part are great. I looked at the Omega Cabinetry site and I found a few that I liked. Not sure why but I liked them. Particularly the adagio inset and the facet styles. Again, not sure *why* exactly but I liked their looks and their lines. Clean yet a bit classical at the same time. Silver over gold please? I hate gold. I look so bad in gold." She shook her head. "Sorry, meds, guys. Keep losing track of my thoughts."

Chris leaned in with a grin. "Sissy sick. I want shiny cabinets like Daddy please. Not like wood. Liz would paint them on me but if we can tablet paint change them now and then that's great." He smiled at his sister then at them. "Painting so easy on tablet with cameras." He waved. "Liz wants art stuff." He disappeared when Callia rolled over to give him a nudge.

"Sorry. Liz does want an art area. She's very much into art with Stepmommy Steve. She does great decorating too. She found me great pictures. I've put them at the end of this so you can see them. They're going in my bedroom but aren't going to be the designing point of it. Simple, clean, won't hurt me or the cats. Since Chris said he sent along his redesign for my room, I do need places way up high for the cats to climb, crawl, and hide on. Please? Not sure about the bed lift thing anymore. Especially since I'll have work space."

She grinned. "Indoor lift to my lab is great. Glass is good for that. My lab? I'll be soldering and welding and all that stuff, just like Dad does. So maybe some tile to make it pretty here and there? Maybe a mosaic somewhere? I appreciate those but I don't absolutely *have* to have one. They're pretty and I might like one in a painting instead. Not totally sure yet," she said then shook her head quickly. "Anyway. Maeve is picky about her colors. She will not tolerate green. She adores blues, reds, purples, thanks to Uncle Clint and Auntie Dawn, and pink. She hates green. Loves trees and plants but hates green. Thanks, and we're not really hugely picky outside of Dad." She waved and the feed cut off.

"That makes some choices easier," he decided, looking those cabinets up. "Not too plain but not too fancy. A good balance of modern and classical. Birch is a smooth wood, what little grain it has can be visually interesting and compete well with hickory's patterns, and hickory is known for bigger grains so that'll easily go together as accents." They shared a look and smiled. He pulled up a few things. They had found some exquisite hickory and black metal furniture locally made and that would go great in her closet. The birch they picked would make a nice contrast and they could easily do the glass cabinet doors on the hanging clothes.

They also made it so all the closets had a lowering feature to pull down the racks to a convenient kid or wheelchair height. Those were easily installed and commercially available. That let them expand Pepper's up another level to give her more room to put shoes above certain outfits. That 'tablet painting with cameras' thing they'd have to ask about to see if they needed a specific finish. It turned out they already had that on Liz's cabinets. It was a special laminate that got overlaid with a virtual color due to a camera. That was a great idea and one they needed to keep in mind for later people.

***

Tony looked at his daughter the next day on the way to her first physical therapy session. "Birch?"

"It's clean but not too clean. It's pretty and subtle. It's not *modern* but it's definitely not really country. It has different types of patterns so it can be swirly or straight or just wavy like water."

He considered it then nodded. "That's a really good thing, yeah." He smiled. "They gave everyone closet lift systems. That brings the rack down to you so you don't have to reach. Including Pepper's shoe shelves." She laughed and patted him on the hand. "Mosaic?"

"I think they're pretty. It's kinda like abstract art but not."

"It is," he agreed. "It's classical abstract art really." He shrugged. "It's very pretty. They're doing one on a wall in your lab." She smiled. "We'll talk about yours in the condo."

"The same stuff?"

"Maybe," he agreed. "The local contractor talked to that one and the architects. He was very happy with what they had. Said it was easily doable. They only had to change things like door widths and hallway widths for you, plus the lift to all the labs. Chris is getting one too."

"He'll adore that, especially if it gives off fog now and then."

"That's what he said." He hugged her. "Remember, they're going to start you off tiny and move you up."

"I'm glad I'm in great shape. It'll make it easier. And I'm used to working out." He nodded, cuddling her. "I'll be okay, Dad."

"I know you will." They got there and he got out, pulling out her wheelchair. She transferred into it. She had practiced getting into and out of the car most of the morning so she made it look classy instead of just flopping over. He let her handle it herself because she had told him to. He liked how independent she was most of the time but he wanted to hover and help. They went in together, him hitting the button for the door for her. Doorways still took some calculating for her.

She rolled in and smiled. "Callia Stark," she told the receptionist.

"I have you here, Miss Stark, and all your paperwork filled out from your doctors." She let Tony sign the day's paperwork. The physical therapist came out to get her a few minutes later.

"Hi, Benji, hi, Ethan," she called with a wave.

"Morning, Callia. Looking nice," Benji said with a grin.

"I hope so. I fussed for an hour with my outfit." He grinned. Ethan smiled too. She rolled into the room, putting on the brakes and transferring with some help to the exam table. "The back brace is a precaution," she said when he looked at it.

"Your doctor asked my opinion on that and I thought it might help for a bit."

"It kinda makes my sitting feel awkward and hurts my back," Callia admitted. "But I can put up with it." He smiled and moved her feet. She showed she could wiggle her toes. She knew she did that a lot but she needed to make sure she could wiggle them. If she could wiggle her toes, she could convince her legs to work again. "We have a yoga room at the tower and a pool if we need those sort of things and you don't have them here," she said, staring at him. He nodded. "I was in gymnastics since I was about five and self defense about as long. I took Bollywood dancing for a few years too."

"So you're not scared of hard work." He looked at her. "For now we're going to work on keeping your muscle tone while you finish healing and then we'll work on making your back remember how to work your legs."

She nodded. "I can understand that. I was told it'd probably be at least another few weeks before all the swelling was permanently gone."

"It is," he agreed. "Your neurologist and I have talked a few times." She nodded at that. "We can give you some things to practice at home and we can see you every other day here to work on new things."

"I can do that. I can do homework during some of them from what Benji said. He's friends with Auntie Dawn and Uncle Clint works with them."

"I've heard." He smiled. "It's normal to be nervous."

She shrugged. "I'll get back there even if I have to magic my legs into working."

He smiled. "That's a great attitude." He took her out to show her the basic exercises to keep her legs moving: leg lifts, squeezing the pillow between her thighs, using the stretchy band to exercise her leg muscles. She easily caught on to those and asked about arm ones to make sure she was easily moving. He showed her the best ones to help her with the muscles she'd need to use her chair faster and better. By then she was a bit tired and they sent her home with the stretchy band and instruction sheets. She could handle that.

"Pool?" Tony asked the physical therapist.

"You can swim using just your arms. If that's going to make her more comfortable, go for it. I might think about helping her find a way into the pool now and then. She can't really dive."

"I can move enough to transfer onto the diving board and wiggle out to dive in," Callia said with a smile. "It's deep enough and I took swimming classes for years."

"You'll want someone to watch you because you're going to get tired easily and the pain medicine you're presently on can make you scatterbrained or tired," the PT told her.

She nodded. "I've noticed that. Do you get used to that side effect?"

"Not usually but you won't be on it forever."

"That's good. I'd hate to forget why I was working on something in the lab. I'll need to start making notes." She looked at her father, who nodded he could help her with that. She smiled. "If we get displaced for a bit by the construction stuff, is there a counterpart already picked on the west coast?"

"We've been looking and we'll have a recommendation for you in a few weeks." She nodded at that, shaking his hand and waving at her aunt's friends. They went home with a stop for a milkshake on the way.

Callia looked at her father once they were both in the pool. It had taken her twenty minutes to get into a swim suit but she was going to expect those challenges. Maybe now she could get a bikini. "He's way too easy on me."

Tony looked at her. "If you're not making good progress in a few months we'll find someone who'll work you harder. For right now, until you're fully unswollen and healed, you need gentle."

"True, I do." She did a few laps then leaned on the side of the pool again. "I need a bathing suit that doesn't ride up." He held her up while she adjusted it again. She huffed. "That's it, I'm going to a bikini. Sorry, Dad, but they have side ties and stuff. It'll be easier on me and mean less wedgies."

"No, I get that. Not on a public beach," he said with a smirk. "But around the house that's fine." He looked toward the house. "JARVIS, can you tell Pepper that? And figure out what size my daughter actually is now that she's no longer hiding her body?"

"Oops," she said, taking that off. Tony blinked at her and she went bright red. "Why do you think I hide them, Dad," she complained and swam off to the other side of the pool.

"Okay, so my daughter's hot. You're never to hide who you truly are, Callia. It makes people think you're weak."

She nodded, removing that spell fully. He smiled. She grinned back. "Not bad for almost eleven."

"No, you're going to be a beautiful young woman. Easily the match for your aunt and better than your mom. Must be my genes."

She splashed him. "Well, I am your clone." He laughed and hugged her. Liz and Chris came squealing out and jumped into the pool, paddling away. "Guys, be careful," she reminded them.

"Need shark lifeguards," Chris said.

"Sharks don't lifeguard, dolphins do," Liz huffed. "Sharks eat you."

"Oh. Well..." He grinned and splashed her. "Too many girls anyway."

She shrieked and dunked him, trying to beat him. Tony pulled her off him. "Daddy!"

"Chris, apologize," Tony ordered.

"Sorry you're a girl," he said with a smirk. Tony swatted him. "Fine, girls who are sisters are okay." He stared at Callia. "You're not a girl."

"I am so a girl. I'm only eleven. I won't be a woman until I'm sixteen."

He frowned. "Why?"

"That's the way girls work," she said dryly.

"Oh. Boys?"

"You won't be a guy until you're twenty-one. Boys grow up slower."

He snorted. "So? Means more playing." He grinned.

She smirked back. "That means I get to drive sooner than you will." He pouted. She chuckled. "So maybe you should be a girl, Chris."

"Liz got me 'nother pretty dress."

Tony looked over at him. "You don't need a dress and wearing one doesn't turn you into a girl. It makes you a transvestite."

"Oh. Even pretty lace?"

"Still makes you a transvestite," Tony said patiently.

"Huh. What makes a girl?"

"Innie girl parts instead of outie boy parts," Callia said. "According to Uncle Clint."

Chris looked down at his. "Huh." Tony swatted him again so he let his waistband on his shorts go. "Sorry."

"Thank you." Chris swam off to hug his big sister then do some laps. When Pepper came out he smiled and waved.

"Hi, guys." She smiled at them. "You're swimming very well today, Chris." He beamed and did some more. So did Liz. "Wow, a new stroke, Liz. Great job." She looked at Callia, blinking because she had been hiding a good bit. "What happened with the bathing suit?"

"The same thing that happened with panties."

"Oh. Okay, so what about the long ones?"

"They're kinda hard to get on when you can stand up to wiggle into them and mine don't fit."

"They can be." She considered it. "I'll look later but we have got to get you measured and we need to do some girl shopping, dear." She whimpered, looking grossed out. "I know but better now than later."

"I'm hoping they stay this size."

"They're going to stay relative to your body frame. Relatively anyway. Your aunt's a bit top heavy since having the kids."

"What?" Liz asked. "Me?"

"Hers," Pepper said with a grin for her. "Some day we'll have this talk too, Liz."

"Boobies?" Chris asked. "She has some." His father swatted him again. "She does! Boys will drool! Boys like boobies!"

"Breasts," Callia ordered. "They're breasts. They're only boobies when I'm talking about my own."

"Fine," he muttered. "Girl things."

"Who taught you that word?" Pepper asked.

"Uncle Bucky, just like he taught Philip to call them boobs so Dawn smacked him on the arm," Tony said. "Right before...."

Pepper sighed but nodded. "That figures." She stood up. "We'll go shopping this afternoon?"

"I might nap, Mom. I'm kinda exhausted."

She smiled. "I have nothing to do tomorrow morning until about noon."

"You may wish to update your schedule," JARVIS said. "As you have an appointment at eleven with Gloria, Pepper."

"I did not know that." She called her. "Gloria, I had no idea we had a meeting scheduled." She heard why. "Okay, that's fine. No, Dawn's not retiring. She's on medical leave for the unrelenting dizziness." She listened. "Please do. Thanks." She hung up. "Saudi Arabia stopped the payment to her lawyer." Tony rolled his eyes. "Gloria told her and she's sent it another way instead and they hated that too. She's letting him fight them about it. That family is saying she never paid them the judgement so they can appeal it. Her lawyer shot them down and the judge ordered someone to let the payment through."

"Great," Tony said. "I'm not doing business with them outside of humanitarian reasons."

"Okay," she said with a smile. She went to make note of that and update her schedule. She called Clint. "Can you please hit the button that says 'update' on her tablet, Clint? In the calendar. That options button then the blue button, or it should be." She listened. "Okay, red then." He did and she reloaded her calendar. "Get into my schedule and Tony's?" He did that for her and updated it too. She reloaded hers. "Thanks. I had no idea I had a meeting ten minutes ago." She hung up and went looking. They were waiting impatiently. "Sorry. We're a bit scattered right now since Dawn's on medical leave and my temporary assistant doesn't have access to the full calendar."

He smiled and shook her hand. "I saw that on the news. Dawn's coming back? She was always charming, even when she had just bumped her knee on her drawer and was swearing at drawer pulls."

Pepper laughed. "We think in about a month." She let him into her office then came out to update the calendar out there. She had to get Clint to reload from Dawn's tablet but Dawn did that for him and locked out her old system. Pepper smiled and sat down. "Things are a mess today with all this going on."

"I understand. Sometimes, family has to come first. Even for CEO's. I'd still be with her."

"Tony's with her." She smiled. "We take shifts. It's a great thing about having three parents." He grinned. "Coffee?"

"No, it's okay." He handed over the contract. She read it over, frowning at one part. "Your people put that in."

"I have no idea why." She called Gloria, getting her up to look at that. She rewrote it on the fly and he liked that. His board signed it. Pepper signed it. It was a done deal and a good distribution deal for Stark International. Once he was gone she looked at Gloria. "Who?"

She pointed out there. "You have my assistant's assistant."

"Oh, okay." She smiled. "We'll work on that."

"Dawn may be able to come back sooner," she said quietly.

"Dawn gets nauseous in the elevator. She's still unable to nod."

"Maybe like after she got sent that virus then."

"Maybe next week." She sighed. "I have to take Callia bra shopping."

"It's a special girl time," Gloria said with a grin. "I missed that with my son."

"Want to borrow a daughter?"

"Maybe one of Dawn's. They'll be the picky sort I was." She smiled and left. "Linda, let Phillippa know if you need any help. She's used to the systems that Dawn uses. She helped train her in them."

"I can do that, Gloria." Gloria smiled and left to go back to her office. She sighed and got back to the typing duties.

Pepper came out sipping some coffee. "Linda, Dawn also does a weekly search for stories on Avengers members for the archives. News and serious pieces, nothing like 'went out for coffee' fluff sightings." She nodded, making a note of that. "See if you can find any rumors on the next movie about the team. I know one's coming out next summer so something should be out. We keep track because they had classified files at one point in time." She nodded, making note of that. "Also, there's six contracts I need by tomorrow and they should already be on Dawn's system if I know her." She handed over a list.

She did a records search and shook her head. "They're locked under Dawn's log in, Pepper. I can't get into them."

Pepper took the keyboard to log in and do that for her. They all printed and she logged out, letting Linda log back in under her ID. That was a Stark policy due to past tampering in someone else's files. "If the contractor calls, put it up to Stark. He's in the pool but JARVIS will broadcast it for him." She nodded once, making a note of that and looking up the number to add to the note. "All the kids are upstairs in the pool with them. If Steve calls, everyone's okay. Callia came home tired but said the guy was easy on her, and she's going to nap on the couch after her swim probably." She went back to her desk to go over those contracts. Dawn had completed all but one. That one was in the proofreading stage. Maybe Linda would make a good assistant for Dawn.

***

Pepper smiled as she walked Callia into the lingerie shop. Callia grimaced but looked around, heading for a bra she liked the looks of. The saleswoman smiled at Pepper. "It's time for Callia's first bra. She's going to need something for a fancier time in a few months but right now she needs front hook sports bra styles. They're easier for her right now."

"Okay," she agreed with a perky smile. "Let's get you measured, young lady."

Callia looked at her. "I measured myself. It looks like I'm a 34B. Which is kind of freak-worthy since I'm nearly eleven." She pointed at the pull-over style. "That one, Mom?"

"The front hook will probably be easier for you for right now. When you've moved to a lesser restraining device maybe."

Callia nodded. "That might help. How do you hook one in the back by yourself?"

"The official method?" She pulled down one in her size to show her how you put it on and leaned over to put yourself into the cups then reached behind yourself. She took it off. "Most women?" She put it on backwards, hooked it, then spun it around and stuck her arms in then fluffed herself in the cups. She took it off and smiled. "That's comfier than my present one."

"One of the nursing bra clips came undone," Callia said with a point. Pepper looked and hooked it back up. She sighed, looking at them. "I'm not ready for this yet."

"If I had known you were this ready for it, it would've been last month," Pepper said with a grin.

"Mentally, I'd rather not."

"Yup, but you're bouncy."

"Good point. And they hurt." She let the saleswoman hand her one. She looked at it then at her. "That's kinda...do I need underwire, lace, and push up pads?"

"Many girls like those. They make them look better built."

Callia shook her head. "I'm under a car three days a week and going to be in physical therapy four times a week for the next year." She carefully handed it back. "I hide the titties of doom I'm building up to. Boys are still gross and all that too. Comfortable, please?" She sighed but found one. "Underwire?" She looked at Pepper.

"I think you can do without underwire but depending on your dress for that gala you might have to or go strapleess."

Callia let out a tiny whine. She went into the changing room with the lady. "Damn it!"

Pepper winced. "Cup too small?"

The saleswoman came out smiling. "She's a generous B cup. That brand is cut a bit small. It gave her cleavage."

Pepper went to look. "You have underarm boobs." She went to look, bringing in one. "Try that, ignore the size." She did that. It was too loose in the band but the right cup size. So she went up another cup size in her band size. 34C and almost eleven. Callia was going to have to protest guys staring at her chest for the rest of her life. She and Pepper picked out a few styles she liked and would wear. They got those and some new boxer briefs. The saleswoman was confused why.

Callia looked at her. "In the chair, panties ride up your butt. I don't like wedgies like that." The woman blushed but giggled. She and Pepper went to the car. "Happy, I have *bras*," she complained to him as she transferred herself into the limo.

"That's the price of growing up pretty, Callia."

"Yeah but it sucks." He laughed, putting the wheelchair and bags in the trunk. Pepper buckled them both in with a smile and a kiss on Callia's pouty head. She took them to the leotard store that she liked most. Callia rolled inside, staring at the woman, who smiled. "Regular leotards are hard to put on."

"Some of the adult ones have snaps," she said. "Not too many in the sports styles though, Miss Stark."

"Do you sell those?"

"Not many but some lingerie stores do." Callia shook her head quickly. "I'm sure you can find some that aren't lingerie."

"I spotted a few that were lace but if she tried to wear those I'd complain and her father would die of horror," Pepper said, smiling. "We need them to be easier for her to get into. Looser as well since she outgrew the last set and just got new bras."

"We'll take new measurements. That bra will make a difference in the sizing." She took Callia to a changing room to do that. She looked up the size chart. "It looks like we'll have to go up a size larger than you should be to fit your chest properly." She got her what she needed and let her try that one on. She had to struggle into it. "I can see why you'd want snap crotches. You can have a tailor put them in."

"I might," Callia agreed. She finally got that one on. "It's baggy." She looked down at her chest. "And showy."

"With the way the sizes run, the proper waist and hip size for your height would never fit over your chest. Even at an A cup."

Pepper stared. "We'll take that one to show Dawn's tailor. Maybe he can figure it out." Callia smiled weakly. "It happens. In a year or so your torso will catch up with your breasts and it'll be easier. Every girl has at least one awkward year. Usually that's when you're about thirteen or fourteen, but you're early." She smiled at her. "It'll happen." Callia sighed but nodded. She got redressed and they went to see the tailor first. He could easily fix that snap problem but not tailor the leotards to her size. He could have someone create new ones, which Callia cheered up about.

They talked about colors and fabrics. They could be in regular stretchy cotton and she'd like that. She could even have a few fancier ones for cold days or going out to the movies. They talked about pants too and he had some ideas. Including capris that were technically pajamas but were soft, thin cotton. They had drawstring waists and that was easier. She took Pepper to find those and some new shorts. That was good for her, even if she would have to shave a lot more often or have hairy legs someone would complain about. The last stop was for the formal gown.

Callia rolled into a store she liked. "Hi. I have a scientific gala I'm being honored at for being a kid genius in two months time. I had a dress but it was in a closet that kinda had something explode in it in the most messy way possible."

The salesman smiled. "Okay. What's your budget?"

She looked at Pepper. "You have sixteen hundred left in your budget, still need shoes and accessories for this dress."

Callia looked at him. "Under five hundred if possible, eight definitely. Something simple, not too twinkly. I don't want to blind anyone when I'm accepting my award. Something that can be tailored to fit me better since I'll still be in this chair."

"We have a few things." He took her to see them. "I'm not sure how you'd try them on."

"We know what size she was since we've been clothes shopping for her all morning," Pepper said with a smile. "She's actually okay with pulling stuff on, it's the bottom half that bothers her."

"I can understand that." He held up another one. "Red?"

"Not associated with Iron Man colors please," Callia said. The man smiled and nodded. "Mommy Pepper, what about a dark green?" She pointed at one.

She looked then at her daughter. "I think that's the wrong shade."

"That's a two thousand dollar dress," the salesman said with a smile.

"I'd have to break into my savings but I have like six and a half million in that account," Callia said with a shrug. "If that's the dress for my first scientific award, okay." His eyes lit up and he showed her something that would make her look very svelte. Callia stared at it. "I'm nearly eleven." He winced. "I'm still really conscious about my boobs. When I'm sixteen offer that to me. Maybe for my first Nobel." She smiled. "I should have one of those by the time I'm twenty-five." Pepper patted her on the head with an eye roll. "Less booby but figure hugging is okay. I can do that part." He showed her a deep red one. "Not red. I want to be Callia, not Callia Stark, for that night. Silver maybe since his suit's gold, but not red."

He found something in a deep, medium royal blue and brought it out. "Velvet, even though events tend to be a bit warm it's a halter top. Which will show off your figure so you look mature but not too mature. The A-line skirt should hide any problems you have with your knees not being comfortable together. Easy to match for shoe color."

"I have a black pair that might go." She took it to try on. "Mom?" She came in to help her. She looked at herself, leaning on Pepper's arm so she could stand for a moment. "I like it standing." She sat down and looked. "Will tailoring help that bunching up?"

"Maybe." She let the salesman see.

He stared at her stomach. "That probably can't be helped that much. A tighter one will bunch up differently but create rolls." He went to find something else while she took that one off. In the same shade of blue, only a touch darker really, with silver tracings. It was a corset dress with an A-line skirt. The corset was in silk and heavily boned so it wouldn't bunch up on her. The skirt flowed beautifully. It was a bit long. It was strapless. Callia stared at it. "Try." He showed her how it hitched up the back and she nodded, letting Pepper help her into it. Pepper let out a soft moan. He peeked in. "That is beautiful on you, young lady." She sat down and it looked good sitting down too. She rolled out in it. "You can have the skirt shortened so it won't interfere with the chair." He watched her and nodded. "You can find a shrug, or a shawl."

"I have a silver shawl that will look darling with that," Pepper said with a smile.

Callia nodded. "This is it." He nodded, taking the tag to ring her up while Pepper helped her out of it. She blinked at the price. "Wow, expensive, but okay." Pepper handed her the debit card for her account, letting her run it and type in her number. The salesman smiled and let her sign the slip. "Thank you." She let Pepper carry the bag. "We need to hit the tailor."

"We can do that after we find shoes," Pepper said.

"Well it won't matter if I'm wearing heels," she said dryly. "So comfy but pretty."

Happy smiled. "Usual shoe place?"

"Please." He put the dress carefully in the trunk and drove them there. Callia got out and rolled in. "I have a dark medium shade of blue, not royal but a less intense blue, silk ballgown I need shoes for. It's for a scientific gala."

The saleswoman smiled. "The usual style, Miss Stark?"

"Sure. It won't matter if I'm a bit showy this time." She giggled and showed her what she needed to see. "That'll work. It's a bit darker but that's fine, right?"

"Usually, yes."

"Cool." She paid for them and winked, heading out. Happy put the into the trunk and she got back in. Pepper had been handling business stuff. "I haven't seen a single photog all morning."

"Me either but it's really nice," Pepper agreed once she hung up. They went back to the tailor, who admired the dress and shoes. He helped her fit it perfectly. It only needed a few tweaks and some hemming. And a dart in the back of the skirt to make it lay better in the chair and not overflow onto the wheels. They paid him and signed the contract for it then got pizza on the way back to the tower. Happy helped by carrying bags. Pepper smiled at the guys waiting. "We're done and we found a great dress for the gala."

Tony smiled. "Are you going to wow them, princess?"

"I sure am." She smirked. "I look hot." Tony gave her a worried look. "I'll have a shawl."

"Okay," he said. "If that's what you want."

Pepper kissed him. "The one that looked best was a corset dress."

"Oh!" He nodded. "Shawl's a great idea." He ignored the bag from the lingerie store. "Want to hit the pool? Do some of your exercises?"

"We got pizza. After lunch?"

"I can do that too," he said happily.

Bruce smiled at her. "How you doing?"

"I'm okay. Auntie Dawn's tailor had some really good ideas on how to make simple cotton leotards out of t-shirt materials that I can get into and out of easily. He had ideas on shorts." Pepper smiled. "I got my first bikini because they're going to be easier to get into so I can swim." He nodded. "Apparently I'm in a sizing hell where my boobs are too big for my frame so everything's either tight or baggy." She sighed. "Mom said every woman has this year."

He nodded. "I'm guessing you do. Guys have an awkward year too. It's full of pimples, rashes, huge feet that never quit growing and trip you up all the time."

She nodded. "I had that last year." He smiled at her. Pepper came out with plates for them. "Thanks, Mom." She dug in while they talked about the gala and what she was working on. She had ideas that made Bruce moan in that happy scientist way. Her dad too. It was great. After lunch she changed into a bikini, looking at herself. She had to adjust the top a lot. Pepper came in to help her. She blinked when she was done. "So that's what the padding's for."

Pepper smiled. "It is, yup." Callia got back into her chair and went out there. Bruce and Tony both choked. "It's easier for her to get into," she said patiently. "Leave her alone about it."

"I remember when she was tiny and climbed up me," Bruce sighed. "You're growing up too fast."

Callia smiled. "We do that I'm told." She got onto the diving board and wiggled over so she could flop into the water. They were still in the pool, with Pepper back at her desk, when Steve finally came in with Grandma. "Hi, Grandma."

"Sweetheart. You look adorable in that."

"No she doesn't!" Steve complained, glaring at her. "You are not eighteen."

"No but I can get it on," she said dryly. "And it's not horribly baggy enough to fall off because my breasts are bigger than my hips." He blushed and shook his head. She nodded. "Face it, Stepmom, I've got boobs. We have the lingerie bag to prove it," she said dryly, cracking up her grandmother. "Beyond that, it's easier for me to get into this. I can tie the sides and not have to struggle with it." He sighed but nodded. "I do have a few more modest tops but none match these bottoms. And really, they make me look more stacked."

Tony moaned. "I don't need to hear that." He rubbed his forehead. "Somewhere there's a guy just like I was at sixteen who's drooling."

"He's not sixteen yet, he's only four," she said dryly. "And he just stared at me like girls are aliens." She looked at her grandmother, shaking her head. "It's comfy and it fits."

"That is the great thing about sting bikinis. They fit a variety of shapes without getting in the way. At least it's not a thong."

"Eww. I can't imagine that thongs ever come out clean. Even if you're really a cleaner about that stuff there's still got to be residue or something."

Joyce smiled at her. "Not if you're good at it." She winked and settled beside the pool. "Tired?"

"Slightly but I like being in the water. I need a huge water tank in my work space so I can float and work."

"There's no computer or tablet that waterproof," Tony said dryly. "Not even I'm that good, daughter."

"We need to be. Think of all the help it'd be to underwater archeologist and those people, Dad." She grinned.

"We'll think about it." She smirked and did another few laps before resting again. Steve was muttering something and shaking his head. "Steve, Pepper's in the office with the other kids."

"I'll go see if she's done and what I'm ordering for dinner."

"I have ribs all done but the grilling and sauce," Tony said with a smile. He smiled back and went to complain to Pepper.

Chris came in with Liz. "Stepmom's having a meltdown about boobs," Liz told her father.

"Sometimes parents do that," he said. "I did." Chris looked at his sister, mouth slightly open.

"If that's drool, I'm paddling you," Callia assured him without having to look.

"You can't catch me," he said happily.

Callia looked over. "I can summon." He pouted but quit drooling. "Thanks. I'm your sister and that's icky."

"Yup, is. Sean say so too." He went to put on his suit and jump in. He looked at his grandmother. "Come swim, Grandma."

"I don't have a suit, dear."

"You can probably borrow one of Mom's," Callia said.

She blushed. "I'd never fit into Pepper's clothes, Callia. She has curves where I don't."

Bruce looked at her. "Yes you do."

Pepper came up with a bag, handing it to Joyce. "We knew she was going to talk you into it. It's a swim skirt tankini." She went to put on her own bathing suit. She came out and Chris whimpered, staring at her. She smiled. "I'm your mother."

"You're Pepper and I'm a Stark," he whined. Tony glared at him and pointed at the corner. "She's pretty!" he complained but he went to stand in it.

"We should invite your aunt but she might get sick," Tony quipped.

"She's not made dinner yet, sir," JARVIS said. "They're debating what to order."

Pepper smiled at Tony, who shrugged. Steve looked over. "No more bikinis?"

"I don't think Auntie Dawn owns a one-piece." Callia looked at her grandmother, whistling. "I didn't know they made bathing suits with skirts."

"They're for old ladies, dear." She climbed in carefully. The kids all swam over to hug her then went back to pestering their father.

"Sure. They can come over," Tony decided. "I can make more food."

"Dawn said she'll stop by the deli on the way and pick up stuff."

"That'll work," Tony agreed. Twenty minutes later, Dawn, Clint, Natasha, and the kids were there. "That stroller works really well." The girls got put into the playpen with Maeve, who squealed. Lexi squealed back and patted her. Mira grumbled but she had been napping.

Philip took a running leap into the pool and swam over to Callia to hug her. "You okay again." He cuddled.

She hugged him back. "Partially. I'm still rolling around but I'll be okay, Philip." He grinned at her. "Go flirt with Mommy Pepper. She needs it. Dad's falling down on the flirting." Philip let out an evil chuckle and swam over to flirt with Pepper.

"Hey! Pepper is a Stark's!" Chris complained, swimming over to flirt with his own mother.

Dawn undid the shirt and shorts she was wearing, putting them onto a chair before carefully and slowly climbing into the pool. Then she sat on the side instead. The water motion was making her ill. "Okay," she decided.

"I'm in the shallow end, almost no motion, Dawn," Pepper said. She walked over to where she was and sat with her on the stairs. "See?"

"Better," she agreed, grinning back. "Who's temping?"

"Linda from legal."

Dawn winced. "Okay, I can help her when she needs me to." Tony looked over. "She's...opinionated. She's the one that was going off on plural marriages looking bad on the company if it's who I'm thinking about."

"That's Gloria's other sub-assistant," JARVIS said. "Linda's the quiet one that only blogs about it."

"Oh, her. Okay." She smiled and pulled Philip over. "You're too young to be a Stark genius yet. You have a few years before you're old enough to join Stark as a genius so you can flirt with Aunt Pepper." He grinned and swam back to flirt with Callia, who grinned and cuddled him for it. "Hey, niece."

"Hey, Auntie. I have bras, unfortunately."

Dawn smiled. "That's a major stepping stone on the way to full womanhood."

She nodded. "And it sucks."

"It does," Dawn agreed. "Be thankful you don't need the heavy engineering marvel type of bra."

"Oh, I am. Dad, the clothing people need to finish their bra designs. I need comfy ones."

"Talk to them."

"I can do that tomorrow." Chris swam over to pounce Philip but Callia pulled him off. "If you drown him we're going to have to sacrifice you to bring him back. Do you want to be a ghost like Grandpa?"

"No," he pouted. "Sorry, Philip." He got hugged back so it was okay. They swam off together to harass Liz instead.

Tony looked over. "Liz." She swam over, letting the daddy protect her. "Boys, why don't you play near the playpen?" They pouted but got out to play over there with a puzzle from Chris's room. He didn't look at Natasha in her black athletic sports bikini. Or Dawn in her leopard print sports bikini. He looked at Clint instead. "How goes the medical leave?"

"It's okay. She's getting better. I'm catching up on my sleep." He yawned. "Nat had to do the weekly shopping."

She stared at him. "Why are we paying twenty-five dollars a week for diapers?"

"Because the girls pee that much," Clint said. "The cheaper ones you bought give them a rash."

"We could use cloth ones and save all that."

Dawn looked over. "Unless you're going to suddenly wash them each and every single day, clean up all the peeing messes when they leak through, and scrape them off into the toilet when they poop, we'll spend more than that on a diaper service. I checked."

"We pay nineteen dollars for one can of formula, for two types."

"Yeah, because your daughter has a touchy gut," Dawn said dryly. "And you didn't let me nurse her. Lexi never latched on or we wouldn't be buying any formula." She stared at her.

"Their clothing bills are outrageous. We spend much too much on them."

Dawn quirked up an eyebrow. "Says the lady who paid two hundred bucks for a dress I found for fifty," she said dryly. "Why are you panicking over money? Did you retire and not tell us?"

"It is expensive. We are not saving much."

Dawn snorted. "Excuse you? I save a third of my paycheck and Clint saves half his. If you're not, that's your doing, Nat." She smiled sweetly and pointed at her phone. "C'mere, dear. Philip, give me my phone please." He handed it to her and ran back to his puzzle. "Thank you. Natasha." She huffed but came over. Dawn pulled up her accounts. "This is my drawing account for bills, dinners, that stuff. This is the girls' expense account, which is automatically loaded onto a prepaid debit card through the bank every month. This is our clothing budget." She let her see them. "Mine are not in hundreds." Natasha was staring in horror at it. Dawn looked at it then at her. "I'm not broke. I haven't been broke."

"The payments from SHIELD?" Tony guessed.

"No, I've never increased my spending outside adding in the budget for the kids since my first one." She looked at her wife after logging out and turning her phone off. Anyone who'd usually call her would be here. She stared at her. "Go talk to the family accountant to make yourself a nice budget based on retirement planning."

"I may not make it to retirement."

Dawn gave her a pointed look. "Then I'll destroy everyone." Natasha blushed and ducked her head. Dawn tossed her phone back on her clothes, which meant Philip caught it for her when she missed and nearly hit him. "Thanks, kiddo, sorry. Didn't mean to throw it at you."

"You still dizzy, Mommy, so your aim sucks." He was playing with his puzzle.

Dawn smiled at Natasha. "She'll talk to you too. She's even helped Callia."

"Yeah, why didn't I hear about that?" Tony demanded.

"Because that's not my job? That's her job, Tony. Her money, her job, her chore...." She waved a hand and winced as the nausea hit again. "I really need a healing spell."

"It will be over with soon," Natasha said, letting Dawn cuddle her. "I will talk to our accountant later this week. I have been saving but we spend tremendous amounts on the children, especially the girls."

"They grow every few days. Within three months nothing fits."

"We could do more laundry."

"Sure, you do that. You won't let me do the laundry or the housekeeper." Clint laughed. "Or him anymore."

"He turned my shirt pink."

Clint shrugged. "It was Lexi's red bootie that was in Natasha's shirt pocket," he defended. Natasha rolled her eyes and huffed a bit. Dawn shifted so she was leaning against Natasha's chest to buffer some of the water's movement. "Time for meds?"

"I'm thinking it is," she admitted. She got up and hurried off. Clint got her the medicine from her carrying case and handed it to her with some water once she had quit throwing up. She threw up pill but took the other one. She carried a spare for such emergencies. She came out to rest on a lounge chair instead. "Maybe I don't need ear tubes." She had to duck as something appeared and swung at her head. She looked up. "I'm coming up there to vomit on you," she sneered. "And then fuck up your universe." She laid back down, looking at Clint.

"Loki?" Bruce asked quietly.

"No, the idiots with that plan that I had the vision of. They think I'm *charming* and *sweet*." She smirked. "If I felt better I'd prove them wrong."

Roque appeared, picking up the spear that had been thrown at her. "You can't fight them."

"Bullshit. I can destroy their whole portal realm." She looked at him. "Watch me."

"It's in Egypt."

"I have an abaya and an all covering burka. What makes you think they'd figure out I was me?"

Roque considered it. "Good point." He disappeared to talk to Xander. He could calm her down.

"Dawn," Joyce complained. "Be nicer. Kill them with kindness."

She smiled. "Sure. I'll make everyone female and lesbians." Her mother cackled. "That's...."

"Dawn, I don't want a replay of the horror of that warlord, before *I* get sick please," Clint complained to interrupt the nasty thought. Tony stared at him. "During the trip. The reason those rebels know she's going to come back and flatten their country until they're Denmark or something."

"Belgium so they're very liberal, tolerant people," Dawn quipped sarcastically. "Who make great pot brownies."

"What's a pot brownie?" Chris asked her.

"One you bake in a cauldron," she lied.

"Oh. So really thick?" She nodded. "Can you make them?"

"I can." She smiled. "If I'm not dizzy I will for your birthday." Chris beamed at her. "Philip, what do you want for your birthday?"

"My pony back."

She stared at him. "I can't do that. If I could, I would, dear."

"'Nother pony?"

"I can get you a pony ride."

He pouted. "Pony live us?"

"No, a pony can't live with us. We don't have a stable." He sulked. "Sorry. We can go ride ponies. Maybe in the park?"

He hopped up to stare at her. "We camp with ponies?" His eyes were wide. "Ride and camp and cook?"

"If I can find one and have that weekend off. Your birthday's on a Wednesday so it'll have to be over a weekend. We can't camp on a work day. Make sure Daddy and Mommy Natasha can come." He ran over to babble at them, slipping and falling in the pool while begging Natasha but she helped him up and he never quit babbling about camping with ponies.

Clint looked at her, smirking some. "I love camping."

"You do it very well. You taught me how to camp," Dawn said with a smile.

"Camping with ponies might be different."

"Okay, warlord, back to the story?" Tony prompted.

"The rebels thought she was spewing empty threats," Clint said, looking at Tony again, smirking slightly behind his sunglasses. "Apparently one of the huge warlords were behind them. We were a day out of rescuing her. We get there in time to find the warlord now a teenage girl."

"Nineteen," Dawn quipped with a grin. "One of the women there wished that he knew what they lived like under his rule." She shook her head slightly with a smirk at Steve, who had just shuddered. "His guys saw him change and suddenly he had no status. He had no ability to order or lead. They stoned him for witchcraft, because they all suddenly wanted him because he was an unattached woman in a rebel camp."

"We got there in time to see the men stoning him and ripping him apart for making them want him," Clint said.

"I pointed out to the assholes that them not being able to control themselves was their fault. They were acting like hollywood heiresses who blame everything on someone else. Real men have self control." She grinned. "I made sure they knew if they ever came near me again, or any woman in the wrong way and I heard, I'd be back and they'd suddenly be the lesbian country of Afghanistan."

Bruce shuddered. "Oh, that's a bad thought."

"Can you?" Tony asked with a happy smile. "I'd adore seeing that, Dawn."

"No, she is not allowed," Coulson's voice ordered from thin air. "At. All." No more voice.

Dawn looked up. "Have they touched another woman?" she quipped.

"No comment."

"Aww. I left the spell ready to trip. All I have to do is break something that's in North Dakota. Any of those rebels that are left are going to have a problem."

"Dawn, too evil," Pepper complained.

"Not like I can work out the evil urges, Pepper. That makes me dizzy too."

"I'm not pushy," Clint said, staring back at her. "I'm a patient man and you're worth waiting for." She moaned and got up, holding her head all the way to kiss him. He pulled her back into the water. She was still looking nauseous. "Lean on me, Dawn," he said in her ear. She anchored herself around his side and it helped. "That's my princess." He soothed her and she ended up napping on him. "Now if only Mira and Lexi had inherited that skill. They never sleep."

Natasha looked at him. "Who played with them until five this morning?" Clint pointed at Philip. "I thought that was you."

"I joined in to save us all from the squealing monsters."

"We were looking at catalogs. They like clothes," Philip said dryly. "There are like mommy."

"Yes, they are very fashionable," Natasha agreed.

Philip stared at her. "You boughts the expensive clothes, not Mommy. She's cheap but pretty." He smiled. "Need to shop like Mommy." He went back to his puzzle. "We shop."

Chris looked at him and nodded. "Need to. Daddy say lace no make girlish."

"No, it makes you a transvestite," Tony agreed, making Pepper moan and shake her head.

"We be pretty 'vites?" Philip asked with a grin for his dad.

"You sure are," Bruce said with a smile. The boys both grinned at him and finished their puzzle, bringing it over to show Tony, Bruce, Grandma, and Callia. "Very good, guys." They put it back and ran back into the pool to swim some more.

Lexi fussed and rocked the playpen. "Mamamamamamama!"

Clint looked back. "You talked! That's great," he said with a smile. Joyce took Dawn from him so he could get out and hug her. "That's so good. You can babble like Mommy all you want." She smiled and babbled at him. "That's great." He looked at Mira. "Can you babble like Mommy?" She scowled at him. "Okay, you're like your Mommy." He hugged her too, making her babble baby noise. "Want to come swim with us?"

"Swimming diapers?" Tony suggested.

Clint nodded. "Yup." He changed her and Maeve, handing her down to Joyce, who cooed at her. Dawn blinked at the baby, taking her to cuddle with a coo. He climbed back in with the other girls. "Tell Mommy that, Lexi."

"Mamamama?" she asked.

"Awwww." She handed off Maeve to cuddle her girl. "That's so great. You talked!" she cooed. Lexi grinned back at her and babbled at Mommy.

Mira looked up at Daddy. She babbled baby noise. Mommy took her to cuddle and talk to her too. She smiled at her.

Joyce looked at Maeve. "Can you talk, pumpkin?" Maeve babbled baby noise at her, staring at her. "That's great, Maeve. You're very smart." She beamed at Grandma and patted her on the cheek, then blew kisses at her parents, who all smiled and blew them back.

Steve swam over to grab his daughter. "That's very advanced, Maeve." He swam back to his spot. She liked the water, kicking and flailing with a lot of squealing in happiness. Just like she did in her bath. She finally looked up at him. "No, it's not a bath. No bubbles." She went back to flailing.

Dawn looked at the girls. "Want to take a nap?" They giggled and Mira started to slip. "Mom, grab Mira." Joyce grabbed both girls, who squealed at her. "Is she lotioned?"

"I think so," Joyce admitted.

Clint took them back to the playpen. Philip and Chris got out to babble at them. That helped them all. The girls liked them to talk to. Chris ran to get a fashion magazine and brought it back to show the girls. They read it to them. Maeve got put back by her daddy. They all adored Harper's Bazaar apparently.

"I have the big fall issue of W on the coffee table," Pepper said. Philip ran in to get it. He came back out and once that first magazine was done, they went over that one. The girls fell asleep. Apparently they hated some of the fall shows.

Dawn sat beside Pepper again. There was less movement up there. Less movement made her less nauseous. She really hated being nauseous.

***

Dawn woke up at her usual time for work on Monday. Partially because Clint was mentally swearing while answering his phone. She blinked at him. "I'm going back to work today." She took a kiss. "Be a good boy and be careful before I destroy all of humanity then vomit on it."

He hung up on Hill. "They can't go to daycare, the girls have a fever."

"We can do a playpen beside my desk. Pepper won't mind. We've had to do it a few times and I'm not moving from my desk chair."

He stared at her. "I can stay on medical leave."

She kissed him with a grin. "Want me to break something for you?"

He smirked. "That probably wouldn't stop her."

She picked up his bow hand. "You sure?"

"We'd have an emergency. You know we would."

She shrugged and pounced him to kiss him. "What sort of bad mission?"

"Bad feeling about it." Natasha came out of the bathroom. "Do you have a good feeling about the mission they called about?"

"No, I do not."

He pulled her down and kissed her. "Dawn offered to break something."

"Then we'd have an emergency situation." She sighed, looking at her foot. "If we would not have an emergency...."

"You can try to go back tomorrow," Clint ordered. She nodded, cuddling him. "Work from the couch."

"I can do that." She sent a text to Pepper and cuddled him. Hill called back. She answered. "I tried to get up and fell," she said in greeting. "Yes I did. Because if you have cameras in my house, Hill, I'm going to make Tara a widow." She smirked at Clint. "How about this. Do you want me to curse you? No, they're not going. Because I'm having horrible feelings about it so therefore they're not going. And *who* has visions?" she demanded. She hung up. "SHIELD sucks sometimes."

"It does," Natasha agreed, calling her back. "Dawn is going to attempt to work from the couch today but the girls are both running fevers. No, not teething. Ear infections I think. Of course Tara can check on her when the children are at school." She hung up. "Tara will come check on us for her."

Dawn called Steve's phone, getting a grumpy hero. "We all have bad feelings about the mission Hill was trying to send them on, I'm going to attempt to work from the couch today, and the girls are carrying fevers. Please swat Maria for us when you get in." She hung up. She got a message from Tony asking what mission, Steve wasn't aware of any mission and her phone was busy. She let Clint answer. Stark's answer back of 'fuck no' was amusing. Clint asked for an explanation. He got an email on that topic. He shared it with Natasha. Who nodded and forwarded that to Maria then warned her that it had been sent. She sent back a 'fine, you are still on medical leave unless they could prove Dawn was better'. Dawn looked at it then up. "JARVIS, how many cameras has Maria put around our house?"

"I believe three, Dawn. You are still not well and Pepper said Linda can handle it."

"Sure," she said dryly. "I'll still work from the couch."

"She said if you want to there are a few things that need to be done if you have your laptop."

"No, it's in my desk. I'll send someone to get it."

"I'll let them know that. She said she'd send it to you. She walked up to her desk and found Linda crying, saying there was no way you weren't using magic to get things done." Dawn snorted. "I'm sure you'll figure it out with her."

"Sure. We can work that out. If Benji's there, send it with him?"

"I can do so. He's due in the infirmary at ten."

"That's cool." She snuggled into Clint's chest. "Where are her cameras and any others?"

"Benji has two, one in the kitchen and one in the living room area. Agent's Hill's are in three different places. One on the door frame in here. One in the living room on the planter. One in the elevator."

Natasha got up to find them, cutting the thin film-like lenses up. SHIELD could deal with it. She wrote Maria up for misuse of SHIELD technology, sending it to Steve's desk. She found the scanner, finding all the bugs. Benji's were nicer than SHIELD's versions. She made note of them for future buying. She found one she wasn't sure about and held it up. "JARVIS?"

He scanned it. "I have no idea who put that one in. It has a serial number. Looking it up leads to...Hammer Technology."

"Excuse me?" Dawn demanded. She wobbled out. She looked at it. "That is their piece of shit. Who planted it here?" she asked.

"Checking back," the AI said. "It appears that a SHIELD agent who did the last bug scanning left it."

"Hmm," Natasha said, looking at Dawn.

Dawn stared back. "You have fun." She handed it over. "Give it to Stark?"

"I can do that and pick up your laptop as well." She went to get dressed and head to the tower. She walked in and found Stark coming off the elevator looking like he needed coffee. She held up the bug. "Someone at SHIELD put it into our apartment."

He took it to look at. "That's Hammer's piece of shit." He looked at her. "Since when did SHIELD use such crappy tech?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "I'm getting Dawn's laptop as well."

"That's fine. It's probably in one of her bottom desk drawers." He dropped it on the floor and crushed it. "I'll help you figure that out. I was going to get coffee and take Steve to work."

Natasha gave him a slight smirk. "I sent in the paperwork on the three SHIELD designed cameras in our apartment. It should be in Joyce's inbox."

"I'll make sure of that." He stared at her. "Cameras."

"The new film ones."

"I have seen those. They have crap pictures." He grimaced. "Reason why?"

"Hill."

"Interesting." He went to get a good coffee drink so his brain would kick into high gear. He came out to smile at Steve as he came out of the tower. Tony got into the car with him. Happy drove them off. "You guys are using Hammer's pieces of crap bugs?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Someone at SHIELD planted one in Dawn's living room."

"That's interesting."

"Natasha said Joyce has a report on the three she found in their apartment."

"We have no reason to be bugging SHIELD agents' homes," Steve said, considering that. "Why Joyce?"

"Favoritism?"

"Could be." They got there and he logged in. Tony logged in, smirking when it declined. He looked at the guard and banged the scanner then ran his again. It worked. "Has to be Hammer's shitty tech too." They went up to the office. Tony flopped down, watching what was going on. Steve looked. No report from Natasha. It got sent in again and he printed it before it got deleted. "Tony, someone's in my inbox. How do I find out who?"

Tony switched places with him to track it. Their whole office exploded when he sent a surge through their computer. "It's in Coulson's office but I doubt it was him." He got into the security cameras for him. It showed who it was. They were in trouble. Including Maria Hill. Tony strolled out to catch her coming off the elevator. He walked her into the office. "So, why were you hacking your boss's email from another agent's office?" he asked.

"I was not," she said. Steve showed her the security cameras. "I heard there was someone who wasn't supposed to be in there and drove them out."

Coulson walked in doing up his cuff buttons. He touched her head then stared at her. "They have what?" Xander was already on his way to check on the kids.

"They have evidence that could get me charged because of an op that Director Fury had us on," she sighed.

Tony nodded. "I'm pretty sure there's some amnesty there."

"There is not. Not with that one." She pulled it up for Steve.

He read it over, grimacing. "If I had known about this, I would have never trusted him," he admitted.

Phil glanced at the top page and nodded. "I heard rumors. There's been a few of those over the years. There's five that I know of." He went to get the files on those. Two were missing. One was one of those. He found who had them. He came back with that agent and the files. "He got into my secondary safe."

"I was ordered," he defended. "I'll turn evidence, sir."

Steve looked at him. "That's a good idea." He took that file to look over. Then the others. He looked at Maria. "Any of those?"

"I'm one of the last two. Natasha Romanoff is the other. She was in that one," she said with a point. "Though not for us."

He read that one again, grimacing. "Fury needs to never come back." He looked at Phil. "Why did you have these?"

"Because I wanted to track them. I found out from Natasha and went looking to see if it was going to come back on us. I was seeing if there were any others. I kept them so no one else could see them, Captain."

"That's not a bad idea in this case." He pointed. "Conference room for now." Coulson walked them both that way. "I don't know what to do," he told Tony.

Tony looked at the files. "Fuck no. If I knew this, I never would've let him anywhere near me. I'd ask Dad but he's in the Bahamas."

"Okay," he decided, going to talk to Coulson and Hill. She was reacting because other agents were trying to blackmail her to get her out of her job. She was planning on Natasha or Clint figuring it out and stopping it for her.

Coulson looked at her. "You're lucky it didn't end up with you dead." She nodded, looking down. "Sir?"

"I'm not sure," Steve admitted. "I should let the president know. One of the subjects of the operations is being elected as an ambassador. Someone will probably find out."

"He's who told us," the junior agent said.

"Fuck," Steve said. "Let me...." Tony got him beamed there, going with him. He looked at him. Tony smiled. "Thank you."

"Welcome." They found the idiot in question there for a meeting. "Mrs. Fieldings, the good captain needs a shouting meeting. He's going to yell at Fury," Tony said quietly.

"Oh, dear." She got them to a private room and went in to see the president. "Sir," she said, making the president smile at her. "Captain Rogers and Mr. Stark are both here with a stack of folders that they said you're going to want to yell at former Director Fury about," she said in his ear. "They're in the spare office."

He nodded. "Give me ten minutes. Captain Rogers just found a problem operation." He went to talk to them because things like that blew up in the president's face. He walked in and shut the door. "How bad?"

"We had someone get a junior agent the information so he could blackmail Senior Agent Hill. There's only two agents left out of all these operations and one was her and one was Agent Romanoff." He handed them over. "The one on top was the one that got found."

He looked it over. "That's a good thing to bring to me."

"The junior agent said the reason is the one who told him," Tony said.

"Fuck," the president said quietly. "I did not know that."

"I'm pretty sure he's trying to make sure no one knows before the hearings."

The president looked at the other ones. "If I had known that...."

"If I had known, Fury never would've gotten near my suit or Stark International," Stark said, staring at him. "We have to work closely with him even if it wasn't for him being a great pillow." Steve swatted him with a scowl. "And he still won't take a ring."

"You've proposed?" Steve asked. "When?"

"Dinner, six months ago. That thing that made you blush?"

"That was a proposal?" Steve looked confused. "Then yes I would've said yes, but I didn't realize that."

Tony grinned. "Great. Your ring's in the bank's safety deposit box with Pepper's." He saw the president's look. "Something else that will probably show up in the press."

"Probably," he agreed. He looked over them again. "Okay, I needed to know this, Captain. Your senior agent?"

"I'm not sure," he admitted. "I'm going to talk to Joyce when we get back."

"Good idea." He bundled them back up, handing back all but one. "Who gathered them?"

"Coulson," Tony said. "He heard from Romanoff, so he made sure it wouldn't bite her."

"That's a great idea." He walked back into his office. "Bill, we should talk." He looked at his secretary. "No interruptions for about ten minutes please." She nodded. He closed and locked the door, staring at him. His secretary knew that there were two other ways into the office if he needed help. "What were you thinking having a junior agent at SHIELD get the file on how you used to work for someone with tight ties to Doom?"

"I...." The president put the file on the desk. He stared then grimaced. "I wanted to make sure that no one saw that." He pulled a gun.

A gun was pressed against the back of his head. "Don't even," Stark said. "Captain Rogers is a great shot, especially at that close of a range." He walked around to look at him. "By the way, under arrest by SHIELD."

"Yes, you are," Steve said. Tony handed over something that Natasha had sent him. "Just got that email, sir."

He read it and nodded. "Have him, Captain."

"Thank you, sir. Sorry to give you this drama. If I had known sooner I would've told you." He handcuffed the guy, walking him off with Stark. They got beamed from the main area they had a location dot from. The Secret Service guards gave them a dirty look. "Working with Doom."

"Have him, Captain," one said. "Slime doesn't belong here." He looked at Stark. "Those snake things?"

"Ascension demons?" The agent nodded. "What about it?"

"Is there any version that does not depend on an eclipse for a final step?"

"We have not found one. There's a set of books we can look through to make sure. Do we think we have one?"

"We think someone spotted one overseas."

"Send me the files and I'll look that up and make sure we deal with it," Tony said.

"They won't let us, sir."

"We can figure it out," Tony said. They nodded and handed him a DVD. They left and Tony went to run that information from Hill's desk. "Not an ascension but something that changed someone into it." Steve looked over. "Not sure how long it'll last." He sent that file to Dawn, she was a better researcher on that stuff. She sent back the spell they had to use. There were a coven. "Had to take at least four people."

"Let me know what we need to tell them or do."

"I can do that." He got back to it.

Captain Rogers handed over the prisoner after doing the paperwork. "Our jail."

The agent nodded, taking him down there. Agent Coulson followed to make sure. "He's a high priority target, sir?" he asked in the elevator.

"He caused three junior agents to blackmail a senior agent."

"A prefilled cell, sir, or a separate one?"

"Separate." They got him into a secure cell and made sure then walked off. The man could yell and scream. "Up our vigilance for the day," Coulson ordered in the elevator back up. "He has ties to Doom and three other high profile targets." He nodded, jogging to his seat to call that in. Coulson looked at the file, asking Roque. He got what it was and who had done it. He took the keyboard to type that in for him. Stark smiled and took it back to do a search on them. The Secret Service sent their thanks and talked to that consulate. Coulson pulled up another site. "Jensen found this. He was going to talk to you today if you weren't busy. He just sprained his ankle."

"That's interesting," Stark agreed, looking over it. "Better than the Starkinati rumors. At least they linked me to people I know and have talked to." Steve looked at him. "There's a few jackasses in the tech people. We do know each other, we have talked about things that we don't want to see out in public hands, and we've been arranging things so that huge problems don't get handed over to anyone." He shifted to look at him. "Back when I was still doing weapons, we used to meet every few years to make sure that we're not giving something too huge and dangerous that would start another arms race. I have a few designs I never put out because I *knew* that someone would try to steal it. Something that the Russians or the Chinese would want hard enough to take out people to get."

"So you really did talk about that?"

"Yeah, we did, because it saved lives. Dad was part of the Manhattan project, updating what they were putting out. We have sealed files in the vault that never should see the light of day. Because if we do, then someone in Russia will want to top it. Like the ZPM problem and Rodney making sure that none of it is being made into weapons because it's too dangerous." He pointed at the screen. "That's the ones that used to meet. Half of them are dead. Their heirs aren't great. Of all the great designers that we used to have designing weapons and tech toys, I'm one of the last ten of my generation and there's only looking like fifteen total in Callia's. Two of them are Chris and Callia. We made sure that we had competition between us but nothing that would destroy the world or start a new arms race that will create a second cold war."

"I can see that," Coulson agreed, looking at the screen. "A quarter of them are in jail for industrial espionage."

Tony nodded. "We know." He smirked slightly. "And another other half are dead. I'm one of the last ten and the last three in this top tier group. We started to talk back in college at scientific events and the galas. Dad and his group held a yearly meeting in a bar in Madrid."

"I remember him going to Madrid once during the war," Steve said, rubbing his forehead. "I have no idea that those sort of meetings weren't conspiracy theorist ideas."

Tony shrugged. "A lot are. Some aren't. We met to make sure that we didn't start the cold war again."

"Which was an important thing," Coulson agreed. "Someone would've taken out you and your whole family for restarting it to get what files you have."

Steve looked at him. "They will?"

"They would have," Tony agreed. "All the guys on the Manhattan project went into near-hiding and had guards for a number of years because people wanted what they knew to make their own version."

"I get that." Steve sat down. "Will it happen now?"

"No," Tony said. "There's not many left that can make that level of things. Hammer makes crappy, non-working things. He has people who have ideas but he's not a designer. He's always considered himself in my class and in the showmanship part, maybe. In the real application, no. There's four other designers that could rival me. Hammer's misappropriated two of them. They might not be able to be saved. The other two work for the guy that tried to kill my daughter." Steve winced.

"He was a real rival to Stark Industries when we were making weapons. Since then, no. Which is probably what drove him nuts. I talked to his ex-wife. She said he got targeted on Callia because he had nothing and no one to rival her. His son is a musician. A good one. I'm told he's going to Juliard this year for cello. Out of all the ones that were in that group and all the really good designers, there's six kids. The rest are outside of our families. There's people who're going to be hunting them for their future careers. Hammer would. A lot of them would.

"Stryker, who is dead now, would have told them about Hammer and the other companies. Realistically, and then told them he had places if they wanted them. I respect his methods and I learned a lot watching how he handled things. He was a latecomer to Dad's generation and filled in the gap between our bigger genius years. His company was sucked into Stark Industries by Dad right before he died because Rich Stryker was dying. That's why we had that meeting in Russia with their lab. We were dragging them into us as we merged. But if I put out some of the bigger stuff I came up with, some that I scared myself with designing, then the Russians would've worked harder to get it. It would've created more hell than peace."

"I get that," Steve agreed. "Do we still have those?"

"Yeah. In the former weapons vault that no one but myself can get into. JARVIS can let Callia, Pepper, or Dawn into it if it's a stupidly huge situation like an evacuation of the west coast."

Coulson nodded. "We saw those notes and it's an idea we like," Phil said. "Have you added to it?"

"Seven things," Tony said quietly, glancing around then looking at him again. "Callia's plans for the freeze ray and that first disruptor went in there too."

"Good," he said. He looked around and glared at one junior agent waiting with a file. He held out a hand. He glanced at the file then handed it to Steve.

Steve looked at it then at the junior agent. "Where's the reports before this?"

"We had no idea until it popped up this morning, sir."

"Give me twenty. Find out more." He nodded, going to do that. Steve sighed, looking at Tony. "Do we have meetings like this anytime soon?"

"No," Tony said. "I would've had one with the guy who went after my daughter and Hammer, but the others are mostly gone and the few that aren't are retired."

"Two are still designing but not much," Coulson said. "They do some work for us now and then."

Tony nodded. "Those film cameras Romanoff found?"

"Was one of them," Phil agreed. He looked at Tony. "Those files have a self destruct near them?"

"Yes. There's a burner one if someone gets into them without permission."

"Are there other copies?" Steve asked.

Tony stared at him. "I cannot and will not mention anything about any file storage we have anywhere within or without SHIELD," he said bluntly. "Ever. Even under truth serum. Someone's tried."

"Excellent," Phil Coulson agreed with a slight smile. "I like that answer. It's appropriate." He walked off to check on that junior agent.

Steve looked at him. "Pepper know?"

"No."

"Dawn?"

"No. I'm not telepathic with her and even if I was she couldn't find it in my mind. I've learned a few tricks to put things behind shields that hide them from even the most nosy telepaths because someone was working on a band to let people be telepathic. I had Romanoff ask me about them under that band the duo created and it still didn't come out."

"Even better." He smiled. "I fully understand that worry, Tony," he said quietly. "I'd never want something that huge out there." He stood up and went to talk to Joyce about things. They had to decide what to do about the blackmailing agents and Agent Hill.

Tony got up and went to check on Dawn. Philip smiled as he got off the elevator. "Your parents in bed?"

"Nope. Daddy in shower. Mira threw up on him. Just like Mommy does." He beamed. "Lexi messy but Mommy throwing up."

"I can fix a messy butt. Maeve has plenty." Philip smiled and let him change his sister and put her into her bouncy chair. She squealed and bounced around happily, jumping on the musical pad. Tony looked. "Maeve would adore that."

"We found at Toys," Philip said with a coo.

"I'll have to look there." Clint came out in his boxer briefs and a towel. "Dawn better?"

"She was okay then got up too suddenly to get Mira when she puked." Tony nodded. "You look weird."

Dawn came out with a damp cloth to put on her forehead and Mira. She laid down on the couch, smiling at Lexi. "I know you like that." She looked at Tony. "What's happened?"

"There's sites that detail the old meetings we used to hold."

"The ones in Madrid with Hammer and them?" He nodded. "Huh." She shrugged slightly and winced a bit. "Not like you're trying to rule the world or something, boss."

"Good point." He stared at her. "You're in no shape to work."

"I was going to bring the girls to the playpen next to my desk and not move. JARVIS told me that Linda was crying that I was superhuman."

"Sometimes we believe the same thing," he quipped with a grin.

"Of course I am. I'm stupendous in ways that no one else can match until Liz grows up."

Tony snorted, but smiled at her. "She might not then. She looks more artistic." He stared at her. "You want to work from home?"

"I probably should. Linda's not getting everything done."

"We can be lax."

"No you can't. Hammer's up for a parole hearing next week." Tony stared at her. She nodded. "All people appointed by the governor of this state."

"Who hates us," Tony agreed. "Why did we move here?"

"SHIELD?"

"Probably," he agreed then huffed. "So you think he'll be out?"

"Yup, and I think Callia should humiliate him. Before he gets any ideas of trying to challenge her."

"I'll talk to her about that."

Dawn smiled and pointed. "Get me the green magazine." He found it and waved it. She nodded, taking it to find the article. She held it up for him. "That."

Tony looked and smirked. "She's already put something in for that."

"She can put in up to three."

"I'll let her know that. JARVIS, is she in PT?"

"She is, sir, and she has put in three. Pepper told her to put in something overly showy because someone cooed she was just like you again, sir."

"What did she put in?" Dawn asked.

"That is classified," the AI said.

"JARVIS," Tony said quietly.

"The AB-15, sir."

"That's impressive," Tony said with a suck in. "That should draw too much attention."

"She put in that it was classified, sir, and that it was still under review by the patent lawyers," the AI said.

"Even better. They'll slip something out and it'll get her notice by others but in a different way," Tony decided.

Dawn smiled. "And then some. The second was the sparkly thing, JARVIS, or the blue thing?"

"The blue thing, Dawn. Though she has that classified as well."

"Yeah," Dawn snorted. "I proofread her patent application."

"Good point," the AI complained.

Dawn smiled at the ceiling. "I know more than most people think, JARVIS."

"Dawn, in that second dream, you had something from your alternate identity," Clint said, staring at her. "JARVIS, no one can hear, right?"

"Only Benji."

"Great." He stared at her.

She smiled. "I invested in more than the farms and the ranches."

"Ranches?" Tony asked dryly.

"I have a cow ranch in Asia."

Tony moaned and shook his head. "Who did you invest in?"

"Two companies." She pointed. "Blue folder in the filing cabinet under the movies."

He pulled that file out to look through. "That's a competitor."

"Not really," Dawn said. "And I only gave them a research grant to look into something that I don't want some of our people to look at. Because I got handed weapons plans." She stared at him. "Not the ones that handed them to me and then died. Something else."

He read that over and nodded. "Stark can't do that anyway." He looked at her. "I taught you too well, Dawn."

She smiled. "Yeah but I'm good at it."

"You are." Clint looked. Then glared at his wife. Tony smiled. "That's something I would've done, Barton. Calm down." He looked at the other one. "Another bad company that we're in the midst of taking over?"

"I've had investments in them since long before then, boss. I invested in their stock back when I was eighteen. I've already shown the people looking over that merger that so they know. They asked if I knew and I said no, I invested because of their medical research. Which was true. I've agreed to sell them to the company to avoid any problems. I still made a huge profit since they were about twelve bucks a share back then."

Tony smirked. "Very sneaky."

"I did good investing."

"You did," Tony agreed. "Any others?"

"I let them review all my investment portfolio when they asked. That way they could see that I'm not using insider trading."

"That's wise," Tony agreed. He put the folder back but Clint took it to look at. "Still didn't tell him?"

"He never asked."

"I need to interrogate you."

"When I'm better, you can interrogate me all you want," Dawn quipped with a smile.

"I can make sure it won't make you dizzy. We have handcuffs," Clint quipped.

Dawn shook her head. "No, it will." He grinned. She looked at her boss. "So."

"Damn, we made you scary."

"You just channeled it before I turned evil, boss," she quipped. She smirked at him. "Think about what I'd be doing if I was *bored*."

Tony shuddered. "Oh, damn that's a bad thought."

Clint considered it and then shivered. "If you turn evil, Nat can be the figurehead and we'll rule behind her."

Dawn smiled. "If I decide to take over the world, I'll let Liz be our figurehead and we'll all rule behind her. By the time we go into hiding, she'll be ready to take over on her own."

Tony considered it. "Probably," he agreed. He looked at Clint. "We always kept her busy. That's why she didn't get to really date anyone in high school."

"Coulson told me." He looked at her. "Diamond mine? With their human rights violations?"

"Not that company."

He looked it up. "No, they don't." He looked at her. "And they have a mine in Russia."

"Giving them decent jobs," she agreed. "They're not DeBeers."

"There's rumors they're going to be eaten by them," Tony warned.

"At which point I'll sell my stock," Dawn agreed. "My stock guy knows that. I invest in a lot of green tech and a lot of medical tech. With some higher performance ones in there to give me great returns."

Tony blinked. "During the economic collapse?"

"Nothing I own went down too far. I lost about two percent."

Tony nodded. "I lost about the same."

"I use your investment guy," she said with a grin.

He smirked back. "Good." He looked at Mira. "She's going to spew again."

Dawn looked and sat them up, concentrating to keep down her stomach's contents. Mira got cleaned up when she got sick again. She fussed but Clint took her to cuddle and calm down. That soothed her and they were better. "Baby doctor."

"We'll go after lunch," Clint said. "It's nearly lunch, Dawn." She nodded.

Tony looked at him. "Infirmary?"

"Baby doc," Clint said. "She's almost due to go in anyway."

"If you're in for a sick visit they won't do shots," Dawn said.

"Okay." He looked at her. "We'll get cleaned up and go see the baby doctor." She pouted so he cuddled her better.

"You're good," Tony said. He looked at Dawn. "Is the SEC going to give us bad press?"

"No. I went to them when they started to look that merger over. I made sure it wouldn't be looked at oddly and I talked to someone at one of the money mags to make sure they knew I wasn't doing insider trading too."

"I haven't seen that interview."

"He's holding it until something else comes out."

"That's good. I'll have Pepper check." She smiled. "She knew?"

"Yeah, I told her that I was voluntarily handing over information because we were buying a company I had invested in for years. She groaned and made sure I had everything I needed to give them."

"Even better." He stared at her. "Next week. Try again next week."

Dawn nodded. "I can hopefully only puke at elevators by then, boss."

He smirked. "Or less." He looked at Mira. "You sure you don't want to bring her to the infirmary?"

"Our baby doc hates them because they keep forgetting to hand over records," Dawn said dryly.

"I'll mention that." He patted Lexi. "You're pooping again? Already?"

"I'll bring both girls in," Clint said, handing Dawn Mira so he could get up and change Lexi.

Philip looked over from his workbook. "Did I do that?"

"Only a few times," Dawn said. "Thankfully, you liked Mommy Natasha to change them."

He grinned. "That's good. Saves you from all the mean things."

"It sure did." She blew a kiss. "Want me to read pages?"

"Nope."

Tony smiled, heading to talk to Pepper. "SEC?" he asked.

"I looked over their shoulder. They agreed that Dawn hadn't done anything wrong. She had acted to make sure it didn't look wrong. She sold any questionable stock under their gaze to make sure it didn't look wrong, and did two different interviews about it that will come out if and when the SEC notes it."

"Good. Both girls have the flu."

"Great." She looked out at Linda then at him. "Is she working?"

"She's trying hard to."

"Great." He went to talk to Callia about that inventors awards submission and people like Hammer. Pepper went to calm Linda down, calling Dawn to see if she had anything done.

***

Clint smiled at the nurse at the baby doc's office. "I'm bringing in Lexi and Mira for Dawn."

"Lexi and Mira...."

"Summers. I'm Dawn's husband Clint."

"Oh, okay." She smiled and found their records. "They're sick?"

"Puking, loose stools. We thought it was an ear thing earlier but I'm not so sure now."

"Okay. The sick kid room is there," she said with a point. She handed him the paperwork for him to do. She took their insurance cards. "This is the old one."

He looked then called Dawn. She took down the number, it was the same. Dawn faxed over a copy for them so that was great. The nurse smiled and let Clint go over to the sick kids room with both girls. They were both pouty. She finished their check ins and alerted the head nurse in the back.

She came out to look at the kids. "The doctor's with a patient in surgery," she said quietly.

"Want me to hit the Stark infirmary instead? We're not sure if it's the flu or not. Mira's clearly got an ear thing since it's red and swollen."

"Let me look her over." He brought them back and she agreed. She gave them flu medicine and an antibiotic. Clint nodded his thanks and checked out to hit the pharmacy. The nurse made a note in their charts. She smiled, making a note that it was the father that had brought them in since there was a note saying that Dawn had a concussion.

***

Two hours later, Clint walked the girls into the Stark infirmary. "Hey, Doc?"

She looked over from doing paperwork on someone's cut hand. "What's up?"

He put the carriers on the nearest exam table and put down the bottles down. "Made them sick. The nurse said our baby doc's still in surgery."

She came over to look them over, making them pout. "I know, it's sucky today." Lexi babbled at her but still pouted. "Awww." She found the problem and cleaned Mira's ear then checked the antibiotic. "Dawn doesn't do good on these either." She got them something different and sent that to the baby doctor's office. She had gotten a nasty note from their pediatrician about that. Clint got it filled and came back when they threw it up again. Doc watched over them.

"Okay, I'm going to declare that an antibiotic allergy." She sent that note over and the pediatrician was finally back and had backed up patients so he sent over an order for her. She sent back that was in the same class and they had thrown that up first. She sent over what she was giving them and he said that was fine and to please make sure their files merged. She sent over one of the nurses to make sure. Clint got that one and called to say they didn't puke it back up. So that got note got made in their files.

***

Sixteen days later, Callia was coming out of physical therapy talking to Ethan and Benji, who had been in there at the same time. She spotted the guy watching them. "Mr. Hammer."

"Miss Stark," he said, staring at her. "I've heard you're a chip off the old block."

She smirked. "Yeah, I'm just as good as Dad is. Grandfather's a nagging, anti-girl asshole ghost." She stared at him. "Then again...." He glared. "What did you want?"

"Do you think the tech world will respect a girl in a wheelchair?"

She smirked. "I have seventeen patents under my name and another twelve with others." He blinked a few times, trying not to look startled. "I've created something that Uncle Xander, you know Alexander I'm sure, got worried about." She stared at him. "The right people see the genius and not the chair I'll be out of some day. For that matter, the jealous asshole who used to compete against Dad putting me into this chair? He failed. It just made me stronger."

She stared him down. "Unlike some I'm not afraid of some hard work. I was a pretty good gymnast before this and I'll get at least most of the way back. The board of directors at Stark appreciate me more than they do Dad because they think I'm sweeter. They have no idea that I can be the same sort of ball busting bitch my aunt is. Every now and then I have to remind them I'm not only a Stark, but a Summers woman." Hammer took a step back. "I really don't like having to turn into my aunt, but there's times when it's a good idea."

She smiled. "Beyond that, if the scientific community is that shallow that they can't see past the wheelchair I'll be in for a year or so, then I'll gladly turn my genius into areas that make them gape in awe. Two of the patents are like that. That's why I'm being given that award." She grinned. "You have a great day. It must be nice to enjoy your first few days of freedom." She rolled off. "Hey, Happy, can I have a milkshake on the way home? I sweated off breakfast and I have pool time after this."

"Sure, kiddo." He nodded at Hammer. "I'll be sure to pass on your regards to her father." Hammer walked off. He looked at Ethan and Benji. "That's the guy who runs Hammer Tech."

"Justin Hammer. He got captured by SHIELD three different times and bought his way out twice," Callia said. "That extra suit at the expo problem was him buying someone else out of jail." Callia grinned at them. "He thinks he's competing against Dad."

"Hammer Technologies has nothing on the level of SI," Benji said with a smile and a pat on the head for her. "Go get a milkshake."

"Give you guys a ride?" she offered.

"Sure," Ethan agree. "My arm aches." They got in and drove back to the tower. They could walk the eight blocks from the tower to their temporary safehouse.

Callia came off the elevator on her dad's floor, rolling into his lab. "Hammer's out."

He looked at her. "I heard."

"We had a short chat. He wasn't sure that the scientific community wouldn't discount me for being in this chair."

"A few might but they're dumbasses," Tony said. "The board still likes you best." She grinned. "Anything else come of it?"

She tossed over a strip that had been in her pocket. "I was working on those earlier and planted one on him."

He looked then smiled and logged into it. "Nice work, daughter."

"You're welcome. I'm going to swim." She rolled back upstairs and got into a bikini then into the pool. She sighed as she swam a few laps then rested. She scanned the local buildings and grimaced. She couldn't move that well. "JARVIS, please put up the emergency shields," she said quietly, not moving her lips. They went up and the guy with the rocket launcher fired on them. Guards showed up and she pointed. "He was over there." Her father flew past in the suit. "JARVIS, tell Dad to wait on the guy in the blood colored hoodie who dressed like the guy in the assassin video game. He ran back inside." Tony hovered and found him then flew off after him. Sirens followed.

"Help me out," she ordered. One of the guards braced himself and helped haul her out and to the chair one of the others was holding. "Thanks, guys." They nodded. She wrapped a towel around her waist and went down to her lab. "Chris, keep yourself and Liz out of view. There was a bad guy on a rooftop." He nodded and pointed at Liz. She was coloring. "Good." She rolled up to her safe and opened it, finding what she wanted. She pulled it out. "JARVIS, please start this in the forging system."

He scanned the plans. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. Someone might need it."

"All right." The forging machinery kicked up and started.

Chris looked at her. "Something big for someone to protect us with."

"Okay." He went back to looking at pictures. "Mommy said we have race cars."

Callia rolled over and did a search for him. "That's our racing team. Dad raced once."

"Wow." He read over the site and the stats. "They're not great."

"No, but we're using it to test new metal mixes for the cars I think. And because Dad likes race cars."

Tony's voice came across the speaker on the computer. "Daughter, we do not need something that powerful being made."

"Yes we do. How many more are there? They might not be here if Auntie was here."

"Natasha's on her way."

"Dad, they're not scared of Natasha and they know Auntie Dawn is sick."

"Maybe but it's not necessary."

"It's being made anyway," she said, hanging up on him. "JARVIS."

"Your father....." Chris reached over to type into the computer system, typing something. It rebooted JARVIS. He looked at his sister. She grinned back. "That was uncalled for, children."

"JARVIS, now that you're back online properly, please scan the building to see how many more of those assassins there are here. Including the surrounding areas."

"There's three in the building. I'm initiating lockdowns. Do not move."

"We need Maeve," Liz said.

"No, we need Maeve somewhere safer," Callia said. "You two take the emergency exit."

"No!" Chris said. "You can't."

She stared at him. "I can protect you both. Go. Hide. If they're coming after Stark kids, you two are more vulnerable than I am." They pouted but took the tablets that had design plans with them. "JARVIS, I need into the other safe," she said quietly, rolling that way. "I can't reach the door."

"Your father....."

"Is halfway across town. There's not enough guards. I have to guard the kids. Now, help me open it please or I'm going to reboot you again!" The door popped open. "Dad took it out on me," she sighed. She summoned a few things to check. When someone forced the door open she pointed the gun at them. "Get out of my lab."

"Someone wants to talk to you," the man smirked.

Callia shot him in the stomach. "Yay." The man blinked. "Body armor, cute. That means I have to do what I've been dreading. I'll turn into Auntie Dawn." She shot him in the throat. He wasn't protected there. Guards showed up. She shot one of them. "I know you're not a guard. That thing on his ear is an illusion projector." The other guards checked and it was. She sighed, looking at them. "They're safe," she said when one opened his mouth. He pulled a gun and shot at her but a shield went down first. "Thanks, JARVIS." She shot that one. The guards were horrified and frozen in shock. She calmed herself.

Dawn appeared in a thunderous clap of air. "Who in the fuck *dares* to touch my niece?" The guards got shocked out of their stupor.

"Auntie, there's assassins. They dress like video game characters."

She smirked. "Great." She looked around. "Go with the others."

"Can't." She shifted.

"Fuck," Dawn muttered. "Clint's getting them." She nodded. "Guys, let's get Callia somewhere more defensible." They took her with them. One pushed her so they could go faster. Dawn followed. She held up a hand. "I'm going to puke on someone soon." They nodded. They went down to the containment floor and locked her in there with the other kids and Pepper. Dawn nodded at them. "It'll be okay." She pointed and the guys left. She wasn't in any shape for a field battle. Clint and Natasha had it. Dawn checked then changed the gun for her normal one. It was full. It was in her desk drawer. Linda had unloaded it but she could summon spare clips. It made her more dizzy but yay.

Someone came out of the air vent and Dawn shot him. "Hi, good morning. How are you today?" She shot the one coming off the elevator. Then the other three. She knew that Pepper had them inside the saferoom within the safe suite. Only they could get out from the inside. A few more assassins showed up but Dawn shot them. One got up when her back was turned dealing with someone, hitting her in the shoulder.

She elbowed him and turned to beat his ass. She pulled out the knife and tossed it aside. "No thanks, I have better in the knife drawer at home." She killed him by snapping his neck. The others were dead and her shoulder would heal. It was already healing. She heard a crackle of the intercom and looked up. "JARVIS, make the Roombas and security system handle any others inside."

"There's three we cannot get," the AI said.

"Not even with the Roombas?"

"No."

Dawn nodded. "Where?" A virtual display showed up. "Anything on them?"

"Two are dressed as NYPD officers. One's dressed in the cloak."

"Inform the guards?"

"I have. Also, Andrew and Jonathan are guarding their children because they wanted them."

Dawn nodded. "Notify Tara."

"She's already at the school. Someone came for the twins but the school stopped them. The daycare is locked down already. Maria is heading there to gather them."

"Okay." She formulated a plan, sending it at Natasha. Who moved to stop the NYPD looking assassins. They were taken out but not killed and the other Clint injured but didn't kill. They needed live information sources. Dawn looked up as someone came off the elevator. It looked like Tony but she knew it wasn't. He was too short. "The illusion you're wearing has a few flaws, including your height," she said, pointing the gun at him. She had two bullets left and a few spare clips.

"Also, it doesn't change eyesight and your contacts are visible in the light down here." The man sneered. "Even if you were Tony Stark, he'd forgive me for shooting him." She shot at him. He had a Stark personal shield on and smirked. She laughed. "That doesn't matter to magic, Hammer." He lunged and she kicked him then cast a bit of light magic. It lit up the room, blinding him. She was knocking him out when someone else came out of the vents. Dawn looked and shrugged. "Hey, Peter. Long time no see."

"Dawn. You look fantastic after two kids."

Dawn grinned. "Thank you. You know you're coming after my niece, right?"

"Sorry but it's business."

Dawn laughed. "Sure it is. Whose business?"

"Can't tell you. I know you've got a concussion."

"I'm a bit dizzy," she admitted. "There's things that doesn't matter how dizzy I am. Including spells." She cast one at him and he attacked. She blocked the attack and kicked him back. Her small scythes, eighteenth birthday presents from Xander, came out of her action belt and he looked pleased. He attacked with a knife but she blocked it and hit him. They were fighting when Clint came off the elevator.

"Hey, Peter." He shot him in the throat, making the guy fall. Dawn panted and got a bit sick. "You okay?"

"Nope."

"Okay." He looked around and sighed. "Pepper, it's Clint. It's clear."

Dawn looked at him then at Peter, who was shaking his head. She thought at Clint. He tried to attack but she got him in the neck with a blade. He went down. Clint came off the next elevator with his bow, taking off the illusion band. "Huh. Hey, Steve." He waved with a grin. He looked at his wife, who checked. "You're still too sick for this."

"Shit happens," she muttered.

"Yup, often." He kissed her on the forehead. "I'd kiss you but you need to rinse out your mouth." She poked him on the arm then found some water in the apartment. He locked her in there and smirked at Peter. "So...." He moved closer. "Peter."

"Clint," he mouthed. "I won't tell you."

"There's always the Natasha method." Peter blinked at him. "You did just upset our wife."

"Our?" he mouthed.

"Our. Dawn's mine and Natasha's wife." He smiled. Natasha came off the next elevator with Steve Rogers. Clint stared at him. Bucky came off the next one. "Barnes."

"Barton." He checked and made sure Steve was himself. "Who's this?"

"This is Peter, who helped train me. He likes to flirt with Dawn, thought she'd make a great student."

"She is," Natasha agreed. "We trained her very well. She managed all this damage while nauseous."

Peter nodded. "She was good," he mouthed. "I'm not telling you."

She smiled. "I already know." He blinked. She smirked and hauled him up. "Let me grab the emergency kit so we can talk." She walked him off to the other room down there. It was Dawn proof. She could bandage the wound and hear such pretty noises coming from him.

Clint nodded, looking at the other one. "She left the knife in. They're going to need a board if they want to keep him alive."

Stark stomped off the elevator in his suit, faceplate up. "Where are they?"

"Dawn's in the decontamination suite. I just put her in there. I'm guessing the kids and Pepper are in the safe room," Clint said. He stared at him. "They're not greatly scared but a bit pissed off. Callia hurt a few."

"Why didn't she go with Chris and Liz?" Steve demanded.

"There's stairs," Tony said quietly. Steve turned and kicked the wall, denting it. "She okay?"

"Guards got her here with Dawn. Dawn managed to handle this and then puke."

"Great." He tapped the entry code into the safe room. Doing it twice because his gloved fingers were too big. He stomped in. "Dawn, you good?"

"Still nauseous," she said. "Shit has to happen though. They're napping, Tony."

"Okay." He turned on the video system, waving at Pepper. "You guys okay?" She nodded. "You sure?"

"We're okay, Tony. Even Callia. She had to hurt a few before the guards got there."

"The guards were standing in horrified awe," Dawn said. Tony looked at her. "When I appeared they were staring."

"Okay," Tony said. "They're being retrained by Clay if I can." Dawn grinned. "You okay?"

"I'm good. We're staying right here until we're sure everything's clear."

Tony nodded. "Good." He left, closing her back in there. "Steve, I want someone you trust here to watch them." Natasha came out wiping off her hands. "You leave me anything?"

"I left the courts something," she said. She looked at Clint. "Someone made him a clone too."

"Fury?" he asked. She nodded. "Is that...."

"He wants us back as regular agents. Thinks the Avengers have bonded too well and gotten too strong. It doesn't work for his plans."

"Like fucking hell," Steve Rogers said, making Bucky and Clint both flinch. "Where?" She told him the directions. He looked at Stark.

"Barnes, you're taking Dawn's place. Dawn, we're going to be dealing with your wanted soul," he called before they left. "Stay, Barton."

"Fuck off, Stark. My brother's still mine." He went up with them. Coulson was going with them but he put two agents with them and Xander.

***

Clint looked at the compound. "He's a weasel, Nat," he reported.

"Understood." They rushed in to raid the center. Fury wasn't there. Barney wasn't there. Natasha yelled a thought at Dawn.

Stark set up a scan to make sure no one was hiding. Two were. They had Tara's twins. Melissa was fighting back but Coulson walked in and destroyed both of the hostage takers and took the kids out. "Daddy, I had it," Melissa complained. "I can protect brother."

He looked at her. "So can I and you can help me do so." She smiled. He petted over both their heads. "Clay." He showed up, shaving cream on his face. He handed over the twins and sent Clay back to the temple. Then Coulson turned and destroyed the whole compound. "You should not have touched my children," he said, staring at the remaining bad guys. "That is always a mistake."

"You sound like that girl," one sneered.

Coulson smirked. "Who do you think taught her?" They were taken down with a blast and an arrow. Coulson checked. Dawn had a visitor. The agents were knocked out.

***

Dawn blinked at the sound of bodies hitting the floor. She had the security system pulled up. Pepper could see it too. It was on her phone. Which had to be with her. Or on her desk, one of the two. She saw the man who sat behind the main desk and smirked, sending a spell at him. He screamed as he burned. "Pity," she said. That left two. Two clones. The spare Fury clone and the Barney Barton clone. Dawn finished cleaning her weapon and put it back together while they figured out the door. By the time they got in, she had even cleaned off her scythes. "Fury, Barney."

Barney smirked. "Just you and me, *Princess*, and you're weak now," he sneered.

She laughed. "You're still damn pathetic, Barney, and I told you only Clint gets away with that." She waved a hand, pinning him to the wall. She looked at Fury. "You wanted...."

"You ruined the Avengers."

"And who was it that made us go on the run? You gave them my identity. We might not have had to escape Romania if it hadn't been for that. We wouldn't be the same if that hadn't happened. Then again, we were dating before then." She stared at him. "It was your plan that almost made Philip a twin. It never seemed to bother you until it looked more like there was real feeling there."

"You broke their training."

"No. I've enhanced it because we've all learned new things."

"I'm going to break that mental bond."

"Not likely. Not even the highest of the gods can do that, Fury."

"If you die, the bond's broken."

"No. The bond between them is going to stay. And if you kill me, I'll just ascend and be around." She flicked a hand again. "Not like I won't visit my kids."

"I know where your kids are."

"I kinda doubt that since they're on Asgard with their cousin." Fury gaped. She smiled. "That's what took me so long to get here." She stared at him. "You're not going to win. You know the odds are not in your favor. Even if I was on death's door, you wouldn't get the kids."

"I don't really care about the kids. I'll make sure they're trained."

She smirked. "Doubt it, Fury. My kids all know not to trust you."

"They're young. Easily reprogrammed."

"They're just as stubborn as I am. Didn't work on me." She stared at him. "Though, Mom's doing a great job with Cap in your chair." He snorted and shifted his weight. Dawn was still sitting down, looking nonchalant. "Anything else you want to posture?"

"Your death will break them."

"No, it won't. You underestimate the complexity of the bond, Fury. I can and have blocked them from anything I cast, any injury I have. I've been shot and they've never felt it." His eyes lit up. "Or I can open it with a thought." He shot at her and she froze it in midair without moving. She stared at him. "Really? You think a poisoned bullet is going to do a damn thing?"

"I can kill you, Summers. I've been killing people longer than you've been alive. Harris isn't here to save you. He had to rush off to protect Tara's younger kids." He smirked. "You're all alone."

"And yet all alone I killed ten people earlier to protect Pepper and the kids." He snorted. "And by the way, Fury, I've been alive for *centuries*. You're not that old. Especially as a clone. The real you is still a ferret."

Fury glared. "You destroyed SHIELD."

"No, not hardly. I helped make it from a joke into a real agency that does even more work. Or don't you remember me fixing all your paperwork messes on you?" He glared and shot at her again. She caught it. "Still won't work." He fired a few more times. "This really must be a faulty clone. Even if you're counting on the poison on the bullets being soaked into the shield I have up, it won't. I'm not that dumb. Or that complacent." She summoned something and put it next to her. She glanced at it then at him. "I've helped some very good researchers find things that people might need some day."

He lunged and hit the same shield, being frozen in midair. "Pepper, turn off the security system cameras please." She heard them shut off. She smiled. "Now it's just us." She stood up, looking at him. "You and me and the one I'll get in a few minutes. I'm not overly worried about Barney. You've been killing people since just after World War II. He's not that old." Barney grumbled. She stared at him. "Think you are? Then you'd get me sick and more tired. It might be a bit more fair." She looked at the Fury clone again. "Now what, Fury? You always have at least six plans going. What's your plan now?"

"I have what I want. No one really wanted those kids. They'll never be Howard's true heir."

"Really? And yet Callia's already as good as Howard was." She shrugged. "It happens. We know more now and she's learned from those on the cutting edge and then pushed it farther." He glared. She let him go and he flopped down, breaking the coffee table. "Beyond that, using children as a feint is low, even for you. Though I know you're a clone. As I said, the original is still a ferret." He got up to hit her. She froze him with a new spell. "Pity you haven't even realized it's already over with. Did you forget when I poisoned you last time? How long did it take your hands to heal?"

"I wish I hadn't given them your identity."

Dawn looked up then at him. "D'Hoffryn probably won't grant that one. Especially since it would break a treaty." An imp showed up with a note then left. She read it and nodded, holding it up. "That situation may not be undone. It's too important to history and humanity." She crumpled it and let it fall. "So, you planned on killing me. Even though you know I'm one of the hardest people to kill. So what was your real plan?"

"You'll be fine in your new life." A beam came down. Dawn walked out of it. "How...."

"Set to human standard and I'm not fully a normal human. See, the spell that created my physical form had to approximate based on Buffy's physiology. The Stark beaming satellite had to be set specially to let me be picked up." She shrugged slightly. "All the wacky that is my life." He sneered. "You've already lost."

"You talk too much," he sneered. He stepped and paused, swaying hard. "What did you do to me?" he demanded.

She pointed at his feet. "Simple cutting hex." He looked at the growing puddle of blood. She smiled. "Sometimes subtle is the answer. And if you survive bleeding out, you won't survive the clone-oriented virus that was injected a minute later. That poison kinda takes out the clone difference DNA sequences. They found three you know. I work with some amazing chemists and physicists. Including Stepdad." Fury wobbled and grabbed his head. "Sorry if it hurts. I meant for it to be painless." He lunged at her. She avoided it and snapped his arm then blocked the hit with the other one. She snapped his neck and looked at Barney. Barney wasn't sneering anymore. He was looking awed. She smirked. "I know you remember our first sparring match, Barney. The one that got fixed when they fixed the plane crash?" She let him free. "Do you want to redo it?"

"You could join me. I'm a lot better than my brother."

"Actually, you're about four inches shorter than your brother and he's a god in bed. That's beyond the fact that he's a real man that takes care of his obligations. Clint will never be a baby's daddy like you are."

"I don't have kids," he sneered.

"You have a daughter. She's from before you died. She's about six." Barney glared. "Found her doing a name search. All hail Google," she quipped, making him sneer. "I've kept a subtle watch on her and Clint's figuring out what he wants to do." Barney lunged at her so she blocked it and hit him back.

"You're weak," he sneered.

"I have a two week old concussion, Barney, and I'm still standing. You are not a match for me." He tried to hit her again but she drove him back against a wall. Her last hit ended up denting the wall because he moved. She shrugged and looked at him. "You done yet? I can keep this up for a while even if I do puke on you." Someone shot him. Dawn looked over. "Callia! I could've."

"As Barney said, never let your enemy get back up." She stared at he slumped down. "It's not fatal but you won't be getting back up. I know that for a fact. C'mon, Auntie."

"No, you go back in there." She hugged her and closed them back in. Pepper could talk to her eldest about bad guys. Dawn looked at Barney. "All this is turning her a bit bitter. We'll have to do fun kid things again soon to let her destress." She stared at them. Barney's new hole in his back was about the fourth vertebrae down from his skull. He wasn't having much trouble breathing but he wasn't moving. Dawn did the humane thing. She called the SHIELD field op center. "It's Dawn Summers. I am on the Stark Towers containment floor with a quickly dying Fury clone and Barney Barton, who is now paralyzed due to a gunshot to his back," she said quietly. "Please come pick them up." She hung up and watched over them. Fury was melting as the virus finished its job. The SHIELD agents that showed up looked disgusted. "There's an anti-clone virus. It hit him." She pointed at Barney. "He and I were arguing until my niece shot him. It's looking like he's paralyzed."

"We have medics coming, Miss Summers," the lead agent said. He looked around. "What happened?"

"A concerted plan. Earlier they took out a few assassins from somewhere that wears capes and Justin Hammer."

"Saw that arrest," the other one said. "Same thing?"

"Behind it. Barney and this Fury clone escaped from the place where the Avengers are raiding. The other Fury clone is a ash-cicle upstairs in the head office. He was looking a bit smug when he sat in Pepper's chair," she said dryly.

"We'll take them in, ma'am." Medics from SHIELD showed up with a few more agents. "There's another Fury clone in the head office," the head agent said.

"Great," they agreed. They sent a team up to gather his remains. She looked at Barney Barton. "Who shot him?"

"Callia. When she was trapped in that alley and he helped her, he advised her to never let an enemy get back up. So he's not." She looked at him. "If you turn my niece into me, I'm going to find you in the afterlife and let myself vent." His head shuddered. She smiled. "We want the kids to have a more peaceful life than we have, Barney. Including and especially Callia. Was this your plan?" He shook his head, looking toward Fury. "Was this part of Hammer's plan?" He shook his head. "Good." She stood up.

"Never come near the kids. We're brutal when the kids are involved," she said quietly. "War is supposed to be between warriors, not warriors and civilians." He glared but mouthed it wasn't his idea. "Which is why I'm doing the merciful thing and letting you live to correct yourself." He glared harder. "While there's life there's hope," she quipped. She stared at him. "That and I warned you about coming near the family." He groaned but nodded. They took him off. Dawn sat down with a sigh. "Today has been bad."

"You're still dizzy?" one of the medical agents asked. Dawn nodded. "That medicine must be good."

"I'm holding onto my dry heaves by the skin of my nails." He pulled a gun and shot at her but the shield came back up. "Really?" He blinked. She looked at the staring agents. "Want me to end him?" They took the gun and arrested him. Stark came off the elevator again, faceplate going up when he saw the mess. "One of the two Fury clones they sent and Barney, boss. I'll order Pepper a new desk chair since hers is charred."

He blinked at her. "Go puke, Dawn. I've got it." She went to do that. Clint came off the next elevator, following his wife to help her. He didn't even look at his brother. Tony looked at the gooey mess of human. "What did she use?"

"Anti-clone virus," the clean up agent said.

Tony stared at him. "What?" he demanded. "Dawn!"

"She said she made it with Bruce's help," Clint called a second later. "She's still heaving, Stark. That's why she went magic instead of physical combat." He leaned out of the bathroom. "MB and Bruce worked on it." He went back to helping her get sick. "The other Fury clone sat down in Pepper's chair and looked too pleased."

"Great." He got some of the samples from the gooey mess and asked Bruce since he was mostly changed back. He said he had notes locked up and was going to send in progress reports. Dawn had used one of the three test vials they had.

Clint came out with a wobbly Dawn, settling her on the couch. "Stark, Callia shot Barney," he said quietly. "They were fighting and Callia butted in."

"We'll talk to her, make sure she's okay, then we're going to do kid things," Dawn said. "She needs more kid things."

Stark looked at her. "I can get with that plan." He had the building searched by Clay and Roque. They could do better than his security team. They really needed to train them better. When they reported it was safe, Tony got Pepper and the kids out of the safe room. Of course, Roque pushed him in there and shut the door again. "Hey!" Tony complained. Pepper kissed him and he smiled, hugging her and all the kids. He looked at his eldest last. "We'll talk."

She shrugged. "Bad guys are bad guys." He cuddled her. She relaxed. "When do the bad guys stop coming?"

"Hopefully soon. There can't be many left," Pepper said. Tony grinned at her. "Even if they have clones too, they've got to know it's a stupid idea by now." She went back to cuddling Liz, who was sniffling. "It's okay. We're all okay." She kissed her on the head.

"They made me mess up my art project. They're really bad guys," Liz complained.

Tony hugged her again. "It'll be okay," he promised.

"Daddy, we need wifi in here," Chris said. "The tablets can't get a signal. I was looking at the racing team."

"I'll wire it for that later." He hugged him again. Chris grinned and cuddled in. "Okay, let's go." He opened the door and they walked out. The mess was being cleaned up. Dawn was still on the couch. "Still?" he teased with a grin.

"Resting," she said. "The dizziness I was forcing myself to ignore is back."

"Go get the kid from his cousin and go home," Pepper said. She was carrying a sleeping Maeve. She had slept through all of this.

"I've got to finish ordering your new desk chair, Pepper."

"I can have Linda do it."

Dawn looked at her. "She unloaded my guns."

"I'll talk to her about it." They went up to check on the mess up there to see what was gotten into. Linda was sobbing on her office couch. "You okay?" Pepper asked.

Linda looked at her. "I can't handle this level of threat."

"It doesn't happen that often and usually the staff is evacuated," Tony said. "Usually you'd only hear the alarm and run. Why didn't you this time?"

"They locked us down."

"The assassins were already here," Tony agreed. "Okay." He nodded. "Go home. If you unloaded any more of Dawn's guns, please fix that." She nodded, doing that on her way out. Clay was out there and took them from her since her hands were shaking. "Clay, can I get you to train the security guys? Callia and Dawn said they had a horrified awe moment."

"I can," he agreed. He looked at Callia.

"They did good getting me out of the pool and to the lab to get the other two then someone broke in and they kinda froze."

"We can train those responses into them," he assured her. He stared at her. "You okay?"

"I didn't kill him. I never want to have to kill someone. I did wound him and the other guys." Clay nodded he had seen that. "I need practice to make sure they don't see this chair as a weakness."

"They're not coming back," Tony said quietly, staring at her.

She looked at him. "You can't promise that," she mouthed.

"We'll get someone to work on your self defense once you're stronger," Pepper said. "If you're that sure." She nodded. "Tony, she starts regular school in two months," Pepper reminded him.

"Good point." He stared at her. "We can handle that. After we make sure school isn't going to wear you out too far." She nodded. "I don't want you to have to. I don't like that you did have to."

"I only jumped into one that I didn't have to," she said. "And Auntie Dawn's still sick too."

"She could have handled it," Pepper said.

"Mom, she's a bit weak too," Callia said. "Especially since her shoulder's healing from the stab wound earlier."

"We'll talk about that later," Tony decided. "During some tinkering time." She nodded and rolled off. "Take Maeve?" She grinned and took her baby sister with her. Tony looked at Pepper. "Let me get changed." She nodded, letting Chris follow him babbling about the suit. Pepper and Liz shared a smile and went upstairs to start work on dinner. Tony was always hungry after a fight. So was Steve, who was changing back when they got up there. Steve heard Liz and slammed the door. "Sorry," Tony called as he came out of the suit room.

Steve came out, staring at Tony. "Are you okay? Your comm went down."

"They had it jammed but I'm fine, Steve."

"Are you sure?"

"Yup. I was working on the recalibration but there wasn't a need by then." Steve nodded and kissed him. "We're all okay. Sit and hug the kids and Pepper." He moved to do that, after handing Callia a shirt to put on. Tony grinned at her. "Want me to check the pool?"

"I'm good, Dad." She stretched up and winced. "Ow. Maybe." He helped her onto the couch so they could all sit and cuddle. Pepper got pulled into it too once dinner was in the oven.

***

Dawn smiled at her niece. "The girls were good, right?" she asked with a grin.

"They were good as gold and the infection cleared up."

"I didn't even think that I could be bringing the flu up here," she sighed.

"Nay, not a problem." She grinned. "The ear infection cleared up well enough with some heat and some warmed oil. Mom helped and declared the girls nearly as pretty as we were." She smiled, handing her Mira. "See, there's Mommy." Mira scowled at being woken up. "She's a tiny bit grumpy."

"They all are sometimes." She kissed her niece on the cheek. "Come down soon?"

She smiled. "Aye, Thor's coming back next week." Dawn smiled and smiled at Philip when he ran over. "Go get your sister." Dawn picked up the other carrier to put it onto the stroller. They had to put the kids one by one onto the rainbow bridge. Mira nearly floated back inside instead. Artemis caught her and handed her back after kissing her on the head. Philip was holding the stroller for her when she stepped across with the cranky one. Artemis and Thor waved. Dawn smiled as she brought the kids home. Artemis looked at her husband. "I want one."

He looked at her, smiling slightly. "One what?"

"A daughter that sweet and gentle."

"Aye, we can work on that." He kissed her. "Now?"

She smirked. "A bit of practice is always good for a warrior." He laughed and took her back inside. Thor's son was sleeping, thankfully. He had adored the girls being around him. It had made him less cranky with them.

***

Dawn stepped off the end of the bridge, smiling at Baldr for having it land at Stark Towers. "Thank thee, Baldr."

"Welcome, Dawn. They'll be great warriors in a few years."

She smiled. "I hope they don't need to be."

"Aye, all parents hope tis not so." She patted him on the cheek and handed the kids over one by one because Mira tried to float back to her aunt's house.

"You're so silly," Clint said, taking her to smile at. "Trying to run away from me." She squealed at him and flailed. He grinned. "C'mon." He helped Philip across then Dawn while Natasha held Lexi. "There, all home." He put them into the stroller. "Let's go home, guys."

Stark looked over at the kids. Chris was already being babbled at by Philip. "You two can see each other tomorrow at daycare."

"But wants Chris," Philip said with a pout for his parents. "Tell him about snow."

"You can tell him about Asgard snow that never melts tomorrow," Clint said. "Don't you want to come home to have dinner with us and bath time? I'll even let Mom let you watch the show in Russian again." Philip pouted. Maeve let out a loud squeal and Philip handed her Mira, that made them both squeal and babble at each other. Lexi pouted so Clint put Mira back into the stroller and put Maeve with them. They babbled at each other.

Dawn looked at her son. "It's nearly dinner."

"No. Wants Chris."

Pepper laughed. "We knew he was as stubborn as you are," she quipped.

"Come along, Philip. We need to have dinner," Natasha said. He pouted at her, which he never did. She huffed. "Come along."

"No." He pouted. "Tell him about Thorin."

"He named his son after a dwarf?" Tony asked, looking confused.

"Thorin tiny but loud," Philip said with a grin. "He like Mira and he's loud."

"That's great since they're cousins," Clint said.

"On Asgard that's probably not a great consideration," Steve said quietly.

Clint shook his head. "It is here." Dawn stroked over his arm. He looked down at her. Then at their son. "I think Uncle Tony wants some time with the kids tonight, Philip, so you can have Chris tomorrow. And maybe we can arrange a sleepover tomorrow night for him if you're good."

Pepper and Tony shared a look and he shrugged. Steve shrugged too when they looked at him. "We can change nights," Steve said. "You get them tomorrow so we get some quiet time?"

"Go home," Tony said, taking the stroller from Dawn. "Tomorrow we can go bum your place and you can watch the kids here so we don't have to pack everyone over there."

"I can..." Callia said.

"It's not you," Tony said. "It's Maeve. Think how much stuff we'd have to cart."

She smiled. "Good point. Babies take a ton of stuff."

Dawn kissed Tony on the cheek. "You sure, boss?"

"Definitely." He made shooing motions." They fled before he changed his mind. He looked at Mira and Lexi, handing them back to Maeve. They all got happy and cuddly like baby divas.

Pepper smiled. "I'll have a lot of fun teaching these three about clothes too."

"You did a good job with Auntie Dawn and me," Callia quipped. She looked at her brother. "It'll take all of us and Liz to help him."

"Hey!" Chris complained. "I comfy."

"Uh-huh." Philip pounced her to cuddle. "Hey, Philip." She cuddled him back, getting a grin. "Go do boy things with Chris."

"Cool!" He ran off to babble at Chris while they hunted down his toys. The silly Roombas had hidden some of them on him again.

"I cleaned your room. They're all in your closet," Steve called after them.

"Silly. Rooms not supposed to be cleaned," Chris said with a grin for him. "Rooms supposed to be messy and lived in." They ran in there.

"That's what mine used to look like until you started to make the bed," Tony said dryly.

Pepper nodded. "Yes it was." Tony smiled at her. "Then again I used to have to have your sheets washed every few days whenever you brought home a bimbo."

"Which was nice," Tony said with a grin. "Meant I didn't have to smell their perfumes."

Callia looked at him. "Dad, true players have a bedroom specially for their conquests. They never bring them to *their* bed. That's reserved for their ladies, not some random ho in the club."

He stared at her. "Where did you hear that?"

"A few of the interns ragging on one."

"Uh-huh. I didn't use the master bedroom most of the time. I used the spare master bedroom suite."

Pepper nodded. "Almost always." She smiled at her eldest. "You'll only need the one bedroom."

Callia smirked back. "Maybe. Dad said I can date a few boys a year."

"Dating is different than bringing a ho home from the club," Tony said dryly. "Or the gala events."

"Good point. We'll see." She shifted.

"You could change," Steve said. "That way you're not in a bathing suit, towel, and long t-shirt."

"Then I'd have to do more laundry and put on a bra, Stepmom."

"Might be a good thing," he said. She sighed but transferred back to her chair and went to change clothes. He looked at Pepper.

"She's a tomboy like I was."

"That's good to know," he agreed. "Will she grow out of always wearing such showy things?"

Tony shook his head. "Most modern girls do wear slightly showy things. The bikinis are just easier for her to get into and out of, Steve. Even with the tiny bottoms that're easier for her to put on, most of the tops are fairly covering." He looked at Pepper. "When are you going to introduce her to bikini waxes?" he asked quietly.

"Next week. We have spa time then." He nodded at that. "Sugaring is so much nicer and easier. Waxing hurts more."

"Whatever," Tony said. "Clearly needed."

She nodded. "We've talked about it a few times. She's going to go in for the laser hair treatments."

"Great," Steve said. "Huh?"

"So she doesn't have to shave stuff," Tony said. "Like her legs, her armpits, her bikini line."

"The hair on the back of her neck," Callia said as she rolled back out. "Because that stuff's always horrible when my hair is up." She got back onto the couch. "I shaved."

"Needed it again," Tony said, giving her a hug. "You and Pepper can handle all that, daughter, and if you want laser hair treatments I'll gladly pay for them."

She looked at him and grinned. "Thanks, Dad."

"You needing to shave is freaking me out. I feel ancient."

She poked him on the arm. "You're not a grandfather."

"No, I'm not. Thank you God that I'm not." He stared at her.

She grinned. "You have two more daughters to get through."

He shivered. "Liz will be the girly girl and Maeve may be another tomboy."

"They can't have bikinis until they're eighteen," Steve complained. "And your privilege for that is revoked once you can easily put on a real bathing suit."

She looked over. "You know most of the world has topless beaches, right? That they don't care what you look like on the beach?" He choked. She smiled.

"I was her age when Dad took me to Mardi Gras," Tony said. "That was all the sex education lessons I ever needed." Pepper laughed, swatting him. "I saw things down there I didn't even know was possible. Dad had a meeting so I went to a lot of the parties on my own. That's where I learned what lesbians were." Pepper swatted him again. "Then the next year, it was during Carnivale in Rio. A lot of very pretty people on the beach, usually topless, and then partying all night." He sighed. "And that was back during the fun years before a lot of STD's."

"If you were that young, why are you so pushy about me not dating until I'm thirty?" Callia asked.

"Because you're going to learn from my bad mistake." He smiled at her. "Then you can learn all about that stuff."

She patted her father on the hand. "Daddy, I already know a lot about sex stuff. We have HBO and remember, I used to look up things when I wondered. Or don't you remember why I got grounded for looking up what circumcision meant?"

Pepper grinned. "Bruce said it was nice that Philip wondering about that was easier to answer than yours was."

"Philip can't search the 'net like I could back then," she quipped back with a smile.

"What's circumcision?" Liz asked.

"Adult boy stuff," Callia told her.

"Oh. Okay. I'll find out when I have a boyfriend then." She shrugged and went back to her tv program she was forcing them to watch since no one was paying attention to the remote.

Her father stared at her with a smirk. "I'm preserving the adult conspiracy for a bit," Callia said dryly.

"I love that your aunt got you into Xanth already," he said, giving her a cuddle.

"Just don't let Chris, Auntie Dawn, and me go to Florida together in case we find out it's real by accident that only we can do."

Xander appeared, hugging her. He handed over a box. "This is my collection," he said, smiling at her. "Since you're reading it."

"I have most of that series on my tablet, Uncle Xander, but thank you."

He smiled. "There's a special thing with reading an actual book, Callia." He kissed her on the head. "This is yours and later on your brother's library. Mine's got some broken spines and bent pages from where I've read them so often." She hugged him and looked at the books. "They're in reading order for that series." She beamed and dug in to start on the first one again. Xander disappeared. She curled up against her father's side to read, getting comfy.

"There is a difference in reading a book and on the tablet," Tony said quietly, giving her a squeeze. She smiled up at him, letting him pick out one. He settled in to read too. He had liked this series too.

Steve looked at them. "Fantasy?" Tony nodded. Steve got one of his books and settled in to read it to Liz. Pepper checked on dinner then came out to read one of her magazines. She had to be up and down too often in the next few minutes to get absorbed into a book. She glanced at the trio of babies but they were sucking on each other and taking a nap. The boys were playing quietly for a change so that was great.

***

Clint, Dawn, and Natasha came out of the tower and found people staring. "What?" Dawn asked.

"There was an attack," one of them said.

"By assassins who were weird enough to mostly all be wearing capes," Dawn quipped. "Like it was some video game. They're no longer bothering us." The crowd dispersed. Dawn leaned on Clint's arm since she was still dizzy. Natasha got them a cab fairly quickly - all the cabbies in the city loved to pick her up for some reason. They got home and went upstairs. Dawn kicked off her sneakers. That helped a lot. Since she could feel the ground, she could ground against the dizziness.

Clint kissed her. "Get naked, Dawn."

"I'm still dizzy."

"We're going to try something. If it doesn't work you can watch me and Nat play." Dawn grinned and stripped off on her way to the bedroom.

Natasha picked up the discarded clothes, shaking her head. "Messy."

Clint grinned and dropped his into the laundry basket in front of the washer. Natasha plucked them out. "Sorry."

"Those are clean." She put the basket on their dresser and shooed the cats off the bed. "Our turn, Tsarina."

Dawn laid down on the bed. "Here, Clint?"

"There's good. Nat, get naked and sit under her head. Try some of that temple rubbing stuff you learned?"

"That could help keep her from getting dizzy." She stripped off, smiling at their appreciative looks. She sat under Dawn's head, crossing her legs for Dawn to lean on them. She started with a temple rub but Dawn shook her head. Clint laid down to nibble on Dawn's throat. While she was distracted, Natasha went with a scalp rub. It helped. Dawn was a bit dizzy, they could tell, but not so much that she'd get sick. It was also keeping her calm and not letting her drown in the feelings like usual. Clint liked having to work hard though so it was all good. A bit of slow teasing was always a great thing with Dawn.

60: Visiting Old Ones

When another Xander visits this Xander to get some help from Dawn and others, things get a bit...weird.

Xander appeared in front of Dawn at her apartment. Not their Xander. He had long hair that was pulled back into a fancy braid that had twinkly things in it. He was a young Xander. He was also wearing leather pants that had subtle markings to Ares and Cupid that were tight enough that they should be praying to Strife. She smiled at him. "Hi, Xander."

"Dawn." He hugged her. "Horatio said I had to have a yard sale, so I did, but there's not much that went there."

"Present warehouse?"

"That too." He flopped down by her feet. "Did you quit working?"

"Concussion. I'm still dizzy. I start back in a few days but my spouses are off shopping." She smiled. "JARVIS, please tell Tony that GHS Xander is here."

"I can do so, Dawn," the AI said. "Mr. Stark said he wanted to see if they could figure out if there were GHS here."

"I can donate blood. Being immie I heal really fast," he said with a grin.

"I'll tell him that, Xander."

A few minutes later Tony was there at a jog. He came up to draw blood. Dawn groaned as she sat up to help. "I can do it, Dawn."

"I'm mostly okay, boss. I was kinda hoping this dizziness was going to go away faster."

"Us too. Linda's *nice* but she's so behind by your usual level."

Dawn smiled. "I've done some of it to send to Pepper." Clint and Natasha came off the elevator with the kids and groceries. "You guys remember Miami GHS Xander, right?"

Clint nodded with a grin. "Another amusement park trip? We can go even though Dawn can't."

"No, Horatio said I had to yard sale and most of the stuff I have wasn't taken there." He shrugged a bit. Tony finished drawing some blood samples and Xander grinned. "Thanks. To us you're a comic but really smart."

Tony smirked. "I am really smart and so are the kids." He tucked those samples into the case and looked at him. "Yard selling what?"

"Jewelry, clothes." He sighed. "A goat. My goats from off-world had a baby goat and it's adorable but kinda deadly. It's already tried to eat the mommy goat."

Dawn snickered. "I heard about those." She smiled at her boss. "They eat *anything*. Human, not human, anything."

Tony looked at her oddly then at Xander. "Why?"

"They use them as a food source, and they do taste really good, but also some places as a test of manhood. You go in with a knife and come out alive, you're a man."

Tony nodded slowly. "I'd like to study that."

"They're huge goats," Dawn said with a smile. "Six foot at the shoulder."

"Their people usually eat them rare with bread to pick them up, sometimes with sauces. Kinda middle easterny in flavor and style but not exactly the same."

Tony nodded. "I'd love to look at the goat. Totally respectfully of course."

"Sure. That's just one huge problem that I don't have to handle." He grinned and got into the bag he had brought with him, pulling out the baby goat. "It's sedated." Tony looked in the bag then at him. Xander grinned. "I found them off-realm. If it fits through the opening it fits inside. There's a stasis field in there so nothing ages or goes bad. But if it gets a hole everything disappears."

"Dawn, study those," Tony ordered, taking the goat. "How long before it wears off?"

"Probably about three hours based on the adults when we have to pump their stomachs because they ate someone. Give it a hershey bar and they go into humming happy times." He grinned and petted it. "It's a good goat. It's very cuddly, but then it'll nibble whoever is cuddling it."

"I'll keep that in mind." He stood up. "Let me get these back to the lab and I'll let Dawn and Pepper help you set up stuff."

Their Xander appeared, staring at his counterpart. "Want to hang out at the temple? That way there's guards and no one who means harm can get in?"

Xander grinned. "I'll be there later."

"Sure." He hugged him and looked at the goat. "I still like the guys who think they should be sent to Afghanistan with a bunch of New York sewer rats to clear out the caves." He disappeared to tell Phil his other part was there. "Phil, Miami GHS Xander is in to yard sale stuff and just gave Stark a baby goat." Phil shivered. That was probably a bad sign.

Tony shook his head. "No one should attack you here. They're all scared of Dawn." He winked and left, taking the goat back to the tower. Once he walked in, he called his biologists to meet him. "Guys, another Alexander in another realm got sent a breeding set of goats from his off-world area." They stared at him. He grinned. "Supposedly they eat anything. Including people. I'm told chocolate sends them into happy times according to that Xander. Bruce!" he called, spotting him. "Two things. Off-world goat from another Xander's realm." Bruce looked at it. "Grows to be about six foot at the shoulder. Apparently is omnivorous and eats people too. Someone wanted to send it to Afghanistan to clean out the caves with some local sewer rats. Also." He handed over the blood. "High hormone and pheremone problem that leads to that Xander being wanted more than Godiva chocolates on Valentine's day by Pepper. See if you can find it and why?"

"I can try." He petted the goat. "It's adorable." He smiled as the goat blinked at the petting people. It made a kind of bleating/mooing noise then bit someone, humming as it chewed on her finger. He and Tony pried the finger out while the other biologists sent the wounded, crying biologist to the infirmary. "Okay, it eats people."

"That Xander said they go into a pen with one and a knife as a test of manhood and if you come out alive you're a man."

Their Xander appeared with a grin, smirking at the goat. It tried to bite him. "Try it again." It did and bit some power instead. It bleated/mooed again and wiggled. He created a stick with leaves for it. It was just as happy with that as it had been with the finger. "They will eat *anything* except maybe wasabi peas. That Xander said one of his goats threw some up when one of the farm hands tried to feed him some." They nodded at that. "They taste really good. They're really tender goats. They're also very disease resistant, bred that way, and adapt beautifully to almost any environment. No one's tried to raise them underwater yet."

He grinned. "They come out nursing and the mother kicks them off the tit when they try to eat her instead of the milk. Usually literally." The scientists nodded, staring at him. "GHS is an uncontrollable surge of pheromones. They go up, you get pounced. You get stolen. You get kept as a human kitty cat until they tire of you. There's over two thousand in his US. They have a support group, conventions, all that."

"I can look," Bruce promised. "Is there any way to keep it from eating people?"

"Nope. They have electrified muzzles and it still doesn't always work. They're sneaky little shits too." He disappeared because the baby goat was trying to bite him.

"Okay, let's set up a lab so we can watch his behavior and response to various foods," Tony decided. Bruce nodded. "We can let the biologists help after they're done helping that one." They got a spare room set up to keep the goat safe and secure, mining it with cameras, sensors, and adapted a Roomba to go in to pick up after it so they could test the poop and pee. Tony even got it hay to pad the floor for it. It liked that. They put some into a bucket. The goat ate the bucket first then the extra hay. By then most of the biologists were back up there and watching it. They came up with all sorts of things to expose it to as a food source so they could test it.

***

Callia rolled up to the viewing window, hitting a button. Chris had put a seat lift kit on her chair for her. She adored her baby brother sometimes. She stared at the goat. "Wow. It's adorable."

"It's deadly," one of the biologists said. Her whole arm was bandaged. "I reached in to give it some corn."

Callia looked at her then at the goat. "Okay, so it's a cannibal goat." The others all nodded. She stared. "What are we going to do with it when we've figured it out?"

"Someone mentioned sending it to Afghanistan to clear out the cave district," the bandaged one quipped. "We know it's bulletproof and eats them too. One of the guards tried to shoot it to get it off me."

"Huh. We need to know how. Is it their fur?"

"No, it's their musculature," Tony said as he walked behind her. "Not sure yet if we'll keep it as a Stark pet or not." They all nodded and someone opened the feeding door and shoved in a hershey bar then watched the goat eat it and start to hum and sway. They ran in to sedate it and took it down for CT scans. By the time it was waking up it was back in there with a totally cleaned up room and some new food stuffs to try. They had to do it that way since it had eaten the little Roomba that was to clean up after it.

Callia put her seat back down and rolled after her father. "What did their original people do with it?"

"Ate it."

"Oh, okay." She followed him into his lab to do something. She was bored. Her PT had called her off today and she was tired anyway, bordering on cranky. Her father stared at her. "It's too windy and cold to swim and I've already done my stretches and stuff."

"Good." He settled down to go over her latest design. He had some questions and she was having bad idea syndrome again since it was to make people have sudden spinal pain to stop muggers. He had to make sure this didn't turn her bitter and slightly closer to evil.

***

Dawn smiled at the two people there to meet with her. "Xander's coming back in a minute."

"Alexander?"

"Another him from another realm." Both Xander's showed up and they stared. She smiled. "Xander has a hormone condition that makes him the specially wanted kitty cat in his realm. He's not the only one but his is never-ending some days." They nodded, shaking his hand and talking to him about his goals and needs in this case. She looked at the other Xander. "Any hope of a healing spell?" she asked quietly.

He kissed her on the head. "'Sclep said it's been too long." She pouted. "I know but it's getting better."

"The longer it goes on, the less likely I won't have residual problems," she said quietly.

He smiled. "We'll handle it if you do." She nodded then held her head. He worked on the tense neck muscles, making her more dizzy but she at least wasn't having muscle cramps.

That other Xander looked over. "What happened?"

"Concussion is making me eternally dizzy," she said.

"Poor Dawn." He hugged her. "I'll see if potions making Xander has a clue how to help." She grinned. He went back to showing them the inventory.

"Philip, come help Mommy sort stuff," she called. He came out of his room rubbing his eyes. "I'm sorry, were you napping?" she asked with a grin and a cuddle for him. He nodded. They got into Xander's bag of holding and pulled out the jewels to look through. He helped her sort them by color and then by size. He was really good at that. The good sized footlocker was followed by a large lock box. The two women from the auction houses moaned.

"Think how I feel. They're given to me by people who want to own me like I'm their toy and won't take them back when I say no," that Xander complained. "I leave them in a warehouse and don't touch them until they take them back or my financial guy says I have to do a tax audit then I sell them. Though I get over half of them back and the

auction houses around me are getting tired of GHS members at times. We talked with a few notable houses and they all got pissed off that so many stones were coming onto the market. We pointed out they didn't have to and we went to jewelry stores first. They could hold them forever for all we cared."

"How many are from your earth?"

Xander shrugged. "At least twenty percent. There's a few demon realms that mine, and two that have dragons that drop stones. They're usually very shiny ones. They kinda lay them like eggs." They nodded at that. "One type of them poop the stones and those I don't usually like. They tend to be softer and need a treatment to get harder. They all check out as real stones, chemically and not, no matter where they're from. There's a few I get from an off-world source and they've got a difference. They have a version of a diamond that's really super shiny and hard. It's called an eternity stone. I have no idea how they break them because they can't really be cut like diamonds can. They won't cut themselves."

Dawn found one and held it up. Xander took it to look at and nodded. "Xander, this blue kinda sapphire looking one?"

He looked. "That's another off-world one. So's the green and red." She handed over those samples. "These are the off-world ones."

They looked at them. "Miss Summers, can we get your boss to run an analysis of these to test against our local composition?"

"Sure. JARVIS, can you ask Tony that?"

"I have and he said he's fascinated and wondering if those eternity stones can be used in laser applications."

"Can't be polished that I know of," Xander said. "So not real sure." They went back to looking at them while Dawn and Philip sorted. Tony showed up a few minutes later to look them over. "Somewhere in there I have the stuff the genius guy on Atlantis found when I showed them to him." Dawn found it in the bag and handed it over. They pulled out the rest of the clothes.

Tony looked over. "No wonder you can't just donate those. They won't take leather."

"No they won't. Or the dress pants. Actually a few of the donation places in Miami refuse to take them from me because I'm gay. One church because they heard I get weapons off the underground to keep them safely out of people's hands. They consider me evil."

Tony shook his head. "I won't comment on some people who feel self-important that way. Will we, Dawn?"

"I swore a lot about some of those sort," she quipped. "One of them tried to block me from donating to Dress For Success because I was me."

Their Xander shook his head. "Those sort annoy me to no end. One was trying to picket the temple. I sent the soldiers down to nag her about her delusions." He settled in to look over the bag. The rest of everything got pulled out because he found a spot that was starting to fray. Xander helped. They all moaned.

"Oh, Tony, prototype someone gave me that I have no idea what it does. I had someone send it to me." He handed it over with a grin. "All I know is that they *really* wanted it out of bad hands and our McKay is somewhere I can't give it to him, which is what I do with prototypes that might be dangerous. That's what I did with our various sonic nuclear bombs when I was taking them out of the bad hands."

He looked it over, nodding. "I can figure out what this does," he promised with a grin. "And it will be safe in my hands." He took all the samples with him to test in the lab and to go over that pretty launching weapon. It had a few missiles so he tested one on the usual Stark testing range in New Jersey. It turned out to launch and then shoot lasers from the little spikes it shot out. Tony's mouth hung open and he stared. "I need to improve that." He gathered them and took them home to look at how they did what they did. They could still discharge lightly, barely at taser strength, but the single beams before had destroyed buildings. He so needed something like this when he was younger. He needed to see if the people who made it there were designing weapons here to make sure they were with someone good.

Dawn smiled at Tony's text message of awe. "He said it's really hot and he wants to know who made it."

"I don't know. I've been asking." She nodded, texting that back to him. She showed him the testing video. "Wow. I need to find out a whole lot." He shook himself and got back to working on the dealing that he needed to do. Dawn could help him a lot and if they couldn't take them all, he'd go talk to book nerd, curse breaking Xander. He had to have good ties with Gringotts and could maybe help him too. That Xander might even have ideas of someone who could keep up with him too. Because he desperately needed a boyfriend with stamina. Though, he did keep himself from drooling all over Dawn's husband. He was absolutely adorable!

***

Dawn smiled as she sat down behind her desk for the first day back at work. Beya was back from vacation and had the girls since they had teething fevers. Philip was in daycare playing with Chris. She had a few things they had to make plans for. Natasha was ignoring all her suggestions that they talk about school. Clint wasn't sure how one picked a school beyond signing their kid up for the public schools. Which Dawn was not tolerating. Maybe if they were in North Dakota, somewhere kids in kindergarten didn't feel the need to be armed.... But not in New York City. Or LA. She grinned as one of her contacts came off the elevator. "Got the final paperwork for Xander?"

"I do. Our head board wasn't sure if we should but I explained why and they said it was uncommon but hopefully wouldn't become an issue?"

"I think whatever doesn't come out here is going to another Xander that's a curse breaker and he can use his contacts on some."

"That'll probably help." She handed over the folder. Dawn looked them over and got Xander up from looking over the baby goat.

"They've been feeding it way too much. She's getting fat," Xander said as he joined them with a grin.

"They might try to breed her with a human standard goat," Dawn said.

"I'm not sure if you can or not." He shook his head quickly. "Human parent's smaller size, Mommy's mouth and teeth?"

"Maybe," Dawn agreed. She let him have the forms after looking them over. She pointed at one clause for him. "That one's a bit odd."

Xander looked at her. "Twenty percent?"

"We might negotiate down."

Xander shrugged and signed it, handing it back. "I won over sixty mil at poker last year."

"Please don't teach Dawn that habit," Pepper called from her desk.

Dawn grinned at her then at Xander. "I only play kitten poker but I'm pretty darn good at it."

He hugged her. "I can teach you." He shook the other lady's hand and they went to arrange things. "What about the clothes?"

"Well, I've got them at the dry cleaner, as you know. I told them you had a hormone problem and were donating them so they had to make sure they were clean of all sweaty stuff." He smiled at her for that. "The leather stuff.... there's a few places in LA. Connor's talking to them for me with Faith."

"I like Faith."

"We like Faith too." Xander grinned at her. "The rest, I can get with our Salvation Army contacts and Dress For Success the suitier things." He nodded. "So we'll figure it out."

"That's great, Dawn. Thank you!" He hugged her. "No little guys?"

"Beya's got the girls because they have teething fevers. Philip's down in daycare with Tony's son."

"Cool. Think he'd mind?"

"No, go read to the guys." He grinned and went to do that. She sent a text message to Tony saying she had given Xander permission to go read to the boys. And that the goat was getting fat but he wasn't sure about crossbreeding. He sent back a 'fine, and we can test that'. Dawn smiled at the researcher progress report on the goat that got delivered to her by Linda, who was doing her lab rounds today. "Thanks, Linda."

"Welcome, Dawn."

Dawn read over it, copying it for Xander. He'd get a kick out of that. She sent a note to them that she had given Xander a copy of the preliminary report in case they had more baby goats come into being. They said that was fine if Stark didn't mind. He said he didn't so that was even better. Dawn sent them in to Pepper on a summoned Roomba and it was good.

Pepper burst out laughing, coming out. "They named the baby goat after Natasha?"

"Yup." They shared a grin. "She probably would kill whoever was trying to mate with her like a black widow spider."

"Awww." Pepper went to tell Tony that. He got a kick out of it too. Natasha would probably pout but that was okay.

***

Dawn limped in that night and laid down with a sigh. "I forgot how hard I worked even when I didn't move from my desk."

Clint handed Philip a bottle of water and pointed. He carried it over. "Here, Mommy."

"Thanks, Philip. Did you guys have fun playing with Xander?"

Philip gave her an evil smirk. "Whole lots. He even told us how he made his hairpins." He beamed and hugged her. "You rest. We make dinner."

"Okay. Thank you and Daddy." She smiled at Clint, who grinned back. "Where do you want to go to school?"

"With Chris?"

"Chris is being home schooled and we don't have the time to do that with you, kiddo. If I could I would." She sipped her water. "Get Mommy the big yellow book." She pointed. "Not the phone book, the other one." He brought it over. She turned to the page of schools that listed kindergartens. "This is all the schools we have to pick from. Most of them you're within limits since your birthday's after the cutoff date. We have three months to pick and do applications."

Philip took that to his father to show him. "Whole lots, Daddy."

He looked. "There are a lot. Waiting lists?"

"Already crossed out." She sipped more of her water. Natasha came off the elevator pouting. "What happened? Did you miss a target?"

"They named that goat after me."

"Natasha, the thing's cutely deadly," Dawn quipped with a smile. "It was being adored and bit a finger off. They gave it a good name."

"I'm not cute."

"No, you're adorable because you're an adult," she said with a smile. "Feel honored. You were the most deadly thing they could name it after."

She shivered and kissed Dawn. "Nauseous again?"

"Elevators again." She finished her water. "Help Clint pick schools to visit." Natasha grimaced. "We have three months. If he's not in a decent one, he can't get into a decent middle school or high school." Clint winced. "He's got a school fund."

"Good!" Clint agreed. "One's twenty-five thousand a semester! It's not marked off."

"They have a very short waiting list and it's a decent school academically. A lot of kids go there for the name recognition. It's not on my preferred list. Siton is." He looked at that one then at her. "Good school, has distance learning if we're on the other coast. It's three blocks from SHIELD so you can bring him in the morning and we can figure out picking him up. Chris, if he's going to a normal school, would probably like that one."

"Want to go with Chris," Philip whined.

Dawn stared at him. "I don't have the time off to teach you like Uncle Tony did with Callia and Liz, Philip. If I did I would. You'd have already been taking classes." Philip pouted at his favorite mommy, who hugged him.

"Are there any cheap, good schools?" Clint asked.

"Two catholic ones," she said dryly. "They're both ten a year." Clint shuddered. "The cheapest of the cheap, the ones above city public future prison centers, don't get you into better middle or high schools unless you pass a huge test and then that's at the genius level."

Clint grimaced. "Can we home school?"

"Sure, if one of you quit," Dawn quipped with a smile.

"Can't," he muttered. "Which ones do SHIELD kids go to?"

"None of those. Most of them are home schooled."

"Fuck," he mouthed. He looked them over again. "Why Siton?"

"They have a good general education. They're a bit pushy but not too pushy. They accept kids who are multi-lingual and offer language courses in second grade if you want them. They still have recess. They have on-site security teams, real ones not rent a cop ones. They're close to your work. Our daycare can pick them up after school."

Clint flipped back to their page and went back to stirring the pasta he was working on. "They've got pretty decent B level ratings."

"The A level are the hugely expensive," Dawn reminded him. "Half of those are on name recognition, not on test scores."

He looked at that category. "Still B range but higher B range." He flipped back to look at the A level range schools. They were all a lot more expensive, usually farther away, and the kids in their pictures were clearly on drugs. They looked maniacally happy in the wrong way. "What's this note you wrote in?"

Dawn looked at it when Natasha handed it over. "Oh, they often send to a high school that has an evil genius track." She handed it back. Both spies stared at her. "Seriously. Of the 'so you want to take over a corporation and then the world' sort. They're good. Jamira, the new hostile takeover CEO at the tech company in the Hamptons? She went there. Her senior project was to take over that company in the hostile manner. I heard she got a B because she had problems with it and they tried to fight her."

Clint's mouth opened. He finally texted Maria Hill to see if she knew about that. She laughed until she looked it up then thanked him for giving them a new list to start. Dawn smirked at him. "You know that assistant Doom has, the one that's been with him for ten years and he never even tries to kill? She went there. Her senior project was to try to overthrow him from what I heard. He was amused and took her in when she nearly managed it." Clint typed that at Hill. She looked it up and ramped up their threat profile. Dawn smiled. "So we don't want him to go there."

"No, we don't," Clint agreed, hugging his son. "You're normally evil, not evil that way." His son beamed.

"I should see if any of them want to become agents," Natasha said. "We could channel that into undercover operatives." She texted that to Maria, who said that was mean but a socially acceptable use for their skills. "What about where Callia's going?" Natasha asked.

"Long Island," Dawn countered. Natasha grimaced. "Yeah! Someone's going to end up commuting."

"Damn," Clint muttered. "Stark needs to start a school." He sent that at him. Stark sent back that they had a little over a year before he started. He let Dawn answer that since he had no idea about birthday cutoffs and the like. He looked at the list. "Let's interview anyone B and up?"

"That's sixty-two schools," Natasha noted. "Do we have time for that? Even within a few week timeline?"

"No," he admitted. He looked and ranked them, crossing some out. He left Dawn's even though it fell outside of his limits. "Is he on any lists?"

"Yes. He's on two lists," Dawn said, getting up slowly and carefully to come point them out. "He has not a hope in hell of passing on either since I've just learned that their new headmasters hate kids who are multi-lingual even if the parents are for work purposes."

"Hmm." Clint crossed them out. Dawn uncrossed one and crossed out one of his choices. "Why?"

"Upper crust Klan breeding ground. Every now and then you see the blonde twins on tv that are going off about immigrants doing good in the real world of business? They go there."

He nodded, doubly crossing them out. "Okay. The one where the kids went to daycare? It's creepy but Tara seemed to like it." Dawn pointed. "Tara's choice?"

"No openings in his year. They cut down admissions and quit taking applications last year." She crossed out a few more. "Those don't either. Not even a waiting list. We're at least a year too late on them." That narrowed it down to twelve.

"We can visit all twelve," he decided. "And move backwards if we have to while adding to his fund." Dawn nodded, tasting the pasta and draining it. He took over, kissing her. "Go sit down." She smiled and did that. She had tried to set the table last night and nearly broken all the glasses when she had a dizzy fit.

"We are not on call this week," Natasha said.

"You're welcome," Dawn quipped. "They all have nighttime tours."

Clint nodded. "Any that'll hate us for our job or yours?"

"One still on the list. Unfortunately the one I like." They nodded and got down to finishing dinner. Philip was hungry, he was sucking on Natasha's wrist while he watched his father make the sauce.

***

Tony looked over at Dawn the next morning. She was wearing something wild. "Did you go on safari?" he demanded, staring at her.

She looked at herself then at him. "Mini witch on the street who laughed hard and had her mother paddle her." She went to the bathroom and came out in her normal clothes. "I needed a mirror to make sure I got all of it." She settled into her seat. "We're interviewing schools this week."

"I remember the 'you should start a school' complaint."

"We have twelve on the list to look at and we'll move backward if we have to."

Tony grimaced. "Why?"

"Closed lists in some cases. If I was willing to pay fifteen grand a semester I have an automatic in with one school. Steph, remember her?" He nodded. "Her daughter goes there and she said she'd write Philip a recommendation."

He blinked. "Wow."

"Yeah."

"I'm glad hers is reasonable." He walked off shaking his head. Maybe he should start a home school program for the kids. "Hey, Dawn, don't you need projects for your PhD?"

"I've already got the diss done and I'm having it formally proofread by someone."

"Really?" he asked. "I could."

"You're busy. You have that expo in ten months, boss."

He huffed but went to look over those things. He could get a copy of her dissertation to look over. Someone in his people was proofreading it for her so that was nice. He read it over, making his own notes. Dawn really needed to create an educational model for them. He went to talk to her about it. She had no idea how she'd do that. He talked her into giving him a list of ideas and books. That she might be able to do.

***

Xander showed up in the middle of Dawn being in a battle. He frowned and called artillery, using it against the giant robotic pandas. "Did they watch the wrong movie?" he asked her.

She nodded. "Apparently." She was holding her head. "I'm going to puke soon. Can you cover for me?" He nodded and threw a pretty spell that made all the pandas burn. She puked and he helped clean things up. Stark flew up and landed. "I'm okay," she said, flapping a hand.

"As shown by the contents of lunch coming up," he shot back. "Hey, Xander."

"Hi, Mr. Stark."

"Tony, Xander." Xander grinned at him. He looked around. "Barton's at the other site. There he is. Cross, get her back to her desk please." He nodded, coming up to get her with Xander. He flew back down to Cap's side. "Dawn's going back to her desk."

"That's fine. Who was that?"

"Another Xander from another realm." He sounded smug. "He had to get some Dawn help." Tony flew off to check on the other battle with the giant robotic pandas that liked to step on people.

Cap looked around. "Let me hit the other site." The SHIELD agents helping them nodded so he went that way.

***

Dawn flopped down. "Thanks, guys. Aaron, this is not our Xander but a Xander."

"Hi." He smiled and shook his hand. "You look like Clint, family?"

"Kinda." He smiled. "You're not godly, right? He's a bit...bouncy."

"He is," Xander agreed with a grin. "So am I."

"You need new boyfriend," Dawn said in Latin, staring at him. He nodded that was true. "Aaron, do you know anyone who might like to have dinner with Xander? He needs a new boyfriend."

"Not right off the top of my head but I'll see. I don't know too many people." Xander was blushing. He grinned. "Let's go look at your baby goat? I heard things about it."

"Sure." He walked him down there, talking about his pets.

Dawn took some nausea medicine and relaxed. That helped and she could take off her shoes. Her shoes made her really dizzy. When Benji showed up to scowl at her she hugged him and introduced him to Xander too. Xander grinned and shook his hand, charming him. They talked about his animals and Aaron fussed over Dawn until Clint got there. She always fussed over any injury he had so he could quietly hover and make sure she had some nicely cold water and what she needed so she quit throwing up. He smiled when Benji and Xander went out to dinner. He and Dawn shared a smile and she got back to work while he watched over her.

Clint came off the elevator, kissing Dawn on the head. "Benji and Xander are having a good laugh together."

"They're cute."

Clint grinned. "Good. Benji could use some happies and so could that Xander. I would've shot his boyfriends for treating him that way." He kissed her for real. "Stomach?" She nodded. "That figures." He let her relax and get back to work, walking Aaron off to talk to him about how that battle had went. Ethan stomped up to them a few hours later while they were nibbling through dinner since Dawn was working late to go over a needed agreement that Linda hadn't gotten to that had to be done by the next day. "What's up, Ethan?"

"There's been three different arms dealers that have come up to Benji and that Xander," he complained. "Xander looked at them and said he was having dinner with someone so two of them said they'd see him tomorrow. The other tried to keep flirting so Xander said that he might have grown up lower class but he appreciated good manners. That one huffed off and might come back to kidnap him."

"Xander dates like Dawn used to. You remember the briefing I gave you on Dawn's dating problems?" Ethan growled but nodded. "That Xander has the same sort of problem only people kidnap him to try to own him due to his hormones."

"Does Dawn have that condition?"

"We've tested on their kits and no," Clint said dryly, eating a fry. "They just draw the same sort of guys. Are he and Benji having a good dinner?"

"If he dates like that....."

"No, that's the guys that like Xander. Xander likes them sweeter, more spoiling, and accepting spoiling. People who want to be there for him and with him, not just for his ass, money, or weapons." Ethan huffed but sat down. "He needs a guy like Benji all the time. One who wants to talk to him, to show him things, to be shown things, to do things. To play with him sometimes and to help him protect himself from the Xander butt wanting committee they have there. If there's a Benji in his realm I hope he goes to see if he's the same sort of nice."

Ethan frowned. "It's weird. Is our Xander like that?"

"You know he dated a thousand-year-old former vengeance demon, right?" Aaron quipped.

"Ours isn't as drawing of those sort but yeah. He's got a bit. That's why Dawn was so happy he found a mate in Phil, who was just as dangerous when he wants to be," Clint agreed. "We need to make sure that Xander isn't taken like he is at home. He's ruined a few realms that he's been taken to. And a few middle eastern palaces," Clint said. He considered it. "We really do have to step up security around him." His phone beeped. "Speaking of, there's Natasha." He read the email. "Aww, she picked up the kids for us." He went back to his dinner.

"You guys are insane," Aaron said.

"Nat needs some quiet time. Mira likes to hear her read." He grinned. "Dawn's doing a lot even though she can't really walk in shoes due to the dizziness."

"They make lower heeled shoes," Ethan complained.

"Not in Dawn's size," Clint said dryly. "We cannot find a single pair beyond the ones that fall apart while she's wearing them in Singapore or the stripper shoe company here."

"There's people that custom make shoes to fit your feet," Aaron said.

"For about nine hundred bucks a pair," Clint said. "Which Dawn says she is not paying."

"Dawn has buggering money to spare," Benji said as he and Xander walked up to their tables. Xander was smiling. He looked at Ethan. "Find a couch if me dating is going to upset you that way."

"Only the guys who came up to try to get you out of the picture," he said. "I'm happy if you're happy. But the only one who gets you shot is me."

"I'm not poaching, right?" Xander asked, looking at Benji.

"No, he's a bit possessive of his teammates. There's plenty that were wondering if he had taken up with a not-Barton too."

"Not me," Aaron said with a grin.

Xander smiled at him. "That's okay. I'm used to people doing screwy things. You haven't lived until you've been taken by a general to make you into his perfect little soldier that was also making zombies."

Clint looked at him. "I can't even imagine."

"He was special projects and working with some spooks I knew in Miami." He shrugged. "Can I move here?"

"Sure," Clint agreed with a grin. "As long as you're responsible and you make Dawn go shopping with you instead of me. I like shopping with her but I get frustrated too easily."

"I can do that. I need a new shopping buddy. Sam and Dean hate to go with me. Wade avoids it a lot." He looked at Benji. "I could bring the horses and the dogs and the Winchesters and maybe Clay's team because I'd miss Jensen and Cougar?"

"We have them here," Aaron said. "Xander had me break some of the trainees a few classes ago."

Xander beamed at him. "Really?" He looked at Benji. "I can find a way to displace the whole house for a few hours so I can move the bed."

Benji hugged him. "Let's figure out if you have more than another good friend." Xander pouted but nodded. Benji grinned. "You never know, I might go back with you for a good vacation. Could use one." He nudged Xander, who smiled and nodded, taking him to do something fun.

"That reminds me, I have to ask Dawn what she did with that money from the lawsuit," Clint said, eating another fry. His phone beeped with a text message so he looked at it. "No, Natasha, he's not a diva. He's your son," he said, calling her instead of texting back. "What happened?" He listened. "No, he's allowed to do that, Nat. Put him on. What did you want to do?" He listened. "Yes you can. Mommy and I applaud you doing that. Sure, you can have a girl bath for a while. Let her bathe the girls first and put them down. Then you can read in the tub like she does. You can't bring in her e-reader but you can bring in a kid book, Philip, or a few magazines."

He grinned. "Yes, you can have bubbles. Sure, hand the phone back. Love you too and I'll be home in about an hour, once I get your Mom from work. No, Linda, her new assistant, didn't get something done so she's got to do it tonight. She'll be done soon." He nibbled while Philip handed the phone back. "You taught him to like girl baths, Nat." Aaron was trying not to laugh. Clint smiled at him and Ethan. "He can bring in a few of the non-heirloom quality books or a few magazines and have bubbles, just like his favorite mommy does. And the other mommy too for that matter."

He listened. "He can use ours. I told him you had to get the girls down first. Sure, we should be there by the time you get them down for the next few hours." He hung up, tucking his phone back into his pocket and sending a thought at Dawn. Who yelled at Natasha for trying to make their son hate baths. He calmed them both down and repeated that his son was allowed to have a bubble bath, all kids had bubble baths sometimes. Then he let them go and told Dawn to tell him when she was done. He shook his head. "My son wanted a girl bath to read in and have bubbles."

"All kids like bubbles," Aaron said with a shrug.

Ethan nodded. "I remember having a few way back when."

Clint smirked. "No comment." He finished his dinner. They paid and went to pick up Dawn since she had to be nearly done. She had a few pages left to type but Clint waited by checking on the goat. And then having to go find the goat that had eaten through the food chute and gotten free.

Dawn tapped her phone's button to get the intercom. "People, the baby goat is free," she announced. "If you spot it, call security or Clint please. Before it eats someone." She hung up and got back to work. She winced when she heard Callia shriek. "Oh, not her pets," she muttered.

Clint came back with the Tony cat, who was purring while being petted. "The thing likes the cats. She was giving all five of the cats a ride and growling at Xander puppy. Who was barking at her." He handed him to Callia, who was following them.

"Thank you for saving them from the nibbing goat, Uncle Clint. I'd have to find out how they tasted if she had hurt my furry family." She rolled off with the cats. The dog was following her. She came off the elevator in the penthouse. "Daddy, you need to secure your goat better," she complained. "And I need a lab sooner so the cats don't go wandering around the general lab floor again. The goat liked to let them ride her," she said at Pepper's worried look. "It was going to eat my dog though."

"I'll make note of that," Tony said. "It might like MB's evil yellow puffball." He helped her calm down her pets with Chris and Liz.

Dawn smiled at Clint and finished her work in a few minutes. "I'll need to proofread it tomorrow." She locked her system after doing a backup and sticking that into her desk safe. She got helped up from her chair and leaned on Clint's arm, grinning at him. "Ethan, coming home with us? Aaron?"

"Sure," Aaron said. "Has to be better than cable tv." Dawn smiled. "Still dizzy?" She nodded. "Hopefully it'll be soon."

"When I first woke up I couldn't even blink," she said. "Now I can almost walk but don't stand in front of me in the elevator please." They wisely stood behind her. They were halfway to the garage when her phone beeped a warning. She sighed and hit the button to go back up. She came off and took her husband's gun - Natasha wasn't letting her carry one until she wasn't dizzy - and pointed it at the person in her desk. "Really?" He froze, blinking at her. She smiled. "Hi."

"Who're you?"

"You're in my desk and you don't know who I am?" she quipped with a smile. "Security to my desk before I make the maintenance guys repaint my walls please." They ran off the next elevator less than a minute later. "He asked me who I was and yet he's in my desk safe, guys." They nodded, taking him off. Dawn handed back the gun after clicking on the safety. She smiled and waved. "Don't worry, I have a frustrated wife who would probably *love* coming to see who you really are." He struggled but they carried him off. They went back down and Nat met them at the doorway. "The girls down?" she asked, taking a kiss.

"Yes. Coulson is there for ten minutes." Dawn nodded, letting Clint drive them home. Natasha went up to security to see that person. She stared at him. "I'm surprised Clint didn't remember you," she said. "Richard."

"Natasha," he said with a slight nod. "What are you doing here? I didn't know you worked for Stark. I thought you went corporate at SHIELD, not here."

"You just pissed off my wife and husband." The guy blinked. She smirked. "And I am with SHIELD. She's with Stark." He groaned. "Why were you getting into her desk safe?"

"She has information on a few people I need to know about." She stared at him, lounging in the doorway. "Truth!" he protested, holding up his hands.

Gamble leaned over Natasha's shoulder. "Where's my half-brother?"

"The house, Gamble." She called and Gamble's phone beeped with a text message. "She did a Fidelus with Xander."

Gamble blinked. "I thought the house was there. Thanks. Need help?"

Natasha stared at him. "Did you just ask me that?" He grinned. "Dawn's probably eating dinner while our son decides if he's going to read for a long time tonight in his bubble bath that his father is allowing him to have."

"Great." He went that way. The guy in the security cell/closet was laughing until he choked. She must've hit him. He ran into Barnes and nodded. "She's up talking to a spy sort in a closet."

"Aren't you wanted by the LAPD?" Bucky demanded.

Brian Gamble smiled at him. "So? I need my half-brother. I ran into one of his former posse." He jogged off. He saw a few photographers. "Not Clint, bitches. Stop it." They pouted and one huffed.

Barnes went up to Security, shaking his head. "Natasha?" She quit kissing him. "Dawn's going to make me watch her kill you."

"He started it." Her phone beeped with the message of 'he's a dead man' but it was from Clint's phone. She told him who it was. Clint reminded her he still owed him a bullet to the balls. She said he could come back and do that. Suddenly a magical bullet appeared and hit the guy in the balls. "Or you could have Dawn do it for you," she muttered. She shook her head, putting her phone back into her pocket. "He wanted information Dawn had on someone."

"She's probably got files on a few people he might want," Barnes said dryly. "I know I found one recently when she handed it to me." He stared at the writhing man. "Who did you want intel on?"

"That other Xander," he moaned. "Make it stop!"

"You're lucky she didn't use the digging bullet someone came up with. It slowly drills its way up to your heart," Natasha said with a smile. "She's got good aim for being constantly nauseous." The medical team showed up. "Clint said he owed him a bullet to the balls for a past grievance. One appeared."

"I love Dawn giving us work," Dr. Pigalli quipped with a grimace. "Nicely clean shot. You still have one ball, sir." They hauled him down to the infirmary. "Quit whining before I feed you to the goat."

Barnes looked at Natasha. "Other Xander?"

"One from another realm. Apparently his hormone condition makes people want to own him as a favored concubine."

"Oh." He nodded once. "Damn glad I don't have that."

"I still wonder if perhaps we missed a lighter version of that condition on Dawn and the children." She sighed and walked off, going to talk to her son about his love of bubble baths. "Any idea how to get my son out of his bubbles?"

"He got it from you," Bucky complained. He went to his apartment to bury his head under his pillow and not come out until New York had sense and Dawn wasn't dizzy. He could put up with her insanity but since she was sick it had spread to Natasha and Clint. Usually they were more resistant.

***

Benji walked up to Dawn's desk the next afternoon, smiling. "Did you not just receive a crap-sucking level of money?"

"A what?" Pepper called. She came to the doorway. "How are you feeling, Benji?"

"I'm mostly good. Still a few headaches now and then, Pepper," he said with a smile. "Xander, that one, and I worked out a scale of wealth last night. She's more than rich enough to pay someone to suck the crap from her butthole if she wanted to." Pepper burst out laughing. He looked at Dawn.

"I may or may not be, but some's went into things like the retirement account and investments. I just expanded the farms in Belgium and France. Plus given Craig a bit to play with."

"Uh-huh. Why do you stress over getting custom shoes made then?"

"Because I'm too practical to pay that much for shoes."

"Did I not get you the slippers when you were pregnant that helped tons?"

She held up a foot. "They still are. Thank you." She smiled.

"Hurry up. Pepper, can she have a lunch now?"

"She had a lunch but she's only on part time for the next few weeks due to her own head." She took Dawn's laptop to look at. "Why are you doing that? It's already done."

"It was done. I can't find it," Dawn said. "Or the one behind it."

She looked. "Both of those are on my desk, Dawn. I printed them out this morning on you." She went to make sure, letting her see them.

Dawn frowned. "I had hellish typos."

"I think Linda had typos. I'll correct it."

"They're nearly done. Benji, can you wait for twenty to chew on me for being practical?"

"Fine." He sat down with one of her fashion magazines. "What're you wearing to the gala?"

"Blue fire." He looked at her. She smiled. "I am."

"You'll spend tons on the dress and not the shoes?"

"Most of those custom made shoes look like grandma shoes."

"Not all. And don't argue or I'm kidnaping you to London to get some made." He stared at her. She blushed and ducked her head but got back to work. "Thank you." He looked at her. "You need to wear that one you wore to that dance right after the first battle here in New York. The one that they quipped about the evil coming up you."

"You can't rewear things as a woman. It's still in my closet but I don't fit it as well."

"Bullshit," he said.

She looked at him. "Did the surgery do that to you?"

"No, Ethan snoring does. Thankfully that Xander's snoring is cuter." He smiled. She grinned back and got back to work. She finished up and proofread it quickly, letting Pepper have her laptop. "Backup?"

"When I get back."

"I'll do it," Pepper promised. "Still in your desk safe?" Dawn smiled and nodded. "Okay. Go. Get her things she can wear, Benji." He nodded, walking Dawn out. "And take a driver, even if it is Happy."

"Yes, ma'am," Benji quipped. "Always ready to be spoiled some on someone else's dime."

Dawn leaned on him in the elevator, closing her eyes. "I want this part of the nausea to stop sooner than the rest."

"We all hope that. You look bad in that shade of green." She patted her hand as they came out of the elevator. "Deep breath. Air outside stinks like farts again today thanks to New Jersey."

The security team on the front door made them pause. "Miss Summers, Mr. Stark just called looking for you."

She smiled. "Thanks." She called. "Tony? Benji's making me shop. Did you need something?"

"Shop for what?" he complained.

"Shoes," Benji said.

"I didn't know you were that sort of guy, Benji."

"I'm making her buy special shoes, with lower heels that're made to fit her feet," he quipped back with an evil smirk at the phone.

"Great. We'd like her to have some businessy looking flats and very low heels so she didn't trip like a bimbo."

"Hey," she complained. "I tripped over a Roomba. The security guys on the door said you wanted a call, boss?"

"Yeah, two things. NYPD wants us to stay away from the picketing they're doing downtown."

"Why would I be involved unless it's about me or the kids?"

"It's 'kick all the Avengers back to the west coast'," Tony complained. "Second thing, where is my idea notebook? I can't find a thing."

"Liz was coloring in it the last I knew."

"LIZ!" he shouted. Dawn winced and hung up on him.

Benji grimaced. "We can go 'round 'em." He got her into the car he had waiting and to the shops he had picked out. "We're going to look at a few. You can get some from each or not." Dawn nodded, pulling up information and transferring it into her main shopping account. "Blue fire?"

"Yup." She smiled. "I'll look great."

"You usually look good, except in that nauseous shade of green." She poked him on the arm. He smirked at her. "You do."

"So I take it the date was good?"

"It was real good." He smiled. "That other Xander's a really nice guy. Needs someone who wants to be a real boyfriend. He was even thinking about moving here for a bit."

"That means I'd have a shopping buddy beyond Pepper and the girls."

"Probably so." They were stopped and forced to go around a police barricade. "I didn't think they were this far out."

"They're probably driving them away from City Hall," Dawn sighed, slumping down some. "Those same people will scream about us not saving them if something happens. One of the bigger pains in the butt about these demonstrations is one who tried to sue us for her not taking cover. She wasn't injured, just scared. A few tried to sue because they were injured and a few because they had someone die, but she sued because she stood there on the street and watched."

Benji shook his head. "People like that get what they deserve then. Them bothering you about it is stupid."

"Yup." They paused at one of the shoemakers and they went inside. Dawn smiled. "My friend is talking me into custom made shoes."

"Orthotic problem, ma'am?" she asked with a smile.

"Really narrow feet. I have toothpicks instead of feet."

The saleslady smiled. "We usually do the orthotics."

"Do you think one would help me fit into a regular size shoe?"

"Probably not very well," she said, going to get the shoemaker. She knew that he wouldn't want to, he hated the Avengers being in New York. They had damaged the shop during the first battle.

He smiled at Dawn. "Orthotics question?"

Dawn took off her shoe and he winced. "Really narrow, can't find a thing. Plus really dizzy right now due to a concussion. Could an orthotic help me fit into a regular size since you guys don't custom make shoes?"

"Increasing the width would probably throw your balance and weight off," he admitted. "Usually they're used to correct weight distribution and limping problems."

"Okay. Thank you for your time." She smiled and shook their hands before going back to the car.

Benji shrugged. "They said they custom made them." Dawn smiled at him. The next one did do regular custom making work. Dawn looked at the styles they had on show. Nothing that was fancy but nice enough. He nudged Dawn.

Dawn smiled. "I have tiny feet."

"That happens to the best of us," the salesman said with a smile. "Short or narrow?"

"Narrow." She sat down and took off one of the ballet slippers. "I've found some in Singapore but they fell apart as I wore them. Or I have one company that makes stripper shoes. With my recent concussion I'm really dizzy. I need flats. Or really low heels. Dressy and businessy but I have two formal events coming up."

"Okay," he said, getting what he needed to measure her foot. "That is really narrow." He smiled and got a few styles to show her. "They're fairly subtle."

Dawn pointed. "I have a pair like that but they're six inch heels. I can't wear them when I'm dizzy."

He nodded. "I'm not sure how you wear them most of the time." She smiled. He put it next to her foot. "It's fairly subtle and a bit dressy. We can make them in a variety of colors. We also have more strappy ones." He showed her those. "The others are a bit more...matron than your age." Dawn smiled at him for that, looking at the strappy ones. "We also have a line of flats and a line of low heel loafer styles." He let her see those. "We make all leather shoes." She nodded. "Hand make."

"I figured they were going to be expensive. How long would it take? Say a daily pair and one for the dressier event in a month?"

"That might be pushing it. We can make you two pairs within a month but if it needs to be too dressy it'll take extra time."

"My dress is blue. Blue fire as the designer described it."

He smiled. "Sounds pretty." He wrote down a name. "They do custom fancy wedding and dressy shoes for those sort of times." She smiled and handed that to Benji so he could plan that. "Her spouse?" he asked.

"Sensible friend. I'm the one who got her the ballet slippers when she was preggers the first time."

"That's not a bad idea. Probably very comfortable."

"And made for toothpick feet," Dawn agreed. He smiled. She picked out a few styles and the colors. They could get her a few each month for the next few. She only winced a bit at the cost but they were very good. They took the impression of her foot, then a casting of it. The head shoemaker came out of the back to make sure they got it exactly right. With that big of an order they needed to get it perfect. They promised to get her some within three weeks and she smiled and shook hands, letting Benji take her back to the car once she had on the ballet slippers. They went to the next store. Dawn smiled at them as they walked in. "I need heels for a gala."

"Okay," the saleswoman said with a smile. "Though I'd have to warn you that my boss isn't really happy with yours. One of those alien things broke his car."

"Shoot," Dawn said. "And I was going to spend large today. Anyone else who can custom make dressy shoes?"

"We can. Let me talk to him." She went into the back. "The perky brunette wife of that archer and the assassin Avenger is here." He winced. "Going to spend large on dressier shoes."

"Is it an orthotic or prescription?"

"No. Not from what she's said. I warned her you weren't happy about her boss."

"At least the insurance paid." He came out. "What sort of problem are you having?"

"Right now I'm having dizziness from a concussion and I have hugely narrow feet." She stuck one out. "I have a gala in a month so I'd need heels I won't fall off of. So far that's meant a stripper shoe company. Usually four to six inch stilettoes."

He blinked. "How do you walk in those?"

"I had to learn. I can't find sneakers that fit, much less nicer dress shoes."

"Sure, we can do that. I'm not as mad that the aliens broke my car."

Dawn smiled. "Mine too." He smiled. "We tried."

"I know." He sat her down to measure her feet. "I see some ink."

"I was at the one about six blocks over and he suggested you for the dress shoes."

"I can easily do them. What sort of heels do you like?"

"I'd like some of the thicker, not the chunky but the french heels I think they were called. With the kinda curved inside?"

"Those are called french heels," he agreed. "They can be done very prettily."

She smiled. "I have a gala in a month for them honoring Callia. I'm wearing a blue dress. He called it blue fire." She showed him a picture of it in her phone.

"Hmm. Want a darker blue or a black?"

"I was going to wear either navy or silver, I hadn't decided yet."

"Navy," Benji said. He looked at the dress. "Silver might go." He blinked. "It needs fitted."

"The tailor has it. All my clothes have to be tailored, Benji. If they fit my shoulders or my chest it doesn't fit anything else." She looked at the shoemaker. "I'm just funny all over." He smiled. "Medium blue?"

He got his sample book. "I can dye them any of these."

She tapped a blue. "That one?"

"That might look good. How many were you going to be ordering?"

"At least seven pairs total. My next one is about a month after that, where Pepper's being honored, and I'm wearing black and green." He nodded. "I need black but with the way that dress is I'd overpower the green and look chunky so I'd have to get green or a nude with that one. I'm figuring the standard colors for my usual wardrobe."

"That's not a bad plan." He took her measurement and they went over heel height and width. Dawn had a bit of trouble with the chunkier heels. She wobbled and it made her look like she had on stripper shoes. So the thinner but still substantial french heels and all around three inches, plus inserts to help ease the foot pain she'd have adjusting to the lower height. He also talked her into some nice flats that were different than the more loafer looking ones the other store had. She ended up buying fifteen pairs of shoes. They talked about when she needed them and he agreed that would be easy enough to get the first few to her by that gala. She smiled and shook his hand once they had paid and they went to see the tailor. Benji demanded. He looked at his salesgirl. "She's actually very nice."

"She is," she agreed with a smile. "And fashionable."

"Very. But wants comfort so she's practical."

"She's said before she didn't want to spend a ton on shoes."

"That figures. Most people don't, but it makes them feel a lot better when they do." He went back to get started. Girls like Dawn could also be free advertising when they asked what she was wearing. So that was good for his business. He could mourn his car some other time.

***

Benji walked Dawn into their apartment, her carrying a dress bag. "I made her get custom shoes." Natasha kissed him on the cheek as she walked past him. He grinned at her. "Thank you."

"No, thank you. Does that mean we can put the other ones in the clubbing closet?" Clint asked.

"For now," Dawn said. "Not for good, dear."

"Fine." He smiled. "What's that?"

"Scientific gala and Pepper's award dinner." She put them up and closed the closet door, coming back out to kiss Clint. He moaned and grabbed her hips. She heard the giggle and smiled at Philip and Chris. "Hi, boys."

"Hi, Mommy."

"Hi, Auntie." Chris looked at her. "Are you going to be more pretty than Callia at the gala?"

"Nope. I'll look spectacular behind her and she can use me to shield herself when she feels tired." He grinned and they went back to their books.

"Is this like the evil dress?" Clint asked.

"Less evil than that dress." She smiled. "If I had a way I'd rewear that."

He shivered. "Your body's changed some. You'd look even more sexy in it."

"Or I'd fall out of it."

"Could be," he teased, taking another kiss. "How high are these?"

"Some flats and three inches."

"Wow. Low for you," he said, getting a smile and a swat. He smiled. "Am I making dinner?"

"I can if you want."

"No, I'll make dinner." He winked. "Go sit down and go over clothes with your son?"

"Sure. C'mon, son." He and Chris came over to go over clothes. Dawn had to clean out her closets then they had to plan some shopping trips.

Benji looked at him. "Another anti-Avenger protest today," he said quietly. "Two of the shoe shops didn't want to work with her because of it. One gave in because she bought fifteen pairs of shoes." Clint winced. "She needed 'em."

"Yeah, she does." He leaned on the counter. "I don't know, Benji. Those sort piss us the fuck off most of the time," he said quietly, glancing at the bedroom then at him again. "They yell and scream about us being there to save them but the first time something happens they're the first to hide behind us and demand we save 'em."

"I know." He came over to the kitchen bar to sit down. "So what'll you do?"

"I don't know. If this keeps up I'd almost like to go back to LA to work. Let the new team we're forming hit here. LA's safer, even if there is a push to get the bad guys to quit attacking the cities."

"Could help," he agreed.

"I'm all for it. If the bad guys would quit attacking the city we'd all like it. None of us like civilians getting nearby." He walked over to close the curtains. Which made Mira mad. She huffed at him. "Dear, there's a reporter across the street with a camera," he said. He went back to the kitchen. "I don't know," he admitted. "Joyce and Cap are a lot more subtle and polite to those sort than Fury was. Fury would've told them to suck it up and move."

"I can imagine that, yeah." He looked at him. "Then what?"

"We have the great house in LA. We have the great house in North Dakota. Dawn has her alternate identity for safety reasons and the farms there." Benji smiled and nodded. "I don't know. It's not my job to solve it so all I can do is watch and bitch."

Dawn came out to kiss him. "The reporter over there can almost read lips. He's already saying you told the city to suck it up."

He shook his head. "I said Fury would've said that."

Dawn wrote down what she had heard and he added a few points. Dawn faxed it to someone and went back to her closet and the boys admiring her suits. She smiled because Chris was trying on one of her dresses and doing a pretty good job of tucking it around himself to make it fit. She took a picture and called Clint, who came in to hug him and praise his good fitting job. He smiled and finished. Dawn took two pictures this time, one for Tony. Clint went back to talking to Benji.

***

Tony looked at his phone. He and Pepper were going over the latest protest march going on. He laughed. "Our son is flirty." He showed her.

She smiled. He did a great job tucking it around himself to make it hang right." She grinned at Tony. "You're flirty too."

"He is getting it naturally, yes." He sent a message then looked at her. "What're we going to do, Pepper?"

"We're going to keep going. Something bad is going to happen because of this but it's nothing we can stop or help happening."

He nodded. "I know. I hate it but it's the law of karma."

"Then they shouldn't be the people that run behind you at the drop of trouble."

He nodded. "They shouldn't." He sighed and relaxed. "Why is Chris over there?"

"He went to play with Philip since he was home today."

"I had Dawn come up with a curriculum for us."

"She's good at coming up with educational ideas. How is Philip's school hunt going?"

"Not good. Clint complained that one thought Dawn was snooping in their educational methods. She pointed out Philip had already went through two of those books and she was checking to see where they were headed after that. The teacher got huffy. That was even Dawn's choice." Pepper winced. "They think they have two they're applying to and another four to visit."

"That's a good average. They waited way too long."

"If Callia's school had a distance learning kindergarten," he offered.

"I know." Her desk phone rang. "Virginia Potts," she answered. She listened and winced. "Have NYPD remove them. Thank you." She hung up to call Dawn. "What did Clint say?" Her fax went off. She looked at it. "No, that's not why they're protesting. No, you stay there and keep Chris." She hung up and handed it to Tony. "Someone misread his lips."

"Great." He read it. "Fury would've yes." He sent that to Steve with a comment about the argument outside. He went down there. He found a few reporters and kicked one on the ass. "Didn't I kick you off Stark property for life last year?" He ran. He pointed at one of them, who glared at him. "The reporter who sent that misread his lips." He held it up. "Transcript?" She snatched it to read and huffed.

"You guys should be really damn grateful that we didn't let Fury handle it since the people above him wanted to nuke Manhattan." She stared, mouth open in shock. "We handled it against orders. Fury was trying to buy us time but one still launched. I should know, I carried it up through their nifty little portal." He stared down at her. "You're not going to solve anything by this. We're here to protect you even if you don't like it. They don't attack New York because we're here. We're here because they attack New York."

"You could draw them away."

"Not really. They attack New York. How do you want us to draw off those giant robots that've been the last few attacks? They shipped them here because if they can take over New York, it's a pretty good sign they can take over the rest of the US. Same as the Trade Towers. We're a city that doesn't cow and doesn't bend easily." She huffed at him. "We'd all adore it if they would attack somewhere else. Hell, if someone would take over some little poor country somewhere in Africa or Central America and make it purely a war zone we'd all enjoy that.

"They could have moderators, get a tourism industry, hell, build training and housing barracks they charge various warring parties to use. It could kick start someone's economy down there. Or one of the tiny provinces in Asia could. Maybe one of the smaller islands in Malaysia. They have a ton of them that barely have any people. But the bad guys aren't going to do that. We all, every single Avenger and adjunct member, agreed that if they would take the battles elsewhere we'd all love it and go fight there. Go picket them to make them attack other places."

"But..." she said.

"No, no buts. This isn't our doing. We react when things happen. We also all think it's pretty damn shitty that you guys protest us protecting you yet you run behind us at the first spot of trouble and then complain because we didn't protect you enough. We can't do both. We're heros, not Gumby. We're not that flexible." He stared at her. "A few of us have even started to wonder why in the hell we protect people at all because of people who do this shit to us. Now, get off Stark property please. I've got a headache. My daughter is having flashbacks. I do not need this and she really doesn't." They started to disperse. He turned and spotted Callia. "You, inside."

"I just wanted some air. I didn't realize they were doing this. Is this why Liz is having the meltdown?"

"Yeah." He patted her on the head. "It is." She nodded, going to help her sister.

"Not that one?" one of the reporters asked.

Tony looked at her. "What?"

"She's not the one having flashbacks?"

"No, Liz is. Which is extremely shitty for a five-year-old to go through." She nodded, walking off. Tony looked at the guards, who nodded they'd help. They called more to help them disperse calmly and quietly. He went up to calm down Liz. She was in a corner crying. He tapped her on the knee since they were drawn up for her to cry into. "Hey." She blinked at him. "C'mere." He pulled her closer. "People like that are stupid. It's not their fault they're dumb, they're being led. They're like sheep behind someone who has ideas. The one with ideas is a bad guy but the normal people aren't."

"The ones who got aunty?" she asked quietly, staring at him.

"No, those ones weren't sheep following a bad guy. They were bad guys following a bigger bad guy. It's unfortunate but sometimes people suck, Liz. I wish it wasn't so. I really wish you had never learned that lesson. No kid, of any age, should have to know that." He cuddled her. "I will not let them get you. If I have to, you can go back to LA. They're nicer out there."

"And have beach."

"And we have the beach," he agreed, smiling into her neck. "They're mostly gone."

Callia came off the elevator with a stuffed friend. "Here, took me a few minutes but you left him in Daddy's lab." Liz smiled and hugged her stuffed friend. "They're all gone, Liz. They'd never hurt you like they did Auntie Dawn. Ever. Because Daddy and I would destroy them and Grandma would back us up. Grandpa would get to complain a lot that she didn't leave the Hulk any." Liz smiled and hugged her too. "It's not good to worry. It gives you wrinkles. So quit stressing and talk to us about that." She nodded and hugged them both then went to find her mommy. She was on the phone so Liz went to look outside the front doors. Callia looked at her father. "That's what I thought too," she said quietly. "When I came off the elevator and saw them."

"I'd never let them get you either, Callia." He hugged her.

"I know, Dad. I also already knew that humanity sucked ass half the time. The epidemic of stupid needs to end." She rolled off to post something on her new livejournal. Her aunt was right, it was helping her to vent now and then. Especially about her lack of faith in humanity. "Dad! Someone's reporting they're talking to Liz." He hurried down to help her. She sighed and added that on top of her rant. This was really unfair to them. LA wouldn't be much better though. There were these sort out there too. She heard jet boots and looked. "Hi, Uncle Rhodey. Dad's out front with Liz," she called over the intercom. He nodded and landed out there.

***

Tony stomped outside, picking up Liz. "Weren't you going to stay inside?"

"She asked me why it looked like I had been crying," she said quietly. "She talks to Mommy. Is she a bad guy?"

"No, she's a reporter." Tony glared at her. "Who is an adult and knows not to talk to kids without their parents. Especially paranoid ones who have had their kids hurt." Rhodey landed. "Hey."

"I just heard about Cal. She good?"

"Trying to be." He shifted Liz. "Want to hug Uncle Rhodey?"

"Yes, but armor doesn't give good hugs so I'll wait," Liz said, staring at him. He smiled. "Why didn't you know?"

"I was on assignment in the middle of nowhere without news feeds." He took her to hold. "You okay? Why were you crying?"

"There were huge people here like who hurt Auntie Dawn," she said quietly. "They scared me. They were going to hurt Daddy and then us."

Tony had to swallow at that. "I'd never let them hurt you, Liz. If I had to kill every single person there to make sure they didn't hurt you, they'd be dead." She stared at him. He stared back. "That's what Daddies do. We protect our kids."

"Then you'd leave us and who would make us great Starks?"

"Did you listen to your sister when that was her argument about freezing me?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Great minds think alike?"

"Quite possibly." He took her back. "You never have to worry about someone hurting you if I'm around. Even if they kidnap you, I will be there as soon as possibly can to rescue you, and if I'm injured your aunt and uncles will come instead. Got it?" She nodded, cuddling his shoulder. "Good." He looked at Rhodey. "She's in the penthouse."

"Cool. Want me to bring her inside so you can chat?"

"I have no desire to talk to anyone. Because right now I'm not sure why in the hell I put on the suit in the first place." They walked upstairs. "Huge protest."

"What happened to her aunt?" Rhodey asked.

"You didn't see that? A church that hates Dawn for having magic used very thinly padded stones to give her a very severe concussion. To the point where it's been nearly two months and she's still dizzy." Rhodey stared at him. He nodded. "Today they had a 'Avengers leave the city' protest."

"You put on the suit so your kids wouldn't be hurt by their kind either," Rhodey said bluntly.

Tony nodded. "Maybe." They got off on the penthouse and Rhodey let the system take his suit from him. "Hey, you got a visitor," he said to Callia since she was curled up on the couch staring at the tv. She smiled weakly at him. "What's up? New cramp?" She nodded. "Let's see what I can do."

"Move, Tony. I'm better at these things." Rhodey gently probed her back, finding the cramp and easing it. She winced and teared up. "I know. Give it a few seconds to loosen." It did and she sighed in relief. "How many of those do you have?"

"I was doing my stretches." She pulled Liz down to cuddle her. "I get leg ones more often." She looked at her father. "I think I figured out the general principle of bridging over the damaged parts."

"You, me, Bruce, and Rodney will look it over."

"I have Andrew and Jonathan looking at my math."

"We can include them." She nodded, letting her uncle cuddle her for now. He smelled nice.

"If I had known, I would've been here sooner," Rhodey said. "I was on assignment in the middle of nowhere without news feeds."

She smiled. "It's okay. I'll get better and get out of the chair. Grandfather and Hammer are not right." Tony tipped her face up. "He sent me an email."

"I'm going to kill his ass," Tony said bluntly.

She smirked. "It was the idiot in Norway who sent the first one. He said now I'm ruined because of this. I'm apparently not pretty enough for his pedophile self."

"Fuck him too," Rhodey said, making Liz laugh. "Want me to punch 'em?"

"No. Dad's already hit them a few times where it hurts the most." She snuggled in.

Tony got up to get her tablet to get into the emails. He sent them to Steve and Joyce with a message saying he needed a subtle plan and response.

***

Joyce's email beeped. She was waiting on her testimony in congress. She tapped her fingers on the keypad then showed Steve, who had his own copy. "I get to hit him, right?"

"Go for it. I wouldn't stop."

"I'm not sure I will be." She heard them break up a loud argument and walked in, handing the handler/bailiff person the phone with that email pulled up. She hauled Justin Hammer up and punched him. "For telling my granddaughter she was ruined because her back was hurt by someone else. Being in a chair, even if she never gets out of it, doesn't ruin a person. It only makes them stronger. Especially a Summers woman." She handed the phone to one of the staring congress members. "I'll leave until it's my turn. I had to make myself known."

He handed the phone back. "I wouldn't have stopped. Is the other one that CEO?" She nodded, walking off. The congressman shared that with the others. They had a quiet talk and made a decision unanimously. They all glared at Hammer. "We were doubtful that your recent stint in prison shouldn't count toward your business having to be handed over because we consider you a threat to the US. Apparently we're not alone in that if even children know that." He stared. "Make sure when he leaves he is kept apart from SHIELD's co-heads," he ordered. "We'll be holding a hearing on threats to the US next week. We'll see you then," he said and banged the gavel.

"I have the right to see the evidence against me."

"You can do that next week," the head of the hearing stated. "Dismissed, Mr. Hammer." He huffed off. He heard him say something to Joyce, who clocked him again and knocked him into a wall and down it as he was unconscious. They were let in for their part of the hearing. "Clearly your daughter taught you something."

She smiled. "I dated a few Navy guys before I married the first time. They made sure none of their friends ever though I was weak." She sat down delicately. "I'm sorry for my reaction earlier. I should have waited until he was in the hallway."

"No, we liked it," another of the senators said. "I have a few guard dogs I'd have sicced on him."

Joyce smiled. "The real undoing should always be done by your own hand." He laughed and nodded. "I believe we are here over the budget?"

"We are and two questions have just been sent to me," one of the others said, looking at her. "About your predecessor."

"I was his assistant for a few years but I'm not sure of everything."

"I believe the Captain can answer them. These both come from Manhattan, which is outside my district but close enough this time." She pulled up a news feed on her phone, beaming it to the room's video. It was Tony Stark talking down to someone picketing his tower. She paused it after the announcement of the bomb. "Is that true, Captain?"

"The people who were above him, the World Security Council, did demand that he send in a bomb to stop that," Steve said. "He did try to stop them. He shot one of his own people as they took off in a jet, killing them. The other jet took off and that is what Tony Stark flew into that portal and released."

She stared at him. "So he disobeyed orders and you disobeyed orders...."

"Yes, ma'am. I'm quite proud I disobeyed that one."

"So am I, Captain." She stared at him. "Are they still over SHIELD?"

"No, after the mess with Romania, the agency was removed from under their ungentle fist," Joyce said. "That's when they got moved to their own agency. I was hired a few months after that."

The senator from New York nodded. "Is there such a plan still in place?"

"Not without us having cleared all civilians, ideally and realistically as possible," Steve said. "I'd never allow that unless it was the last ditch, save the universes issue. There have been plans in place for longer than I've been awake in case things went so bad that we had to evacuate humanity or the US. They stared with the SGC and people have added to it from there." The senator smiled. "Including us. We meet yearly now to upgrade those plans. That meeting is in a few weeks. I do not have them with me."

"We'd like to go over that meeting with you," she said.

"I can ask if we can invite a senate representative," Steve said. "It's usually held in the White House, ma'am. The last president insisted we hold it there instead of a restaurant in the midwest that served nice pies."

"Even better. I like that you're not being obtuse and hiding things."

"My job is the safety of the US and humanity, whether I'm at the helm of SHIELD or in my uniform. Acting behind smoke and mirrors the way Director Fury used to doesn't help that any. Though he did butt into the plans the SGC had made earlier."

"Good." She stared at her counterparts. "When is this meeting?"

Joyce pulled up her schedule to look up the date. "We have the eleventh of June." She looked at him then at Steve. "We had to change it back. O'Neill's having that knee surgery and he won't be out of the hospital during that normal time."

"I hadn't remembered that." He smiled at her. "Thanks."

"Welcome." She looked at them. They were penciling it in. "I have no idea how the president would decide who would come."

"We can tell him that," one said. "We have people who should hear on a few committees. They can go as our representative and tell the rest of us." He smiled at her. "So, your budget. This is your first budget defense so we'll be a bit nicer."

Joyce smiled. "That's good. I was hoping I wouldn't have to put out burning coals this year." She handed over their DVD. "This is our budget, actual for last year and projected for this year. I had my daughter hand us the template the IRS wanted them to use during their audits."

They looked it over. It was a good budget. The increase was based on inflation, price of gas, that sort of thing. They went over some of the smaller categories, which Joyce had sub-budgets for. They agreed with how they were running it. It was efficient, there was no paperwork backlog. There were reports ready about anything they wanted to know about, including a few classified things that they got told was classified and could not be shared in an open hearing. They agreed on that and handed back the DVD at the end, thanking them for their time. They left, going back to the office to have a drink and relax. Bruce was already mixing martinis for Joyce and him and a coffee with a pinch of rum for Steve.

There was a bouquet of roses on her desk from Tony and Callia. And one of poppies from Pepper, which delighted Steve.

***

Callia was going to PT the next day when a reporter rushed over. "You run me over and I'm going to beat you to death." The reporter paused, staring at her. "Well? Woke up in a shitty mood due to leg cramps, people, and you staring just makes me nervous and want weapons."

"Did Liz have a panic attack because of what happened to you?"

Callia stared at her for a moment then shook her head. "You either have short term memory loss or you're really near the patient zero level for the epidemic of the stupidity virus we have going around. Was there a crowd when I was shot?" She slowly shook her head. "Then who had the crowd that hurt them?" She got into the car and let Happy load her wheelchair then drive her off. "I swear to the goddess I need to thin that pack."

"Don't make vows like that," he ordered. "It might come true."

Callia snorted. "Is that a bad thing?"

"There's days I don't know," he admitted.

The reporter looked at her cameraman. "She was rude."

He looked at her over the camera. "Do you think maybe she was talking about Dawn's injury?" The reporter blinked and winced with a groan. "Yeah, I think so. Huge mob of idiots. Kind of the same." He walked off to pack it up for the day. He erased that interview after talking to the boss about it. He agreed, she was a carrier of the stupidity virus.

***

Clint brought Dawn lunch the next day, and the shoes he had picked up for her. "What're you doing?"

"I'm revising my stated 'shit list'." She smiled and kissed him. "Thank you for picking those up."

"I got the mail too. They didn't admit Philip." She sighed and nodded. She'd revise their list. "We'll figure it out." He took another kiss, smiling when she changed her shoes. He grinned. "Those are granny shoes."

"They're mostly comfortable." She took out the insoles and that helped. "There, even better." She put those into the box. "They formed those backwards."

"On purpose?"

"The Chitarui broke his car."

"Oh." He smiled. "Comfy?"

"Very comfy." She checked the other set. "Those'll go well with that dress." She put them into her bag and grinned. Clint smiled back.

"Daddy, why can't I go to school with Philip?" Chris complained as he and Tony came up the hall with food for lunch for Pepper.

"He's not been accepted anywhere yet," Dawn said dryly, getting back to work while eating. "I'm considering the implications of hiring a private tutor like in the old days."

Tony grinned. "Me too since his home schooling liaison wants him to do simple math right now. I can ask Callia's headmistress if she's got an idea." Chris smiled at him for that. He noticed the shoe box. "For the gala?" She showed him. "Very tasty and demure, Dawn," he said dryly.

"I'll be able to stand up in them, boss."

"Good. Are you going to be flashier than your niece?"

"In a more subtle way. I'm going for a different reason."

"I know." He patted her on the back. "Your niece can hide with you."

She smiled. "Of course she can." She looked at Chris. "You should get a tux."

"Eww. Can't I wear the pretty dress?"

"Nope," Tony said. "Wearing pretty dresses is only at home, kiddo." He took them into the office.

Dawn looked at Clint. "I could wear that one to the great alumni dinner in a few months. Or to the great dinner you owe me after my defense even if I don't make it."

He smiled. "I can do both those." She smiled. "You sure?"

"It might be too flashy and it is Callia's night. I might be a bit too bright for Pepper's honoring dinner too." She considered it.

Pepper came out to look at her. "Wear the dark blue for Callia's."

"I was going to wear the blue fire one."

She stared at her. "No. Actually, she might adore it to take attention off her." Dawn nodded. "Did she tell you to?"

"Yup."

"Hmm. No, wear the new navy blue one and wear the blue fire for the upcoming Ball." Dawn winced because she had forgotten that one. "Get something new for mine." Dawn showed her. "The concussion?" she asked.

"Yeah, I did buy them during it. I look nice."

Pepper hugged her. "Maybe." She smiled. "Clint, buy your wife something pretty for mine. Pretty and yet tasteful and not too showy. We want them to admire her brains."

"I can do that," he promised. Dawn smiled at him. "What ball? And the designers won't get mad, right?"

"No, mine aren't on loan," Dawn said. "Mine I buy. Starlets get those on loan, not assistants." He smirked. "The ball? The one we're all but required to go to?"

"The christmas one is months away, Dawn."

"The Mid-Summer one," she said, digging out the invitation.

He read it over, wincing. "I'll try but...."

"We know," she said. "If I have to I can go alone."

"That would look nice for it," Pepper said with a smile for her assistant. "Wear something more subtle to mine?"

"Yes, Pepper." She smiled and went back into the office to have lunch. Dawn started to look online, emailing a few personal shoppers. They knew her and her style. One came up with a new designer that was great. Dawn looked at their stuff and turned it down. For the next premiere. Not for the business dinner. They agreed and found her something suitable. She said she'd pop over after work to try it on. They agreed to have one ready. She finished lunch and her typing job that was due at two, proofreading it. Clint got up to kiss her again. She smiled. "I'll be home soon."

"Okay." He went home to wait on her to call.

Callia rolled up the hall. "Please wear something flashy to the award thingy for me. That way I can hide behind you."

"She can look great and not be flashy. It's your night, with two other kids," Pepper said, kissing her on the head when she rolled in.

"Actually, no," Callia said, handing over something. "That was sitting in my email when I came back."

Tony looked at it when Pepper's face turned into a stone mask. "Let me talk to someone, Callia." He went to call them. Personally call them from his office he never used. He held up the email, getting a nod. "Would you like to explain to me why you think she suddenly doesn't deserve it?"

"She's in a bed. I didn't think you wanted her noted."

"She's in a wheelchair," Tony said dryly. "Not in a hospital bed." He stared at him. "Even then, she still earned it. How dare you try this shit because she got attacked by someone who used to almost rival me." He stared at him.

"We thought you wouldn't want the publicity on her."

"And yet, there's still some very irritating photographers that have caught her on the way to PT. It's not like it's not well known."

"Adamus Stryker told us she was on life support."

"How would he know?" Tony sneered.

"You don't keep in touch with your godchild?"

"Not since I caught him at thirteen trying to molest and eight-year-old. Or didn't you wonder why he suddenly had a 'pill issue' and had to go to therapy?" The man blinked a few times. "His father thought that was less humiliating." He stared at him. "This still stinks."

"We'll reinstate her. We honestly didn't think she could show up."

"And yet three years ago you gave one kid's that had died in a car crash certificate to his mother."

He swallowed. Stark's cold stare meant his lines of bullshit were at an end because they were only digging him deeper. "You're a bit controversial right now, Tony," he said.

He stared at him. "I was when I gave up making weapons. Gee, now I do more for humanity and still put out some really fantastic things from the labs. Nothing showy like my father's flying car, though I think my son dug it out of storage." He stared at him. "I don't care if you like me being Iron Man or not. My daughter isn't in my shadow the way I was my father's. She's tried very hard not to be caught in that same trap. That's why she does things the way she does. Why she's even managed to start her own college fund so it doesn't count on my name." The man let out a subvocal whine. "I don't really care *who* thinks that she's really sucking off my genius vibe either. Maybe they should check the patent count. Now, do we all have to get pretty and show up?"

"Her mother...."

"Is kinda dead," Tony said dryly. "Dawn's sister died on Asgard years ago."

"Oh. I thought she was Pepper's."

"That's Liz. Callia's the oldest."

"Um.... Okay. Let us talk about it." He hung up.

"Watch me bomb all of you," he muttered, going to talk to his daughter. "So far they're full of shit and they're full of shit."

"I heard." She stared at him. "If I'm not noted, oh well," she said calmly. "And then I'll prove them wrong."

"Some people can't be proved wrong. They don't have the intelligence to realize they were stupid."

"True, and if they're in science, someone somewhere gave them a degree on someone's money." He smiled at her. "Hey, one less thing I have to go to. I can go to the ball instead."

"True, you can," he agreed. She smiled. "Dawn, you don't have to buy a dress for Callia's award. They've decided I'm *controversial* and talked to someone who's not even in science and I haven't seen since he was thirteen and I caught his hand down an eight-year-old's pants. They've decided she's too damaged to go up to get it."

"Fuck them and the bitch they rode in on when I blow their asses up for such discrimination. How fucking dare they!" she shouted. "I knew they were the old, white guy patrol but *really*! Tony, are you still a scientist?"

"Not anymore. I'm an engineer. Damned if I want to be part of them." He looked at her. "Let's call the guys and tinker with your new idea." She smiled and they called them. Bruce was already in the building. "Bruce, you might want to revoke your scientist's card."

"I heard the shouting." He stared at her. "Most of us aren't petty like that. We have administrators too." She smiled at him for that. He hugged her. "I heard you came up with neat new stuff." Rodney walked in with a thermos cup of coffee with Andrew and Jonathan behind him. "Rodney." He shook his hand.

"Bruce." He looked at her. "Are hugs hurting?"

"Only my lower back but fuck that shit. Gimme a hug. I could use one." He hugged her. She squeezed him back. She smiled at Andrew and Jonathan. "You don't have to get dressed up. They're revoking my award because dad's *controversial* and I'm handicapped at the moment."

"Excuse me?" Jonathan demanded. She nodded.

Rodney smirked. "Let me have a word with someone."

"Uncle Rodney, if you force it, it'll just get worse. I'm going to show them they're morons, if they're smart enough to realize it."

He smiled. "I still need to have a word with someone. I was looking forward to you getting an award I once won." He looked at Tony.

"Use my office. I have once." He smiled. "And they *claim* they talked to Adamus Stryker."

"He's not in science in any field. He's in drugs and children." He went to talk to them. "Good morning." He sipped his coffee.

"I recognize the office, Rodney, and we're talking about it."

"That's a good idea since I can discredit the whole board with your shitty cheating problems back in college." He took another sip. "I find Callia to be the heir I always thought I'd never have." He stared at him. "As she has seventeen patents as of this moment and another ten in hearings...." The man choked. "And we're working on a great version for number eighteen." He stared at him. "How dare you sully the scientific field this way," he said quietly and coldly. "Politics is not science. We should be above all that."

"He's dangerous!"

"He's no more dangerous than I am. Considering my present field work pertains to zero point modules...." He took another sip. The man shuddered. "She is my heir as well as Stark's, even though I had nothing to do with her conception."

"She'll never have the suit now," he sneered.

Rodney laughed. "She never wanted it. She's always stated she wanted to turn the old ones into mobile hospitals for animals and emergency situations." The man slumped. "Your abuse of your position to play politics disgusts many of us and I'm sure I can speak for a lot of us who should have and/or do have Nobels or nods." The man was shaking. "Now, we await word of the board's decision. Though she thinks you're smart enough to be proved wrong, I believe you sucked enough cock during your dissertation defense to get it on your back instead of on your work like the rest of us. I will be noting this to others. Especially at the big scientists awards next week." He hung up and called someone. "It's Dr. Rodney McKay, is he in?"

"He said he's busy, sir, and he never wants to speak to you again."

"That's great but his cousin is peddling his politics in exchange for grants." She sighed and went to ask him. He got transferred over. "Callia Stark."

"I heard she got injured and how."

"Your cousin just had the board declare that she wasn't getting an award. One she's more than earned. He actually cited her father being *dangerous* and told Stark he heard about her injury from Adamus Stryker."

The person on the other end snorted. "I doubt that. Have you talked to him?"

"Yes, I have. So has her father."

"I'll talk to them."

"I'm speaking at my award."

"Great." He smiled. "When are you going to put out your real work?"

"When it won't lead to a new arms race. I'm working on Zero Point Modules." The other man moaned in a way that showed he was turned on. Rodney smiled. "I made that same sound when I found one partially charged in Pegasus." He smirked. "Mine's too dangerous to get out. However, I am working with Stark, Banner, two of Stark's head minions, Callia, and sometimes Chris Stark to *tinker*."

"I've seen some of the plans for those from the patent people. She's good. Her stuff on her own is good. The stuff with whoever those two minions are is great."

"Andrew and Jonathan came from Sunnydale and wanted to help take over the world."

"So Stark took them in and helped them?"

"Indeed. They're the Roomba army people. Taught Callia lasers."

"Wonderful. The two young ones he brought to the last expo?" Rodney smiled and nodded. "Charming young men. Huh." He looked at him. "Keep it under ten minutes, do not be boring, do no preach."

Rodney tipped his head to the side. "The only goddess I know is a cruel one of Science," he said blandly. "I can praise her so maybe I'll get unstuck." The other man laughed and hung up. Rodney went back there. "Richard said hello."

"Great," Tony said. "Cal, want to go to the big kids awards?"

"Am I going to need a drink to get through it?"

"I usually do," Bruce admitted. He smiled at Rodney. "I heard."

"I am attaining more shiny pointlessness for my bookshelves," he agreed. "And making a speech." Callia smiled at him. "There's about to be a problem. I personally think the head of the young geniuses committee got his PhD on his knees instead of on his work. I swear that man sucked all his committee off to get it during his fifth or sixth attempt." He finished his coffee and got more. "No Dawn?" he asked when he found the coffeemaker empty. He made some. He was that talented.

"Concussion means she's still dizzy," Tony said. "She's getting better."

Rodney looked at him. "Did we look at her?"

"I emailed Carolyn. She said they didn't have anything that could help." He was gripping the table. Callia patted him until he let it go. "This has started off being a bad year."

She nodded. "But it'll get better. Just think, Chris and I will have our own lab space soon."

He kissed her on the head. "Yes you will. Even if we move back to Malibu full time."

"That's going to suck for Stepmom."

"He can run things from the west coast office." He heard an alarm start. "JARVIS? What is that?"

"Someone tried to breach the doors with a gun, sir. They have been stopped by Agent Romanoff, who is presently pressing her high heel down in the man's throat."

"Does she know him?"

"No. He was bearing a weapon and a card stating his love for Liz."

"Great," Tony muttered. "She's already got her aunt's dating problem." He shook his head quickly while Bruce laughed. "Laugh now but she had tons of problems." He took his coffee when Rodney handed it over. "Okay, Callia, lay it out for us."

She pulled up her ideas, which were suddenly colored. She huffed. "Liz!" She undid the coloring and Chris trying to fix her math. "He still hates symbols in math." She laid out the original. "There. I think I've gotten this issue here fixed." She pointed. "This is math I'm still tampering with instead of knowing." She looked at Rodney. "Which I think is your fault."

"I think it is too. I only see three math errors." He picked up the stylus to correct that, which threw it out of whack, but Tony and Bruce knew how to compensate. Andrew and Jonathan were working on the microcircuits part. After a few hours and another few pots of coffee Rodney stepped back to look at it. "This would work better as a larger energy bridge than a smaller one."

"But can we shrink it, make it work on the smaller pulses?" Callia asked.

"Perhaps but I think you just created a baby Stargate/Rainbow Bridge." Tony stared, stepping back to look at it. He nodded she had. "Huh," Rodney said, drinking his coffee. "Someone save this down multiple ways and print it so we can put in the patent now and then work on shrinking it to a personal size." Callia smiled. "Your name as well. It was your idea that started this and you did do much of the work." She beamed and wiggled, then cramped. Tony helped her with that and she calmed herself down. Rodney stared at her. "Months more of that but then it'll be lesser."

"I know. I'm working hard every day." They smiled at her. "And freaking stepmom out about the bikini issue now and then." Tony laughed and nodded. They got it saved down and printed out. She looked at them. "Is this going to math that none of us know?"

"We need a math person," Bruce agreed, looking at Rodney. "You and Stark are good but I got lost hours ago."

"Go ask my future mentor," Callia said.

They stared at her and Tony smiled. "I can do that." He looked at Rodney, hissing in his ear.

"He's worthy and a child prodigy in math." Bruce grinned, he knew who that was. "We can include him on the shrinking side definitely. I heard he was working on brain math as well so it could help his own work."

Callia called. "Doctor Epps, Callia Stark. I have a slight issue I want to ask you to look over for me, Dad, Uncle Rodney, Grandpa Bruce, and Andrew and Jonathan. We think it's in your field as well as ours. No, I'm working on a neuro bridge. No, I made a huge energy bridge with them. They started out with mine and moved up into areas I don't know yet. Sure, that'd be great. Dad, can we beam him out?"

"Yup. Is he in the office?"

"He's at home. He can go to the local FBI office."

"Hit ours. It's easier and we have a dot set up. Or we can go there." She told him that and they packed up all their supplies and went to that tinkering lab to lay it out. JARVIS moved all the work for them.

Callia rolled out to the gate, smiling at them. "Guys, my college mentor is coming. Dr. Epps." They nodded, writing him down. "We're in tinkering if anyone that should know asks."

"Callia!" a reporter called.

She looked over. "A few of you have made me a bitter bitch about most of you. What do you want?"

She looked startled. "It wasn't us, dear. It was the bitter ones in New York." She came closer. "I was going to ask how you're feeling."

"A few cramps now and then. I'm working hard with my PT and doing some pool work every day." She stared at her. "Have you seen their shit?"

"Yes, I have. I can fully understand why, dear." She smiled. "Most of us on this coast aren't like that."

"True, none of you would've just stood there." That got a shudder. "Or the other things. Or the ones that were there protesting that Dad and them protected them from huge bad things. Which sent Liz into a panic attack. She had flashbacks to Auntie Dawn's injury."

"Oh, shit," she muttered.

Callia nodded. "So yeah, I like you guys somewhat but there's a lot out there I would rather not see ever again."

"I can understand that. I've been following your blog. I hope you make it."

Callia smiled. "Me too. Though, apparently it's not enough for the people who were going to give me an award in a few weeks." She smiled. "They've decided I'm too fragile to get it or something like that."

"Really?" She smirked. "Let us look into that. Get you some answers."

"The only one I've heard is they consider dad *dangerous* and that some pedophile son of a former genius spread BS about me."

"Great. Let us look."

Callia smiled. "Saves me from ranting later." They shared a smirk. "There he is. Excuse us. We're tinkering." She rolled over as he parked. "Professor, welcome to Stark International." The man smiled and shook her hand. "C'mon, we're in tinkering right now." She led him that way. "I was working on an idea for a spinal bridge to go over the severed nerves in case they never heal. I ran into higher maths and higher science that I'm not sure anyone knows much about so I asked Dad if he could call together his tinkering group. Him, Uncle Rodney, Grandpa Bruce, Andrew, and Jonathan. They corrected the math I'm still learning, and then moved on from there to an energy bridge."

He nodded. "That sounds fascinating and your original topic is close to my own present research. I've been working on the math of neurology." She smiled. "I hope you can. A lot of people would like that."

"Me too." She let him into that lab. The math parts were already up against a wall in diagram form. "I'm still learning that math."

"I remember suggesting you take it." He dropped his bag and came over to look at it. "Elegant, Callia."

"Thank you. Uncle Rodney helped me where I switched bases accidentally." She pointed with the laser pointer. "Then this one was wrong." She pointed at that. "We moved from there to here," she said with a point at that diagram. He moved over to study it, his eyes going wide. "Then went to the huge application." She pointed at that one. "Ultimately I'd like to see a huge and a minor application both from it."

"It's fantastic," he said, staring at them. "Thank you." He settled in to go over where he could help. Rodney was his equal in math but Charlie knew how to twist other types of math into practical matters. Plus his own work was relevant and he could share some of it. Rodney even found a typo on him.

A few hours later, Pepper leaned in then walked in a rolling cart with trays. She cleared her throat and pointed. "The Stark rule says that there must be one warm meal in each and every Stark at least once a day." She stared at them. "That goes for his tinkering buddies too." She smiled at the one she didn't know. "Hi, Pepper Potts."

"Dr. Charles Epps. I'm going to be Callia's mentor in college." He shook her hand with a smile. "You take good care of them."

"That's because there were days I wondered if he had died in the lab. I can't let the kids do that." He grinned. She left them alone, locking the door again behind her.

They dug into their plates and considered where they were. Callia was working on the shrunken version with Andrew and Jonathan while the bigger, more experienced geniuses were dealing with the high impact energy side of this new thing.

***

Someone knocked on the door the next morning, and they were still up and working. Callia rolled over to let them in. "Do we know you?" she asked politely with a grin.

He stared at her. "I think you should."

"We're working on something important, Uncle John. We had dinner. Mommy Pepper brought it."

"Great. Breakfast since it's ten? Showers?"

"Shit," she said, checking her phone. "Dad, I'm missing PT."

"Dawn sent a text saying she had called you off because you were engrossed in something," he said absently. "Rodney, your boyfriend's here."

Rodney snorted and glared at him for a second then at John. "I'm fine."

"You're AWOL and missing your own meeting."

"This is more important. Callia came up with the base formula for an energy bridge. Tell Carter that and that I'll be back when we've gotten all the faults settled."

"Have a guest suite, Rodney," Tony said. "We don't mind."

"Thank you. I'll take use of that after I eat breakfast." John Sheppard stared at him. "Go get me breakfast?"

John barked but went to do that. Pepper was getting them all breakfast so he smiled and helped. "He's AWOL from his own meeting."

"It happens to Tony all the time." They shared a smile and took breakfast back. She walked food over. "Everyone needs a shower sometime today as well," she announced. "Your brain smoke is starting to cling to the walls." She gave Bruce a look when he laughed. Then she left with John.

John went back to the SGC meeting room. "He's with Stark *tinkering*." He looked at Sam Carter, who had huffed. "On an energy bridge Callia came up with. That's all he said. That and he'd be back when there were no faults."

"That could take years," she complained. "Why is that important?"

"Because from what I saw they're working on two versions and one's got the Stargate formula in it." She gaped. He nodded. "I think they may have found another way."

"Wow," the general said. "Was that part of the original work? And how did a kid get it?"

"No clue. The math I saw was well beyond what I got in my Master's, General. I know they're working on a tiny version." He stared at him.

"The kid," he said.

"Probably."

"So, huh. Could be useful?"

"Could be more than."

"Even better. Anyone there not an Avenger or Stark's top geeks?"

"A geek I didn't recognize. Young, dark curly hair, doing math."

"Guy?" Carter asked. He nodded. She pulled up an article. He looked and nodded. "He's got NSA clearance. I worked with him on one of their issues once, sir."

"Okay so probably able to see our level?"

"And beyond. I've consulted him in the past. He was the young genius I went to when we had the looping problem."

"Good. Then I won't worry. Why did he want the meeting?"

"To talk about what to do when he's not there," John said dryly, sitting down. "Like for his award or his vacation when we force him to take one."

"Ironic," the general said dryly. "So what do we do if the city breaks and he's not there?"

"Call Stark," Carter said dryly. "Because he'd either know how to fix it or he'd know where Rodney was hiding in his building to tinker."

The general gave her a dirty look. "There has to be other options, Carter."

"Yes, sir."

"Actually, Chris Stark was at the temple this morning and went through my portal to the city. He was fiddling with a few poles and suddenly we had a shield we thought we lost years ago," John said. "We have no idea how. Radek was talking to him about what he had done and how."

Radek cleared his throat and smiled. "He has great sensitivity toward Atlantis and other AI's that are hurting as he said. He felt she was hurting there so he looked and spliced wires together by color." John shook his head. "He was going to do more but you caught him."

"Okay," John said with a smile. "Let's see what else he can find that hurts her. I want her to quit hurting just as much as he does."

"He was nearly crying over her. We got him calmed down and she talked to him with JARVIS about what she needed. He was also working on fusing his sister's minor tornado in a power cube thing she wasn't sure what she made into the power grid. It worked well but is weak."

John considered it. "That doesn't surprise me."

"He is definitely liking engineering," Radek said proudly. "I will mentor this one. Some day he will have suit, racing cars, and bimbos like his father, but do even greater things."

John smiled. "Cool. You each get a genius Stark to mentor with their dad. I'm sure he'd appreciate the help." He smiled. "Teach him math."

"I am. He has no desire for boring things. So I have showed him fun things, like flight math and velocity formulas. He did enjoy those. He showed me his rocket powered roller skates his sister made."

"Geez," the general complained, shaking his head.

"They go over a hundred miles an hour," Radek said with a smirk. "On gravel." The general stared at him. He grinned back. "He adores."

"Can we recruit those two?"

"Sure, if we suddenly get taken over by Stark International," John said dryly.

"Might be nicer than the Pentagon or SHIELD," the general quipped back.

"You already have my husband running over you," the phone said in Tony's voice. "I can take you over but you're suddenly going to be doing a lot more science work, social and not, and a lot less being a soldier, General. John, Rodney needs his epipen. He just used one because Liz didn't realize he couldn't have lemon gummy bears."

"Coming," he said. He popped off to get it and bring it to him. "You good?"

"I'm fine," he said. "I was fast."

"Even better." He looked at him. "What are we going to do when you're not there?"

"Call Stark."

"Which one? Radek's claimed dibs on mentoring Chris since he's so sensitive to the AI's and felt her pain so he tinkered some things back into working." Tony dropped his pen to stare at him. "Radek said he was crying because Atlantis was in pain."

"That's how he knows when JARVIS has a booboo too," Callia said. "He started that when he was two. Right after JARVIS nearly electrocuted him one night by accident."

"He what?" Tony demanded.

She looked at him. "Remember his sleep walking thing? It got stopped because he ran into a security field around the chem lab one night and nearly got zapped to death. JARVIS panicked and got him back to normal, got him to the infirmary, and they're the ones who stopped his sleep walking. Ever since then he gets this weird resolved look on his face and goes to fix any electrical booboos he can feel."

"So he's got empathy with the computers," Tony said to make sure.

"I have no idea what it's called. Liz calls it his weird face."

"JARVIS, what was that lab working on that night?" Tony asked.

"The extremis formula someone came up with, sir. Which is why I had it locked off."

"Which bonds people with machines," Tony said. "Did he get through the bubble?"

"Not that I could tell."

"Has he been exposed to it?" Tony asked.

"Not that I can tell, sir. His DNA tests the same." Tony looked up. "I have not done a tissue level sample on him. Not before or after that. So I cannot tell if somehow some leaked out and affected him. It affects each person differently. I have not seen the remains of the virus in any of his bloodwork that I've scanned."

Tony grimaced, looking at Rodney, who shrugged. Then at John, who shrugged too. "Fuck!" he announced. "JARVIS, pull up all the information we have on Extremis so I can go over it please."

"I've already locked all that down in your private vault, sir."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You did not ask. It didn't seem to matter."

"You like Chris fussing over your booboos," Callia added.

"Yes, he does fuss very well. He's learned quite handily from his aunt, as you have, Callia," the AI said.

Tony nodded. "Okay. I'll look over that later." He sighed and looked. Then at John, who smiled and left. He looked at Rodney and Charlie. Then he shook his head. "My kids have already surpassed where I was at their age."

"We have more information available to us and faster ways of getting it," Callia said with a smile. "If you had the internet at my age, you would've done it too, Dad."

"True," he agreed. "You're already on my dad's level."

Callia beamed. "You are too."

"Dad knew things I never will."

"Grandpa had to make up a lot of the science as he went along because it wasn't there. Now that it is there it takes true genius to look at the piles of horse shit that get put out every year by every single PhD candidate out there, including the ones that think aliens were our ancestors, and find the good things to use, twist, forge, enlarge, and then turn into beautiful things of science. Anyone can use the calculator Grandpa helped develop. You've turned it into a tool, a weapon, a thing of beauty and of skill. I'm turning into different directions so it fans out even farther. Chris will do his part. Our kids are screwed unless they come up with a whole new science to start from."

Tony hugged her. "You're better with words than I am too." She patted him on the back. "Okay, I say we break for a shower, more coffee, then come back to it." They nodded and locked the door behind them to go do that. Jonathan had the Roombas guard it so no one could get in.

***

Rodney walked into the SGC meeting room six days later looking exhausted, like he needed food and a shower, and he was smiling about it. He put down his tablet and looked at the people in the meeting he called. "We have now figured out how to merge the Rainbow Bridge and the Stargate."

"Is that a help to us?" the general asked casually, putting his feet up on a spare chair.

"It is. We can use it to merge with other non-technical means of transporting around the galaxy." He stared at him. "We can call them to our terminus. We can use the Stargate to use them." He put up a projection from his tablet. "In fact, we talked to the strange, hormone driven Xander that showed up. His realm has good magic and he has learned how to use the portals they use for quick getting around the various realms of demons, magic, and otherwise. We can use this there as well." He put up that formula.

"Dr. Mckay, that's in geek math," the general said. "Can it be translated for the rest of us?"

Sam Carter pointed. "That's a very beautiful formula. Usually yours are rougher. Sir, this is a way for us to breach realms instead of just interplanetary distance."

"That's what I said," Rodney complained, pulling it down. "It's not all my work. Dr. Epps helped quite a lot. As did Callia."

She smiled. "It's great when there's more women in science."

"Though we will be having a lot of protests as her award was revoked due to her being in a wheelchair and what her father chooses to do to help humanity," Rodney said bitterly, staring at her.

"Excuse me?" she demanded. He nodded. "Hell no."

"Geologic level of pressure is being applied and they're not happy."

"Good. Add my name to it."

"Please do," Rodney assured her. "She was about to get the same award I won at twelve. A year earlier than I did." She got up and stomped off to call someone. He smiled at the general. "Her in another realm got given the portal formulas because our gateway interfered with them." He put up another formula. "This is how we merge the two."

John leaned forward. "This lets us break realms, not dimensions, right?"

"Yes. Including to perhaps that realm that Dawn's original form came from." John smiled at that. "That is the better version of a quantum mirror. One that's fully controllable, one that's fully extendable to wherever we want it to go."

The general smiled. "Which solves the problem we've had with the quantum mirror for years." Rodney nodded. "Great work, McKay. Anything else for us?"

"It is all going under patent and Dr. Epps has been using some of the more micro applications with Callia and others for his own research. It gave it a huge jump. He was working on the math of neurology and brain chemicals." The general shuddered. "We're looking at ways of using it to heal."

"Even better," the general agreed. "Good for humanity. Good for us. Has Stark tested out that new hybrid engine?"

"He has been. It's going very well. It's lasted through a lot of the testing he's wanted to do without maintenance. He's about to test it under more stringent conditions. It does go faster than the current electric models."

"Great," the general agreed. "I'm looking forward to it."

Rodney smiled. "That other Xander has a chemist and engineer he saved from being pimped out. He made a jeep that shrinks to a flat box magically. It runs on gas, ambient magic, or solar."

The general blinked. "Did Stark look at it?" he asked with a smile.

"Indeed. We all did and were most happy with it. Stark included that with his version and it's now souped up, can run on solar or ambient magic if off realm, and can go faster for longer. Before they had tested it going one-fifty for four hours." John whimpered, shaking his head. "By the way, Chris did pull out that floating car Howard had created once upon a time, and has tinkered it into working right. It now hovers about six inches off the ground due to a combination of forces. It runs like a normal car. He pulled one of the test cars off the testing track to interfere with it. The engine still ran the same with it on there." He poured himself some more coffee. "With that, I'm going to take a nap. I'll see you all next week." He took his tablet and his coffee to his rooms to shower, nap, and wake up sometime whenever he was ready.

John looked at the general. "Do I want to shake him until he's a bobble head doll or just kick his ass for leaving it at that?"

"I like the first. If you break him he might not reup and then we'd have to hire him as a subcontractor through Stark, which would kill our budget, John."

John Sheppard grinned. "Yes, sir. I'll keep that in mind." He got up. By the time he made it to Rodney's room he could hear snoring. So he was down for a long winter's nap. He'd have to make sure he made it up in time for his award in two days.

***

Tony leaned into the Expo board's committee meeting. "Guys, put in a show off from our tinkering group, including showcasing the kids." He walked off again. "We have huge things to announce."

"Okay," the chair said, adding that to the schedule. Dawn added it properly, getting a smile. "Any idea?"

"Lots of ideas." She smirked. "Including that Chris took Howard's old floating car and upped it with the new hybrid engine's second generation. It's even better from the testing they're doing." They all moaned and nodded.

"Great," he said. They went over the schedule for the other expo slots. "Is Hammer going to have one?"

"Can't we exclude him on general principles of being a douchebag?" Dawn asked.

"Wish we could."

"Congress hates him," another said.

Dawn nodded. "He told Callia she was ruined for science and no one would ever listen to her. She's been pushing herself to prove him wrong."

They added more space to the kids' section of the talk. They'd probably need it.

***

Tony walked into Pepper's office with the results of the scans Bruce had done. "Hang up," he said.

"Two minutes, Tony. They're having a supply problem." She finished up and hung up, watching as he put up the privacy shield that killed all electronics within thirty feet. "That bad? Did we make a new nuclear bomb?"

"I did that at fifteen, Pepper. It's in the vault." He put down the results. "Remember when Chris used to sleep walk?" he asked quietly. She nodded. "He sleep walked toward the lab that had that new Extremis virus/drug/whatever they're categorizing it as these days." She stared at him. "JARVIS kept him out but he got a bit exposed. He's got empathy with the AI's. He can tell when they have booboos as he put it. Bruce and I talked to him."

She blinked at him. "Does that mean he's bonded with JARVIS or Atlantis?"

"No. In him it didn't bond him to the machinery. In him it created the same sort of empathy Dawn has with people only his is for machines, specifically higher level machines."

She swallowed, leaning back in her chair. "Do we need to do something about this?"

"No. We need to realize it and watch for him to show it in public. We had to talk to him about not fixing other people's things on them." She nodded at that. "The Expo might expose him."

"Okay," she said, considering that. "At least he likes machines." Tony smiled. "This is going to impact his education."

"He hates math. Knows why he has to learn it but hates math."

"So did Callia at times." He put down something else. She stared at it then at him. "How did you get it approved already?"

"It's ongoing research and we asked for a quick review due to the multiple applications we're going to be using it for. We've filed it in the world court as well. That'll take longer." She nodded slowly. "Epps is a math god."

"So I've heard." She smiled. "Have a bit of a science crush?" she teased.

"Definitely." He stared at her. "We're coming out with the energy bridge. Callia's working on a short term neuro bridge." She sat up straight, staring at him. "That's what she was working toward."

"She doesn't think she'll make it fully?"

"She was thinking for emergency situations where she'll have to run, jump, and shoot she said. She's been realistic, Pep. She knows she'll probably limp a bit. She'll probably have tired days when she'll need a cane. She and the PT talked about that and her pushing herself so hard. She's doing PT then coming home and doing another three times of PT plus her laps in the pool. I made her sit down and eat breakfast with the programmers this morning. She's lost some weight and he was worried."

"Okay, I can pay attention to that." She stared at him. "So what do we do?"

"Even if Liz was exposed to this, she'd probably end up still liking art, business, and Gloria's law books." Pepper smiled, she had spotted her trying to read them and being confused the other day. "Maeve has no sign of it. She likes the DVD player but otherwise she might not like tech."

"Sure," she said, relaxing again. "So we're announcing what she has?"

"We're announcing where she is in hers. With Andrew and Jonathan. We've made sure everyone was on the paperwork. Epps upped his own research with it. Which in turned help Callia's. This is huge though. The bridge, the higher energy bridge, is powerful." She nodded slowly, licking her lips. "It's borderline for 'it could cause people issues'. I'm going to talk to Baldr with Rodney in a few days."

"Okay," she agreed. "Please do so we don't piss off Frigga or someone."

He nodded. "That's my worry."

"How do we help Chris best?"

"So far it's not affecting him more than normal. He's at the same level that Callia was at but he's doing things instinctively like how he went to Atlantis to wander around and spliced some wires by colors to make her feel better. Radek's claimed mentoring status. Rodney's all but publically declared that Callia's his genius heir." He grinned. She snorted but looked pleased. "So.... That power cube I'm not sure about and neither is Rodney."

"It's renewable."

"They're all looking it over. Epps was in heaven with the ZPM and her little cube's power flow research too."

"I'll make sure he's noted as being part of your high geek group." She smiled. "Let me know if we have to change anything."

"Do you want us to add her power research?"

Pepper considered it. "How dangerous?"

"Rodney thinks a lot possibly. Or it could be revolutionary. The same way atomic power and ZPM power is."

"Is he?"

"No. He wants her to hide it and she agreed that she'd like to but would like to show off her power research project that went into the engine and this is based on that. Plus there is a patent hidden somewhere. He made sure."

"She's good at that." She tapped her fingers on the desk a few times, nodding. "The basics that went into the engine and that we're working to make it better, faster, bigger, more applicable to more matters. If we could find a way to power cities with it, we'd all probably be really happy."

"Yeah, I would." He smiled and took the blocker, letting her restart her phone and laptop while he went to talk to his daughter. She agreed with those reasons. She and Rodney could work on it together to make it more applicable and her geek think tank could use that to start from. She really had to think about who to gather into it. There had to be kids on her level, right?

***

Callia was giving an interview she didn't want to give but she had to. It was for the good of the company and made her look less like her father's limpet back crawler and more like a true Stark of the lineage. She was dressed nicely enough. They hadn't wanted pictures. She still smiled when the reporter came in. "I went with comfy clothes. Hope you don't mind."

"No, I know you need to be comfortable, Callia. I had to do some minor physical therapy after a car crash when I was fifteen. I had six pins in my right leg." Callia winced. "So been through some of that." She set up things and smiled at her. "Get comfy."

"I'm okay. Dad, Stepmom, and Mom all made sure my padding in the chair is great and comfy. Chris put a lift kit on it so I wouldn't need to carry around a ramp for the labs." She smiled. "I was out of it earlier for pool time. I spend some time swimming each day."

"It has to take the stress off your back."

"That and it's great exercise." She smiled. "So, you asked to interview me. What's up?"

"A few things have been hinted and we wanted to get your answers on some pertinent and impertinent questions," the reporter said with a smile.

"Sure. I've heard both and asked a lot of them myself." She smiled back. "What's going around now?"

"Well, first. I've been told you have patents?"

"I do. I have seventeen with my name on them. I have another ten that are in review. There's one in quick review that I'm pretty sure got approved recently."

"All your work?"

"Some of them are with Andrew and Jonathan. A few are with Dad or Grandpa Bruce. Out of that first seventeen, eight are only mine." The reporter blinked. She smiled. "Out of the other ten, three are. They're older things. Andrew, Jonathan, and Grandpa Bruce helped teach me a lot of what I know. Grandpa is still really amused that I have no idea about proper component names on circuit boards but I know what they do and how to use them properly and design using them. Terminology is not my forte."

"So you know how to use resistors and the like but can't identify them on sight?"

"On sight but not usually by description. If you ask what something does I'll tell you what it does, how it does it, and why it's in that particular spot but I never took the time to learn what each one has as a proper name."

"Huh. So it's more practical for you than just dreaming up things?"

"Mostly. I spend a good hour each day in front of my tablet working on ideas." She pulled her tablet out of the wheelchair pocket and turned it on, opening a project. "Something minor I've been making for Liz." She showed her. "Liz said that she needs a better coordinated storage area, so she can find things. Like those closet systems that have it all on an iPad and it can move the closet to bring whatever you want to look at forward." That got a nod. "That system itself won't work for Liz's needs for her art stuff, her toys, her books, movies, or language tapes. So I'm working on designing the physical system to let her do that while Chris works on the software system. He likes that side better than I do. I'm not the computer genius dad is. I'm the physical genius sort." She grinned. "Then we'll put it into Liz's new room and it'll hopefully quit slinging her stuffed friends at her like it presently does. Chris made it sling anything pink at her."

"Sounds like a boy thing."

"He likes pink, but he said she didn't need it, it was for evil guys. Uncle Thor told him that bad guys in his people used to wear pink instead of black."

"Huh. I didn't know that." She smiled. "So you and Chris work alone a lot?"

"Sometimes. Chris is getting the same sort of dad time I used to get at his age. I'm old enough to retreat to my own lab to do my own thing and only go to Dad when I'm totally stuck and can't figure it out for myself. That's one reason why I moved to my own lab, so I'd have to figure things out instead of taking the easy path and asking."

"Which is good." She smiled. "What sort of patents? We've seen mostly electronic related ones but the newest one is said to be about energy?"

Callia smiled. "Wait until the Expo. Dad said we're putting out some of it then."

"Could it help people now?"

"Right now, we're testing our theories to make sure they're safe. To make sure they're practical across many things. I can tell you it does deal with energy, big energy and little energy, which is where I started. Then I ran into math problems that were higher than I've learned. I'm taking Calculus 4 but it's still beyond my grasp. Uncle Rodney found my three math errors and I moved from there to tinier applications while Dad saw a greater energy application to look over with Uncle Rodney and others." She smiled. "The whole tinkering group is having part of the Expo to present from what I'm told."

"That's wonderful. Are we thinking this might be like a new hybrid engine?"

Callia smiled. "That is something Dad and I started way back when Mom moved to Asgard with Sean and the twins. We were explaining engines to Sean while the twins were in the neonatal unit after their birth. He thought they should run on goats, like Uncle Thor's chariot." The reporter grinned. "Because I was kinda depressed he was up there he and I worked on something but we set it aside when bigger things caught our attention. Then Chris found it and he asked Dad. He and Dad have tinkered a version that's presently in heavy testing. I can tell you it's goat powered." She smiled. "And that it's a pretty good hybrid. So far we've done some great endurance work with the testing. I haven't really paid much attention to it since then. It's Chris and Dad's project."

"You were part of it."

"I still like cars. Dad promised we could hand-forge mine so I'd learn how to hand-forge too." The reporter's mouth flopped open. Callia smiled. "Chris adores cars. He's all about the fast. That's why he stole the rocket powered roller skates I made one weekend when I was bored. I still can't find where he hid them from the adults so they couldn't confiscate them. I know he's taken the rocket mechanism and moved it to a new set of skate boots because his feet have gotten too big for the original."

"Rocket powered.... Why?"

"I was bored." She smiled. "We tested it when they were trying to catch Chris one day on the SI gravel parking lots in Malibu. He was going over a hundred miles an hour. I took the spacesuit directional jets to tamper with and upgrade for them."

The reporter cleared her throat. "Does he know about the Stark racing team?"

"He found out about that a few months back. He's still staring in awe at them. He wants to try it some day. Made Dad buy him a racing car game."

"That's great." She smiled. "You don't like racing?"

"I like cars. I like engines in cars. Cars themselves are kinda....whatever. They're design and function that I look at like 'why did you have to do that' and 'isn't there a better way' or even 'I'm sure Chris could do better' about a few things like the self-parking assist system that's recently come out. I'm thinking Dad and I are going to be building me a roadster."

The reporter smiled. "Like a kit car?"

"Only I'm going to learn how to forge metal by hammer and fire. Like they used to hand-make everything."

"Wow." She stared at her. "Are you interested in ancient weapons?"

"I am." She grinned. "I love Uncle Xander's battle axe. Uncle Phil won't let me look at his special sword." She shrugged and grinned, wincing a bit. "Sorry, pulling." She shifted and caught her breath at the pain. "Go ahead."

"I can wait, dear. Like I said, I remember the cramping and the spasms very well," she said quietly. Callia smiled and got comfortable by transferring onto the couch. Then she curled up by pulling her legs up. "Hard question. Do they think you'll make it back to walking?"

"Right now that depends on my strength. They think I can if I work hard enough. Maybe down to a cane or crutches, maybe fully on my own most of the time. I want it really hard. I'm doing more than my PT wants me to do."

"I'm sure you'll make it then. There's rumors that you've sold an invention or two. Why?"

She smiled. "How many times have you written the phrase 'Howard's son Tony Stark' or some derivative of it?"

"Many," she admitted. "Especially when he was younger."

"I'm not going to have that. I'm Dad's daughter, and we had a talk about this. He didn't want to cast a shadow over me like he had to climb out of. It was really unfair to him and it's kinda unfair to us. Frankly, Grandfather was floating around as a ghost and annoyed the crap out of me because he didn't believe in women in science." The reporter winced. "We finally banished him to the old beach house in the Bahamas because he told me I was never going to do anything and might as well curl up and read for eternity. I'm not doing that. Not because he said it, not because the CEO in Norway sent me a letter saying I was now 'ruined'. Not because Mr. Hammer tried to discourage and defeat me by telling me that no one would listen to a disabled scientist. I very calmly told him that not all scientists were that shallow. I should have corrected my assumption of how many are up, but if someone like Stephen Hawkings can do it and be basically unable to communicate without technology, I'll be damned if I'm going to let this back injury stop me."

"That's a good way to look at things. Has there been a backlash because of this?"

"We're not sure if it's because of this or politics," she said blandly. "I was supposed to get an award next week. If it was the politics of Dad's part-time unpaid job protecting the ungrateful masses that come here to protest about him protecting them then I'd be fully surprised. It played a part but they did decide I was *fragile*. Apparently a guy in a wheelchair is more allowable in science than a female in one. It's a stereotype I'm fully intending to break and shatter into a million pieces. Women in science are already discredited and discounted more often than guys. It sucks. A lot."

"It does. What about college?"

"I'm taking some of the mandatories through my high school."

"That's good. Cal Sci?" She nodded with a smile. "Why there? I know your dad went to MIT."

"Dad did. He and I talked about MIT, and I did tour it. They're doing a lot of stuff that I soaked up watching around here. The 'this is how you build a circuit' and that stuff. Frankly, Cal Sci has a more personal project based system. It's more 'you have an idea, let's explore it' sort of structure. Which I'm used to from our labs. Here we have ideas, we work on ideas, and we have peer review and update meetings with Dad or reports for him. MIT was *nice* and it looked like a pretty campus. If I wasn't past some of their classes, I might've considered it harder. I needed somewhere more fluid and where I could have a teacher who'd look at an idea and go 'that's full of shit' when it is instead of 'well, the material costs would be outrageous so no one would really want it' that I get now." She smiled. "It's gentle but I like their program for their wacky, freethinking nature."

"That's a great reason," she agreed. "I picked my college because of all the cute guys."

"By the time I get there I'll start appreciating boys in more than a 'you just like me for the boobs I'm growing' that I have now. I guess." She shrugged. "Who knows. Right now, I don't care unless boys want to eat lunch, go to the movies, and work on things with me."

"You've had a few dates?"

"I went to lunch with a nice guy I met in LA. He had contributed something to the young genius engineering competition and got notable mention. We had lunch by the pier and talked about robotic cars." She smiled. "He's a really sweet guy. He's my age. We're still penpals."

"That's good. A lot of people wondered if your father had kept you out of school to isolate you a bit."

"No. That was purely because as a premie I get sick at the snap of fingers sometimes. A few years back when I had pneumonia it was because I had walked the dog without an umbrella." The reporter winced. "So it was partially that and partially that I was so far ahead. I was doing three classes at a time and by the time I was eight I was doing a mix of middle and high school work. How could I go to third grade when I was doing that at home?"

"I can understand that. I'm sure a lot of child prodigies had the same problem."

"Dad, Mom, and Auntie Dawn always made sure I had other kid time. So did Stepmom when they started to see each other. I got taken to the park, to classes with other kids. Anytime I wanted to go to the kid's museum I basically got taken by someone, even if it was Happy that once because no one could get away and I had earned a treat but was too impatient to wait on them to get done. I went to swim classes, which Chris is now in. I went to Bollywood dancing because I asked to. I went to gymnastics because I asked to. I had self defense here because I needed to."

"That's true," she sighed. "You did. So you think it was an okay upbringing?"

She smiled. "Yeah, I think so. No one ever told me 'no' about much of anything. Occasionally it was 'you're too young' about things like going on the business trip to Hong Kong or when I did ask about going to high school at nine. Then we talked about it. I had my share of punishments when I deserved them. Even if do think ten page papers on obscure topics is a bit mean of my father. Especially when I was grounded from all electronics for six months because I had wondered about circumcision after spotting the difference while helping change diapers. But then again, I had gotten onto some porn sites. I found shit I still don't understand how or why they were doing it." She shook her head but smiled.

The reporter was laughing. "You helped change diapers?"

"Yeah. I helped a lot with Chris and Liz, and now Chris and Liz help with Maeve. I also used to run a playgroup for the kid geeks. It turned into our daycare. I helped Tara with the twins, both sets. I helped Auntie Dawn sometimes with Philip. Which is when I noticed that Phillip had stuff that Chris doesn't. Which is why I asked. I thought Chris was deformed so that's why I asked. Because I had no idea what to tell anyone who might also find out and ask.

"Dad kinda froze up and tried not to answer. Mommy and Stepmom both called me mouthy and stood me in the corner after telling me I didn't need to know. Auntie Dawn told me it wasn't any of my business until I needed to see dicks in person. Grandpa Bruce talked to me about things I did not need to yet know. Then Auntie Natasha grounded me. Dad remembered he had meant to and enforced it. I think the only person I didn't ask was Uncle Clint and Director Fury. I asked Grandma but she backed up Mom."

"I remember he had to redo part of an interview to go talk to you about that."

"The pictures I saw on the medical site and the porn sites I found grossed me out so much I went up to the office to complain that I had seen it. That's when I got sent to Grandpa Bruce and he reminded me that sometimes there were unknown things and if I had done more than look at the pictures I would've found out I had broken the law. Which is when Auntie Natasha reminded Daddy I should be grounded."

"I would've probably spanked my kids."

"Dad's not into spanking. If I do something hugely bad like blow up a building by accident maybe. The grounding was the harshest yet. I had to go to our legal people and tell them all the bad things I had done so they could help me write a huge, three hundred page paper on all the laws I had broken. I got one of the assistant lawyers to help me learn how to read law codes. I was grounded from all electronics for six months. No tv, computer, tablets, nothing. I had a meltdown about doing my homework by hand because I could not write papers that way. I was falling behind on my promised deadlines for homework so Dad had Stepmom show me what an outline was and he allowed me to type up the stuff I was behind for the final draft only. That's also when I learned how to negotiate and things." She grinned. "They were all really mean to me about that."

"I'd guess that would seem mean." She stared at her for a moment. "It's said you somehow snuck some liquor too."

She waved a hand with a snort. "I was hunting red bull at the store by the compound's gates. Which I know I wasn't allowed to have. I was being defiant and wanted some. So I went to buy some. I had some blackmail on the guy since Dad had already called and told him I wasn't allowed to buy any. There was cheap wine underneath it on the next shelf. I did not read labels in those days. It was on the same shelf with orange juice and energy drinks so I thought it was another one. All he said was that was not for people under twenty-one. He never said it was liquor. I found that out later when I had the hangover from Hades. Which was when Dad had found out I had turned him in for his circumcision sideline but no one had listened. Dad turned it in to a higher source."

The reporter looked at her. "You didn't know?"

"No. Not like Dad drinks the cheap stuff and I've never seen the bottles. He has pretty decanters for the bar."

She groaned and shook her head. "I take it you learned how to read labels?"

"You betcha. I'm not that sort of genius. We will not be trying that again."

"Why was Red Bull banned?"

"Chris and Liz were so pissing me off. They would not leave me alone. They were following me everywhere. So I gave Chris the rest of my can of Red Bull and Liz three donuts the same day I outed the pregnancies." She smiled. "Then I locked myself in my lab in a way that meant no one could get in." The reporter winced. "Chris and I still sneak Red Bull now and then. That's why the shops in the other tower don't sell it. Dad asked politely."

"Wasn't Chris about two?"

"Yup." She nodded. "Dad took them out to the undeveloped part of the land and let them run it off with my dog." She pulled up video of Chris and Liz hyped up. The reporter smiled but shook her head so she shut it down. "I was mean but I wanted some time without my siblings. And I paid for it too. Dad made sure."

"I'm sure he did," she said. "He's taken some unique turns with you."

Callia grinned. "I'm not the average kid. Do you really think a spanking or a time out would've worked?"

"No, probably not," she admitted.

Callia smiled. "Dad's creative when he needs to be about us kids."

"It's said he lets your brother put on dresses?"

"Now and then. Liz started that. Mom would do her shopping with her and Liz would sneak in a pretty dress for Chris too. Mom never spotted it in the pile of clothes." The reporter winced. "Stepmom, not all that amused at first, but Chris now and then says he wants to be pretty. He's treating it like Auntie Dawn does Philip and his kilt. Sometimes kids like slightly weird fashion and it makes them smarter to explore things and to make decisions for themselves. None of us think that Chris will become a transvestite. We had to explain that to him the other day when Liz was nagging him that he should be a girl."

"So it's just a weird kid phase?"

"Probably." She shrugged a bit. "My weird kid clothes phase I'm still in. I like leotards, they're comfy."

"They can be. Do you have trouble getting into them?"

"I had trouble with it until we went to Auntie Dawn's tailor. Then he had someone make me a few in regular t-shirt material with snaps to help me get into them."

"That's good. What about other things?"

"I freaked out Stepmom. Regular bathing suits were just as hard for me. Mom let me switch to bikinis. That's when Stepmom went from 'you're eleven and growing up' to 'damn it, you need a bra' and 'bikinis are for big, adult girls, not girls my age'. They had to remind him it was easier for me to get into and out of. Once that's no longer true, he's overridden dad's agreement that I could have one when I had boobs and made it eighteen."

"You are growing quite the figure."

"And I'm taller than my mom was," she quipped with a grin.

"You are." She tipped her head to the side. "Who do you look up to for fashion icon ideas?"

"Auntie Dawn and Mom. I've found a few designers I like the stuff of but that's only for really special things. Fancy clothes would be ruined in the lab with all the dirt and grease. That's why it's t-shirts, leotards, pants, and shorts in the lab and slightly better clothes when I'm out and about, then fancy, expensive things for bigger things."

"We've seen you wear a few different designers."

"I was wearing one to the awards dinner. I'll save that for something else." She shifted with a wince. Her toes were going numb. She wiggled them a bit and it helped. She looked at the reporter again. "It's not easy."

"No, it's not. Some of us have been following your livejournal."

"Auntie Dawn suggested I could be inspiring and vent."

"I've seen some of the venting and it made sense. Do you feel the same sort of apathy toward people that your father does?"

She considered it. "I don't think it's apathy. I think it's exhaustion. Those same protestors, if something had happened during their protest, they would've screamed and ranted if Dad hadn't protected them. We've been aware of a double standard on that since the battle with the Chitauri. I've always grown up with it. Auntie Dawn fights it a lot. That's one reason why she's healing from a concussion. Those same people that hurt her would've screamed and ranted if she hadn't been able to save them and they needed it.

"It didn't take me that long to realize that humanity sucks ass at times. They want contradictory things and try to enforce their will on both at the same time. They do stupid things because people are different, or smarter, or female. So no, I'm a bit mad. I have no apathy, but I will claim exhaustion from the very same people. Especially when that 'protest' made my sister have a panic attack in the corner." She stared at her. "They need to grow the fuck up. They can't have it both ways. Some of them have tried to sue Dad and SHIELD for not protecting them enough and yet they don't want the protection at all. Let them make up their fucking minds and get back with us.

"Because when it's Chris's turn in the suit, he won't be like Dad. Dad has patience and Chris has not inherited it. Even though he realizes that people do that stuff. One of the protestors the other day started to shout at him. He's five and they were shouting at him like it was his fault. One of them tried to hit him with his sign. Chris hit him back with it and the idiot adult wanted Chris arrested. The officer thankfully had sense and had seen him try to hit Chris. And also had some common sense because he got that guy out of there before Mom heard and made it down there to make him regret trying to hit her son. Liz and I got pompoms to cheer Mom on. Chris took one of mine to help."

"I had not heard about that." Callia called up the security footage. She watched and winced. "I would've ripped his head off, cop in the way or not."

"Uncle Clint pulled her off to save the officer and assured him that if he *ever* stepped foot back on Stark property one of them would break him. As it turned out, the mini witch that goes to school up the road a bit, who likes to try to pick on Auntie Dawn now and then, made him trip and break his leg when he showed up for dinner." She smiled. "She also made sure a hypocrite sign floated above his head for over a month until her mother made her stop it."

"We thought that might've been Dawn."

"No. The mini witch is pretty mean but only sometimes." She smiled. "Chris bought her a candy bar and grinned shyly at her before going back inside."

"You guys sneak over to the other tower?"

"Yup, sometimes. I take my dog out for walks. Chris and Liz sneak over to the pastry and donut shop. Sometimes Chris sneaks to the ice cream place for himself or me, or the coffee shop for us. He's better at sneaking than I ever have been."

"That must drive your parents nuts."

"Sometimes but even here in this city, most kids can sneak across the street without getting into too much trouble. It's a shame we can't on our own property."

"Good point." She stared at her. "You sound a bit...not exactly bitter but world weary."

"Sometimes I am. I do try to keep that from my siblings but I've seen some of the worst that humanity does to itself. I was old enough to remember my aunt being on the run from the US before they turned her into a slave and I asked questions about why she had to be gone. I asked a lot of questions about why she wasn't able to be there for Grandma and me." The reporter shivered. "I don't think most people who've seen what we have would be all sweetness and light. I can't think of a single one of us that would be all sweetness and light. I'm hoping that Liz won't remember this always but I know she'll remember some. I'm hoping that Maeve never has to see it at all. Chris, he's already a bit cynical. Especially after the other night."

"What are your future plans, to blatantly change the subject before I get depressed about humanity too?"

Callia smiled. "The only way to not get depressed about humanity is to change humanity. Every little bit helps." She shifted her legs again. "I've actually made some huge future plans. With the invention I sold, I set up my own trust fund so I'm paying for my own school. That way anyone like a reporter who asks I can say I paid my own way. That gets me a bit further out of Dad's shadow. I never want to be Tony's daughter Callia. His daughter but some day I'd like to be Callia, not Callia Stark. I know it's a pop star ideal but I'm eleven in three days so I'll forgive that in myself at this time."

She grinned. "I have plans of taking our old mansion, Dad's childhood home, and turning it into a geek think tank. My generation of think tank. Chris can create his own. I want them to turn the ideas I get that may or may not be weapons, and come up with ways of using it for humanity. Or take Dad's suit tech and use it to help with emergency situations and things like floods. I'm barely old enough to remember Katrina. I remember watching some of the news coverage. I remember Dad going down to help rescue people and the FEMA jackass yelling at him for it. I want to turn the suit into something to help that.

"Or to help injured animals that need it in those situations. That's been an ideal I've held since I was six. I think it's still a good one. I also know that some of my ideas are more weapons oriented and with the way I feel about humanity I wouldn't trust them with weapons. Most of the time I don't trust them with pocket knives, much less artillery that I've come up with. I want to assemble a group to live with me there and they can take those sort of ideas and use them to help humanity instead."

"I think those are good goals." She smiled. "Do you know many that could be in that group?"

"I met a few at the young engineer award dinner thing. They might. As I work through college I might run into more. Dad's agreed it's a great idea. He hasn't said anything about me renovating that old, depressing wreck. So we'll see where we go."

"Under Stark International's banner?"

"Probably. I am a Stark and one of us will take over the business some year. Not sure which one. Liz might like business stuff. I know right now she's fascinated with law stuff and the medical shows on tv. She was watching a plastic surgery show and tried to fix my fatty shoulder as she put it. I had to get away from her and the kitchen knife. Mom had a talk with her." She grinned. "Thankfully. So we'll see. It might be Maeve. Who knows. It's not time to decide that. Dad had better not die before I'm in my sixties or else I'm making him the newest Stark ghost to haunt us."

"I know he's got to have plans with how he was orphaned at seventeen."

She nodded. "We go to Auntie Dawn and her spouses or Grandma or a few others. There's a huge list. They all know. I won't divulge that in case some carrier of the stupidity virus we've recently run into multiple cases of decides to take them out of life for it."

"That's a reason I understand. Do you have any mentors you look up to beyond your father?"

"Uncle Rodney. He's taught me a lot. Grandpa has. Andrew and Jonathan taught me tons of stuff, including how to make lasers." She grinned. "Outside the family group and the tinkering group? I haven't met many that I could. People like Hammer are posers who lean on others with ideas. He's showy and flashy but like PT Barnum. Dad does it *so* much better. Hell, Loki does it better." She grimaced. "We've had a lot of great minds I would've liked to have met. And a few I've met that their personality ruined any hero worship I might've had. Grandpa Howard is one of those. A lot."

She shook her head to clear it. "There's people I admire in other fields. Colonel Sheppard is really a great guy. He likes math and planes. He explains planes to me when I get curious. He's a great pilot and a really nice guy. I hope he finds someone as nice to him as Uncle Clint is to Auntie Dawn. Uncle Radek taught me a lot. Sam Carter when she was around taught me a few things but she's kinda creeped out by me I think. She didn't know how to talk to a child that knew some of her field of interest. Though I think that's almost common. A few other engineers have acted like I was wrong to know things. Even after they noted to Dad that I was a chip off the Stark marble block."

"Do you get that a lot?"

"Yup. He got it worse with Grandfather but Dad's made sure I didn't have a hidden pit in the shadow he was putting off the way Howard created one for him."

"You sometimes call him grandfather and sometimes by his name."

"Yeah, a lot of the time I don't really like being related to Howard. He's always had a weird attitude about me. Me being the first born and female. Me being born a potential slayer. He actually told Dad he shouldn't get attached."

"That's an interesting topic."

She held up a hand. "Uncle Xander talked to the people over the slayer gifts so they could talk to the slayer spirit itself. Because I have magic, it's not really allowed in a slayer, potential or otherwise. Magic would work against the instincts and the skills she imparts. Which means a very short lived, very ineffective slayer. The weapons making was slightly tolerated but I don't fit very well into what a slayer should be, the mold of the slayer spirit that works best. The physical attributes I have, had," she sighed. "The mental I wasn't going to be able to basically shut down and be a warrior. My mind goes to 'do I know something that can help here beyond using a weapon'. My first instinct was never to pick up a weapon to solve something. My first instinct is to make something to solve something.

"She tested me at that time and about six months ago when someone else tried to summon her to possess me against her will, and we talked. She was under coercion then but even then she couldn't make me less smart, less skilled, more action oriented. She couldn't make me into a slayer that she could be proud of. And in some ways that's almost upsetting. That I failed at *something*, especially that important. And in other ways it's a relief. I might be able to fight a vampire again some day but my first instinct still isn't to pick up a crossbow or a stake, it's to make something to take them out from across the city. Or a virus to break down the vampire's traits."

"Why does it upset you that you're not slated to be that way? I thought you didn't want the suit."

"I never really wanted the suit. I gave it careful thought back when people started to wonder and I've always hesitated. It didn't feel *right* to me. I would've been proud to be a slayer. My mother was one of the longest lasting. She died the oldest ever thanks to going to Asgard to protect up there. She was one of the greatest that they had and changed the line in ways that no one could anticipate. She handled big shit that no one else in history had to. I would've been proud to follow her into that. Even while tinkering in my spare time to make myself slayer weapons."

She smiled. "And I feel like I failed Mom a bit at that. Even though Mom would probably yell a lot about that thought. Auntie Dawn did." She blinked a few times. "It's not that I want to be the heroic sort. Some of us are meant to do great things in quiet ways. Some of us are meant to do great things in flashy ways. I'll do great things in quieter ways. It suits me more. I hate publicity and going to events. Dad threatens to send me to finishing school sometimes over belching at the table and stuff. I hate events." She shrugged and grimaced. "Some of us are meant to be support staff and some are meant to be the heros. And sometimes the support staff is there at the right time.

"That's how Auntie Dawn does it. I think I'm more like her than I am Mom sometimes. It could be that Mom felt she couldn't expose me to her wild, wacky, dangerous life. Which I agree with. I'd be a much different kid if I had grown up with her while she hunted. I'd be Van Helsing but you never know," she said dryly. "Auntie Dawn did a good job and showed me all the little ways that heros needed help and needed backed up. I find that it suits me more to do that. Not because I'm a girl.

"Because, really, the scariest and most strong Avenger is Auntie Natasha. I don't know many people that would face down an alien invasion with a wrist-mounted taser, two guns, a few knives, and a bodysuit with heels. And be a major part in winning. Everyone discounts her as the token female. Or Uncle Clint as the 'normal guy' on the team. Which made him and Xander bond one night over beers. If you guys look at who does the damage and what sort of damage they do, the ones you expect do a lot more than people think plus they're full-time agents and now parents. You can't get more hard-core than that."

"No, I don't think you can," she said. "I never looked at it that way. She did have quite an impressive count during the battles." Callia smiled and nodded. "Huh." She smiled at her. "Why would Alexander be considered normal?"

"Mom did it with Willow all the time. He was the normal guy. They didn't know about his heritage until after the thing with Max and the Losers. Not really until the NID came for the Sunnydale team. They considered him their normal guy and treated him like shit sometimes because of it. Then again, they were teenage girls and Mom was a Cali princess when she was younger, before she got appointed as the Slayer. Even after they found out, they still treated him like a normal guy sometimes." She shook her head. "I'm kinda glad I never met Willow and no one compared me to her. I heard Mom's watcher, Mr. Giles, used to compare Auntie Dawn to her sometimes and it used to piss her off greatly."

"Because they're witches?"

"That and because Dawn had powers," Tony said from the doorway. "Still pisses her off when someone makes that comparison. It'd be like comparing you to a reporter with a huge drug problem that got some great stories because of it. It's the same blindness that made Xander the normal guy."

"I can see how that happens," she admitted. She smiled. "Thank you, Callia."

"You're welcome. Remember to mail us a copy?"

"I will." She shook hers and Tony's hand. "She's a bit of a tease and flirt, Tony. She wouldn't give me hardly anything about the Expo or the hybrid car."

Tony grinned. "Good." She laughed but left them alone. "Pool time?"

"Sure. I could use the floating time." She transferred over and followed him to the elevator. The reporter smiled at her. "I don't let him help very often. I'm stubborn and girls have to prove themselves sometimes."

"Not in this family. We all know Pepper really runs the family," Tony quipped. "That's why you turned out normal and fashionable and so did your aunt." The reporter snickered as she got onto her elevator. Tony waited until they were upstairs and in the pool to look at her. "You okay?" he asked quietly. "JARVIS said you were getting a bit upset."

"She asked some questions that made me a bit upset. She asked if I had your apathy for humanity. I corrected that and told her how it was exhaustion and why. She asked about Mom." He nodded, pulling her over to hug her. She rested against his shoulder. "Thanks, Dad."

"I'm still mad about your mom too. And you're right. You would've been Van Helsing or Xander's clone instead of mine if she had raised you."

"He would've stolen me." She grinned. He smirked back. She swam off to do her laps.

"Settle down and take a day off, daughter. Even Rodney and I take vacations."

"Sure." She settled against the side of the pool. "What did you guys decide about the power research?"

"Car level."

She nodded. "I can see that." He smiled. "I realize it could lead to dangerous areas. I wouldn't want that. I'm still using my future think tank to turn your suit into helping things during emergencies."

"Good. I look forward to watching one meant just for doctors come off the belt." She grinned at him for that. He settled in. "Rodney's coming up soon."

"Can he bring Uncle Radek? He could use a vacation too."

"Probably. They're spraying Atlantis for bugs."

"Poor city." He nodded. "If I'm Rodney's geek heir does that mean I have to learn about ZPM's?"

"If you want." She smiled. "I know, you've already looked stuff up."

"Yup. And I'm not sure if your new baby bridge system could help recharge them." Tony considered it, pulling up a virtual screen to think about that. She added some of her thoughts to her side. He pulled her against the side with him so they could work on the same side of the monitor.

Rodney came out, staring at the screen. "Why are you working on that?"

"Compression." She grinned. "Come join us once you have on swim trunks, Uncle Rodney." He went to change and came back to help them. He took Callia's former side of the screen, erasing her scribbles to rewrite it. She smirked at him. He stared at her. "You are much too smart for your age. Are you sure you're not an Ancient?"

"I'd hope not. They were egotistical bastards like Grandfather." She grimaced. "What a horrible thing to say to me, Uncle Rodney." She hit him and almost kicked him. "Hey, you moved," she told her leg. Tony sighed in pleasure and hugged her. She relaxed. "I'll have to show that off tomorrow." They got back to work. Dawn came out to give them snacks and drinks, staring at Rodney until he ate. She laid down a glucometer too.

"Dawn, what happened to your new shoes?" Tony asked casually.

"The heel broke, boss. I think he's still mad about his antique car getting smashed by the Chitauri. I'm having the other people fix it."

"Good. Don't go back there."

"No plan of it," she assured him. "Benji knows someone better in London and he's going to introduce me."

"Great. We're going to London in five months," Tony reminded her.

She smirked at him. "I know. I'm taking some time off for that and some real shopping then." She went back down to her desk.

Radek came out reading a book. "Is supposed to be time off, not time to tinker," he complained mildly.

"Callia realized our recent research led to recharging the ZPM's," Tony said.

Radek came over to look, smiling at them. "Is nice and compact math, Callia. Nice job."

She grinned. "Thanks, Uncle Radek. The reporter asked me who I looked up to and I mentioned you two and Uncle John."

Rodney looked at him. "Really?"

"He explained planes to me and let me use the simulator."

"Good point." He shook his head.

She hugged him. "You're still a favorite uncle." He grinned and swatted her, letting her help them some more. When they finally came to a dead end but a promising one, they saved it down and put it up so they could have dinner and relax out there instead of work.

***

GHS Xander finally went back to his home realm. He and Benji had ended up really good friends. Him and Aaron too. He had letters for both of them in this realm if he could find them. Thankfully he was still on his world trip and near where Aaron was hiding. He found him in the market and followed him back, not minding when he was grabbed and shoved against a building. "Not here to hurt you. I was talking to another version of you in another realm earlier."

"You're insane," he said.

"Actually, not quite." He held up the letter with a grin. "He wanted you to have that. Also," he said, looking around. "You got the wrong attention. One of my poker buddies found you for me. So let's get you somewhere safer. I like that Aaron, he was a nice guy." He stared at him until he read the letter.

"What sort of poker buddy?" he ground out, then calmed himself down to look at him.

"Arms dealer." He grinned. "He gets me some pretty shit that I'm only allowed to keep for emergencies." He nodded. "We're at the hotel with the tour group. C'mon. You can blend in I'm sure." He looked around. "Your friend?"

"She wanted to go back to work. She's safely tucked into a lab." He stared at him. "You and I were friends there?"

"Kinda. We hung out. Benji took us both to play miniature golf a few times." He smiled. "Long story. I can let you talk to him once I get near a mirror." That got an odd look so Xander pulled his sword and used it on the throat of the person following him. "Hi." The man wet himself. "I take it you know who I am?"

"Xander," he said, trying to swallow. "I mean you no harm. I'm bringing a letter from Wade." He held it up.

Xander stared at him. "I'm going to see Wade right now. At the hotel?" He nodded. "Good." They walked off, him putting the sword back.

"It shrank."

"It does that." Xander grinned. "It's magic."

"Really?" he asked dryly.

"Yeah. I don't have much." He created a portal back to Aaron's apartment and walked him through then closed it. "We're getting ready to leave Greece in a few hours." Aaron blinked but packed and Xander got them to the hotel. He walked in and nodded at Wade. "We haven't checked out, have we?"

"No, not for an hour. Where were you?"

"Doing the yard sale stuff Horatio demanded with that other Xander that's a god and his Dawn's help." He smiled. "This is Aaron."

"Uh-huh." He looked at him. "Do I want to know?"

"Nope. Tell you later." He got them up to their room and turned on the spell for the mirror. "There you go. Hi, Aaron and Benji. I got back okay. One of the poker buddies found him."

Aaron looked at himself. "Xander's fun, he's cute, he's good, he's stolen a lot by people who would love to kill us. He has CIA computer access legitimately." Aaron stared at Xander.

"Poker buddy. I won it." He looked at Benji. "Any idea where you are?"

"Right about where you're going in a few days." He smirked. Xander grinned back. "You need to pack up the horses, the dogs, the ferrets, the Winchesters, and your slightly psychotic assistant's family to come here."

"I'd have to pack Horatio, Speed, and Mellie, plus Adam, Ray, and Toby. And the bed."

"You can do that," Benji said.

Xander smiled. "Maybe." He winked. "I'm coming back there. I have bad ideas and might even talk to my ex's."

Wade knocked and leaned into the bedroom. "No you're not. I'll shoot them. We're leaving in an hour. Do I need to use the system to make him a passport?"

"I have a good one," Aaron said. He looked at himself. "Huh?" Aaron went back to explaining things to him. "Huh." He blinked at Xander, who smiled. "Sure, I can help. Who's with you now?"

"Jensen had to go back to Miami for a hard retrieval so that cures a huge problem," Wade said dryly. "As long as you fuck him now and then. Let's go, boys." He paused. "I know you," he told Benji.

"Good, make sure Xander delivers my letter to the me there and talks to me."

"Sure," he agreed, looking him up. "We'll get with him in two days when it looks like we'll be in the same city. I can help his spider monkey idiot friend."

That Benji cackled at that. He looked at Xander, who smiled. "Clint called Ethan a flying squirrel more than once. He's still pouty about that." Xander grinned. They packed up everything, including the pets, and left for the airport. Aaron's didn't get much attention since Wade had forged the entrance stamp for him. They got onto the plane.

***

Xander walked up to a guy at a table in a café, reaching around him to type something into the box he was looking at. "Shh, I have full access from a poker contact," he said quietly. He got him into it and smiled, sitting down and ordering a coffee. "Find it."

Benji stared at him. "Who're you?"

"Xander." He put the letter on the table. "From a you that I met recently. He's a few years older." Benji put it into his pocket and found what he needed, which was more than they were expecting. Xander let him shut down the computer then reopened it and did the seeing spell. "There."

Benji stared at himself. "I aged like crap."

"Brain surgery. Someone took me to make me a linked human computer terminal. Aches like shite some days." He grimaced back. "I take it Xander's there?" Benji nodded. "Trust Xander. Protect Xander, please? I'd do it if he was here but bad guys like Xander. Like the one you're probably after. Read the letter yet?" Benji pulled it out to read it and grimaced. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." He tapped his earpiece, getting Ethan. He handed him the letter and what he had found.

Ethan stared at the other Benji. "Clones?"

"Other realm," Xander said with a grin. "And if you're after Thom, he's presently tied up in the closet until Wade feels like dealing with him. He broke into my room to play with my hair." He sipped his coffee.

"Already, Xander?" the Benji on the screen asked.

Xander shrugged at him. "I was asleep on Ramses."

"The dog is cute. You need to come back here and bring the whole group. Clay could like having twin Jensens and Cougar's."

"Shut up," Clay shouted. "You wish that on me again and I'm going to rip those stitches out through your asshole."

Xander laughed. "Sorry, Clay. I'd have to bring Jensen and Cougar. I'd miss them. But you'd have another you."

Clay leaned into view. "No," he said slowly and clearly. "And if you make our realms merge I'm going to kill a lot of people."

"Just leave me someone to date," he quipped with a grin.

"Definitely. Because, damn!" He walked off shaking his head.

Xander snickered. That Benji laughed too. Ethan and that Aaron shook their heads.

Aaron sat down, waving at him. "Hi. Wade's kind of psycho."

"He used to work for Max until Max came after me. Then someone brought Wade and Roque back to be my assistant. I let Roque go screw Buffy's evil out of her."

"That's so weird," the local Benji said. He looked at himself. "Now what?"

"Now, go with Xander." Benji grinned. "Get to know each other better if you can. Ethan, don't take the Russian job." That Ethan rolled his eyes. This one looked confused. "Trust me. Really don't. You guys don't have Clint there to help. You'd have to rely on Aaron there to help since you don't have a Clint to fill in."

"I don't understand," Ethan complained.

"Xander can explain it," that Ethan said. "Just... yes, he's bouncier than we are. Bad people we'd like to get into custody adore Xander and his hair. They like to give him presents too." He smirked. "I still say there's something like your condition here and it's in Dawn and all the Summers family."

"Maybe," Xander agreed.

"Just go with the plan," that Ethan said. "I'm saving you a lot of pain and stress. Especially when we go Ghost Protocol in a few years." The local Ethan shuddered. "Exactly. So let Xander tell you guys that. You guys can hang out with Xander and find him a nice boyfriend if he and Benji don't work out there. Of course, if he comes here, you've got to make sure all the family group comes," he said dryly. "And his antique bed."

"I might be able to ask wardrobe living Xander for a favor," Xander said. The local Benji gave him an odd look so he whistled with a smile. "He's an apprentice."

"Oh, dear god," he said with a smile. "You really are insane."

"Sometimes it comes with being a Xander. We hold yearly conventions. There's one in a few weeks if you want to come with me. We can probably get you and that Benji together for a bit."

"Maybe," Ethan said. "If we're not busy." He looked over as Wade walked over. "I was hoping he was talking about someone else."

"Nope." He looked at the screen. "Get your ass to this realm."

"I might just do that." He smirked. "The horses sound nice."

"They are. He even makes me ride with him. If you're not coming here, pick him someone. Please?" He glared at his boss. "I just met two more."

"I'm down."

"Uh-huh." He glared, hands on his hips. Xander finished his coffee and followed him back to the hotel.

That other Ethan shook his head. "He does it to protect Xander. He really does." He looked at Benji. "If we retire you can go over there. I'll call if I need you."

"I think we can do that." He grinned at himself with a wink. "Talk to me later before you draw more attention." They cleaned up and Aaron went with them.

Ethan stared at him. "Aaron Cross." He held out a hand.

"I've heard." He shook it. "Ethan and Benji."

"I met the other ones a few days back. Xander's a bit intense up close and personal." They escaped the area back to the hotel to talk to them about what had happened that was that bad. Aaron could handle that role. It'd give him a better way to hide and Ethan knew the Director so they wouldn't have a problem. Thankfully they didn't have a SHIELD in their realm. Though Xander and Benji did have a great date that night.

61: School Trips For Future Old Ones

Sometimes people just don't like Dawn. Which usually makes Dawn show her butt in many interesting, pushy ways. Especially when it's about her kids.

Dawn leaned down to kiss Clint. "Where do you want him to go to school?"

"Here."

"Which one of us is quitting their jobs?" she asked with a smile.

"Somewhere good but not snooty? I like Callia's present school."

Dawn nodded. "Okay but it's going to cause some press attention on you." He quirked an eyebrow up. She smiled at him. "It will."

"That's fine if you must."

"Yeah, I think I must." She called someone. "Janice, Dawn Summers. You forgot someone on the list you're putting out. Look in your mail, dear." She did find an envelope from her and opened it. Then gasped. "I may hide it pretty well, but ..." She laughed. "Because I'm where I want to be, Janice. Where else would I want to be? My niece is there, and the other kids. I adore the Stark kids as much as my own. Pepper's like a sister and sometimes a motherly figure to me. No, I'd still be hiding it if it wasn't for us dealing with putting Philip in school. Frankly, we'd all love to have him home schooled but we don't want to hire someone to do so.

"I'd never use business contacts for a school admission. Who knows what they'd say beyond I'm perky and good at what I do? None of them would mention I speak six languages fluently, another eight good enough to sound like a long time resident, and four more enough to sound like a tourist, and read another three demon ones. None of them would say I'm ABD in a dual degree and have two masters." She checked her nails. "Exactly. Which is why I sent you that."

She smiled. "Because I got a bit pissed that they assumed I was just a humble assistant trying to move my child up the ladder of success. Thank you, Janice. No, just the one is great, dear. Thank you. Yes, I am being Stark subtle. Because that's the only thing they'd notice. Oh, that ranch you guys were dissing? I know it needs paint but we're more interested in the bloodlines than the paint at the moment. We're working on greatness. Painting comes later. Always apply the finishing touches later." She laughed. "Thanks for this favor, dear." She hung up and looked at Clint. "Which means I have to go to tea probably next week."

"With Pepper or without?"

"With. Just in case someone misunderstands." She grinned.

"Does that mean you're admitting to your alternate identity?" She handed over a news paper article in French. "I don't read that." He scanned it and found both her names. "Aww, they put it out there?"

"Yup, fuckers." She went into the kitchen to work on dinner. "Barley risotto?"

"Add veggies. They're growing again."

"Of course." She did that and he smiled at her deviousness.

"Does that mean that I'm going to have to answer questions about my son?"

"Maybe. I wasn't going to push that in anyone's face. Which one?"

"The really expensive one that he wanted to hug?"

"Okay. I liked that one and his education trust will more than pay for it for the next thirty years." She smiled at him and went back to cooking. Natasha came in looking pale. "Problems?"

"How did they get hold of your tax forms? Someone outside asked me."

"That was fast," Clint said.

Dawn smiled. "Janice is with Town and Country. Her sister is with Vogue." Clint moaned. "And her cousin is a gossip columnist." She kissed Natasha with a smile. "School stuff. They thought I was a humble assistant. Go pick out my outfit for tomorrow?"

"Gladly." She went to do that. Dawn was playing the wrong sort of game with this but she'd help so their son had a good education.

"There's been stories about *fundraising*?" Clint asked.

"Most schools would, yes." She smiled at him. "It's okay."

"Uh-huh."

"We can do that."

"And it's expected to be what?"

"Ten percent unless they're hunting for huge things."

"Of your income?"

"Of the tuition."

"Huh. That one was how much?"

"You had a headache during that part," she reminded him.

"I seem to feel it now." He got up to kiss her and cuddle her, watching her cook. This stuff was going to drive him nuts.

***

Dawn came out the next morning, smiling at the reporters. "You're messing up my prettiness."

"Dawn, when did you get that settlement from SHIELD?" one of them asked with a smile.

"I haven't gotten hardly any of it. I have been investing since about my second paycheck. My first one had to go to my work wardrobe and stuff I needed. I had a brilliant financial strategist who helped me invest and made me a great budget, which I still live by outside of the girls' expenses. They have their own budget with Philip." She smiled. "You guys didn't see it in Esquire, in Money? In the Times?" She smiled. "You guys thought I was a humble little assistant too, huh?" They all nodded. She shook her head with a smile. "I'm a smart one. That's how I paid for my own college." They groaned. She got into the cab. "We're going to Stark Tower please." He nodded, driving her off. Clint had the kids today since he wasn't on call. She paid and got out, heading inside.

"Smooth," Tony said from the head desk. "Like using last year's returns so they have to not consider the payout from SHIELD."

"They thought I was a nice, simple little secretary trying to jump Philip up the chain of success, Tony." He cackled, shaking his head. "Exactly." She sat down, smiling at the flowers. "Aww, the uppity mother fuckers who sneered because I'm with Clint and Natasha said I'm still an assistant and not worthy of them. I think that's the other way around. Especially since Philip's already multilingual." She tossed them out. Tony came out to get them and take them to one of the botanists. She loved flowers, even other people's. Dawn smiled. "Thanks, boss." She got to work, answering a few emails from contacts and one on her livejournal. They had no idea about anything. It proved she was subtle.

Pepper came down with her first cup of tea. "Nice."

"Thank you. Tea next week?"

"Hmm. Wearing the red?"

"The green or the blue, the one that's the color of Clint's eyes." Pepper smiled at that, going to check her desk. "Tony was just in there."

"I can tell. He sorted on me." She smiled at Dawn's back. She was very subtle usually. Clearly they had underestimated Dawn a lot.

***

Dawn smiled at the headmistress who had sent her flowers during the tea. "Headmistress." She shook her hand. "How is your school doing?"

"Are you still trying to find Philip a seat?"

"We still consider home schooling the best option but none of us have the time for that at the moment. If one of us would retire I'm sure we'd do that instead. It did do Callia so much good." She smiled. "Plus Philip adores his lessons with us. He's already very fluent in three languages thanks to us."

The headmistress stared at her. "There's no way you can play in our leagues, dear."

Dawn laughed. "Headmistress, I can buy and sell your school."

"Money isn't everything."

"True, but neither is breeding with all the tails that seem to appear every moon dark." The headmistress reared back and sneered. Dawn smiled sweetly. "Present company not included of course." She sipped her tea. "There you are, Pepper. Excuse me, Headmistress. Pepper, I've already fended off the advance of Mr. Willhelm who wanted me to be his new CFO."

"You'd do good in it," Pepper said, sitting down in her chair. "Callia fell at PT."

"Is she all right?" Dawn asked.

"She's fine. Tony was with her. Her back gave out and she's frustrated but not hurt. She'll cuddle when we get back there."

"We can head back," Dawn offered. "Or I can."

"We're almost out of time here." She smiled at the headmistress. "I thought about your school for Liz but we decided to home school all the children since Callia's turned out so well. It seems to work wonders for their attention spans."

Dawn nodded. "If one of us was home all the time we could do the same with Philip and the girls. Though Philip really did want a school where he could pet the horses until he was old enough to ride. He does so miss his pony in New Zealand." The headmistress huffed off. Dawn looked at Pepper, who smiled. Dawn grinned back. "You sure she's okay?"

"She's fine, Dawn. Frustrated. Had a fit at herself and her back," Pepper said quietly.

"I've had a few of those at my inner ear and dizziness problems." She finished her tea and looked at her email for a second then put it back into her bag. "Tony's having to leave early."

"Why?"

"The usual."

"Robots?"

"No. Not this time. Demons." She sighed. "I should help."

"You are in no shape to help," Pepper said, patting her on the hand. "You can help when you're not dizzy."

"And if that never happens?"

"Then you'll work on it." Dawn nodded, pouring Pepper some more tea and fixing it for her. "Thank you."

"Welcome." She stood up and curtseyed the woman coming to them. "Duchess."

"Miss Summers. Do you go by your maiden name?"

"For business things. Or Romanoff-Barton." She smiled. "Either works for me. I'm easy that way." The Duchess laughed and smiled at her. She pulled out a chair. "Sit with us?"

"Of course. That's why I came over." Dawn sat down after her. "How is your daughter doing, Pepper?"

"She just had a slight accident in PT and is swearing at her weakness today but last week one of her legs moved without her moving it."

"That's wonderful news. Progress is going even if it's slow."

"In things like this, you often have a few setbacks," Dawn said. "The same as in any training."

"That's true." She smiled at Dawn. "Those people are still insistent that you have the right to a title."

"Which I do not want."

"I can agree with that. If I had known then what I know now, I wouldn't have married my husband in the least." She stared at her. "School?" Dawn nodded, glancing over then back at her. "It's a hard thing. Have you thought about a private tutor?"

"Often." The duchess smiled. "Very often. If I wasn't working or one of the others wasn't working I'd gladly let them do it. As is, as soon as one of them gets injured in a long term way he'll be home schooled. Clint said so."

She smiled. "That's a wise thing. How old is he?"

"He's four in another week. He'll be starting next year."

"If you lived further out."

"I know but we need to be closer due to their jobs."

"Good point." She patted her on the hand. "Good luck."

"I tried to talk to Natasha about schooling two years ago. She didn't want to. Clint didn't want to."

"Hmm, now they know why. What of the girls?"

"Probably wherever their brother is if I like it."

"That's a good thing." She patted her again. "Good luck."

"Thank you, and I hope your daughter has a wonderful semester at college."

She smiled. "I hope she studies instead of parties." Dawn giggled and nodded that was true. "PhD?"

"My dissertation is on helping children learn to be multilingual in a society that doesn't appreciate it and the benefits of it."

"Like the children in Europe get?"

"Yes. We're very far behind their educational standards in a lot of ways. If children in Belgium can speak four languages naturally, why can't American children? It would help them no matter what they're doing. Even if it's construction it means they can get to know their coworkers better."

"That's a good point." She patted her on the hand and walked off to talk to others.

"When do you present?"

"Six weeks," Dawn said. "And I'm deathly afraid since the head of my board's wife is one of the sneering ones," she said quietly. "Rodney and Tony took my proofread copy to go over it. Rodney called it too soft of a soft science but he supposed education was a worthwhile topic for it. Tony agreed and fixed the few typos I had left. Rodney turned into a grammar mistress."

Pepper smiled. "It'll go okay. They have to decide on the merits of your work." Dawn gave her a look. "Okay, for the most part."

"I'm not sure if I want to ask for an unbiased panel due to me talking to his wife a few times about my son's schooling. That way it keeps any hint of impropriety."

"I'm sure he's run into that before."

Dawn nodded. "I've scheduled a talk with him about that. I'm not sure what he wants." She poured herself more tea and sipped it.

"That's really for businesswomen," one of the women in there sneered.

"That's great since I have over seventeen million in investments, mostly in medical technology and adaptive technology companies," Dawn said with a smile for her. The woman reached over to swat the cup from her. "Touch me. Watch me throw you across this room," she said quietly. "No one likes a bully, dear. Even I know that." She huffed off to complain.

Another one laughed. "I'm sure she wouldn't use that *magic* on you."

Dawn looked over. "She does know seven martial arts and she also has *excellent* hearing, madam." She stared at her. "If it upsets you that much, perhaps you should leave since you don't participate in business matters at all. Do you?" She finished her tea. The woman was gasping. "I did think this was for women in business. Which I do run. By the way, *dear*," she said, staring at the snotty one. "I also run sixteen farms. From the wine you were *gushing* about the other day to the cheese. You were at my partially owned restaurant's tasting party." She smiled. "Let's go, Pepper. The rarified air in here is a bit...stale."

"It is and we do have a company to run," Pepper agreed with a smile for her. "Sixteen? I thought there were twelve."

"I bought two recently. Both are produce and meat farms. The steaks that we brought over were from some. We were quality checking before we bought them. The others were the horse and sheep farms."

"They were really good steaks. Wagyu." Dawn smiled and nodded. "Good choices. I liked the white wine a lot with them. I'd usually have said the red but it was a bit robust for that delicate meat and the sauce with it went well with the white." They walked out and got into the limo, letting Happy drive them home. She looked at her. "They're so snotty. Why did we go to that?"

"You said so?" Dawn guessed.

"Good point. I clearly made a mistake." Dawn grinned. "Think they'll look down on you for that?"

"Nope. And if so, I'll work from home and teach him my own damn self." Pepper laughed.

***

Dawn looked at one of her dissertation board members. "Sir, do you have a moment?"

"I do, Miss Summers. Come in." She came in and shut the door and sat down, which he scowled at her for.

"Sir, I'm still dizzy from the concussion. I didn't think you wanted me to throw up on your desk."

"No I did not so I'll forgive you sitting down." He stared at her. "What is that important?"

"Your wife's job."

"Not this again," he sighed. "Did she turn your son down?"

"Before even meeting him but that's not what I'm here about. I'm worried her prejudice against me because oh my god I worked for my money and that's not *her* sort of people at *her* school will interfere with my defense."

He blinked at her. "That's ballsy."

"No, it's reality. Considering she sent a few people to sneer at me the other day at a business tea I have to consider that she would try to convince the people on my board. Why she was there I have no idea but she was and she was most rude. I don't want you to have a hint of impropriety that could get you looked at wrongly by the higher ups at the college."

He burst out laughing. "You have balls, Summers."

"I've been accused of that before. Unfortunately a spouse can bias a defense. As it has gotten two other members of my board in the past." He quit laughing and stared at her. "Which does worry me a bit. All I want is a fair shot at what I've earned. Without bias or snotty bitches telling people that I'm 'wrong' because I earned my money. Which, by the way, her grammar? You should've proofread her letter to the editor today." She handed it over.

He read it over. "She didn't mention you by name."

"No, she didn't." She smiled. "Because I would've sued her. Not like I don't run businesses as well as be the perky super assistant sort." He gaped. "I wisely invested in some food and production farms with my past earnings. They're doing fairly well. Apparently me earning my money is wrong to her. And I don't want that to hinder my board. I'm not asking you to recuse yourself, I'm asking if you think there is a problem."

"Probably not," he said firmly, staring at her. "You really do have nerve."

"Sometimes." She stared back. "I'm not doing this to alienate you, sir. I just want a fair shot and I'm not sure if you and the other two in the same situation are going to give it to me. I can fight uneven odds but I'm also aware that I can have it taped and I will be requesting it."

"You think it's necessary?"

She pulled out her tablet, flipping open a tab once it was back on. She held it up. "Look like some familiar names? They printed them in the Times last week." He took it to look at, growling some. "Which is a problem I don't really want to deal with. At least I have some expectation that you're nominally unbiased thanks to your wife. What about them?"

"I'd say we would give you a fair shot, Summers." He looked at her. "We can change your board. That means you get Dr. Crumshires."

"That's fine. I took him for three classes, Professor." She stood up, forcing down the nausea. "When should I hand them copies of my dissertation?"

"Is it done?"

"I'm doing a final proofread this week. I've had a few others look it over for grammar and missed links."

"You type that fast?"

"I had a few free weeks in there while trying to heal from the concussion," she said dryly. "Not much else to do when moving makes you dizzy. For a few days moving my fingers was the only thing that didn't make me dizzy."

"I've seen concussions before."

"I'm glad I didn't get the double vision," she admitted. "No matter how worried the neurologist was about that."

"If you have it done, we can move you up. That would mean we'd have to get someone from another language."

"That's fine. I speak a number of them." He shook his head, calling over there. She held up a USB key. "Want it in digital format or should I drop it off tomorrow? I'm having the paper copies bound today."

"Bound?"

"Wire binding, as protocol demands. The one at the office is broken so I had to go to a print shop. I'm picking it up on the way home."

"Make sure you have ten copies." She nodded. "Hand them in tomorrow."

"Yes, sir. Thank you for being so understanding, Professor." She left, going to pick them up and take them home.

The professor called his wife. "Why did you piss off one of my doctoral candidates?" He listened. "Yes, that one. Yes, she does. Melon, she didn't get the settlement until this last tax time. That's before that settlement. I've seen her finance paperwork. No, I'm not going to and she was wise to ask me to remove myself. Usually my students ask me to talk to you to get their kids into the school. Now I can see why she didn't want him there." He hung up and called the new board together. "We have to change a board."

Crumshires smirked. "Summers." A few glared at him for mentioning her name.

"Yes. Because my wife is a total bitch about her son trying to attend her school. Three of them were part of a noted protest at her workplace and against her relationship." He stared at them. "Quit disgracing the department." They huffed off. "Crumshires, pick someone from languages. Hers is a dual. She'll drop off copies tomorrow."

"So soon?"

"She said she typed it up while she had a concussion."

"I heard about that." He went to pick a friend over there. He'd let her impress him. She had good grades and her past papers had practical points. It was definitely real world instead of fantasy education worlds. Which he liked.

***

Dawn walked the box off the elevator and to the workspace Clint had, kissing him before putting it into his explosives safe. It was empty and cleaned up so no residue was there. She locked it in and smiled at him. "Dissertation."

"Can I read it?"

"Later. I need ten clean copies for them and there's only twelve."

He kissed her with a grin. "I can wait." She grinned and went to change. He got back to fixing a few new arrowheads. "Can we attend the defense?"

"No. Sorry."

"Fine. Is Stark going?"

"Only if he wants to be paddled."

"Okay." He smiled, texting that to Bruce. He said he'd help her prepare.

***

Dawn faced her board a short week later. "Thank you for agreeing to the changes."

"Don't you worry," one of them said with a heavy drawl.

"Professor Crumshires, I've had you for three classes. The last I knew you were British," she said bluntly.

He laughed. "In person?"

"Yes, they were." He smirked at her. She smiled back, looking harmless. "I mostly enjoyed it until you messed up the translation on the demon language."

"Ah, that was you." She nodded. "How well do you know that one?"

"Well enough to converse with people in it. I do so a lot. Including once during a business meeting when I had to translate because one of the lawyers for the other side spoke it and he was misunderstanding English or any other language we used."

"Good." He stared at her. "So, impress us, Summers."

"Is that your name?" one asked.

"I have all my records under Summers-Romanoff-Barton, which is officially my name. For business matters, I tend to go by Summers."

"Huh." He made note of that. "I wondered about that on your forms. That's not legal, correct?"

"It is. We had it changed."

"Oh." He made note of that as well. She smiled. "You were late?"

"My heel fell off. The new shoes I had made are not the quality I expected for the price I paid for them."

"Are you a bimbo?" Crumshires asked.

"Only to some stupid people. Even geniuses can turn their ankle and have their shoes fall apart, sir. For that matter, I was here, just up the hall icing my ankle in a place that no one was going to look up my skirt."

He nodded. "You're not scared."

"I've faced down rebel groups that wanted to kill me. You're not quite that bad." She smiled. "And given demonstrations to foreign presidents."

"Good point. Get on with it." She went into her defense speech. She had slides that were working well. Including one that was colored on. She flipped past with a head shake and went on with her presentation.

Crumshires looked at her. "You've used this on your son?"

"That as well. His mother speaks Russian. I speak it as well. His father speaks some. We exposed him to all of them but focused on certain ones that are more prevalent in our lives. I did test these methods on him and the local daycare. My niece had to take a language class and is taking Greek. For her needed community service hours she's teaching it to the children in the daycare at work. She and I went over this method versus how she's presently learning it." She switched to that slide. "We used a basic level flashcard test since half the children in there are too young to read. It covered all but the last two lesson's material. That way we could weed out a recent memory bias to the results. They were given by another scientist so it wasn't one of us and them being cute with us." She smiled. "That one was another of the parents but she was not taking the lessons with the children and we taped it to make sure she didn't bias them by prompting answers."

The committee nodded when she played the video for them. "That's not a bad method for children. What other methods have you tried with your own children?"

"My son's almost four. So far it's been the basics through workbooks, usually ones that use association methods. He responds well to them. We taught him colors by the laundry method. We taught him to sort by practical methods. So far his language education has been a smattering of us using it around him and him picking it up, Dora and similar programs, and me sitting down to work with him." She switched to that lesson video. Philip was happily chirping things back at her as she associated them for him. She turned it off and smiled. "He's now partially multilingual, in line with his age group and a bit beyond. We've been working on more complex food, movement, and activity words." She showed them that video.

Crumshires nodded. "That's a neat trick. He remembers them?" She put up a different video, which was dated two days ago. He was reciting what the words she asked about were while his father stared at him oddly in the background. He smirked at her. "Impressive."

"Thank you, Dr. Crumshires."

"Why did you have your board changed?" one asked.

"Because my advisor's wife has started on a smear campaign to make sure my son doesn't go to a good school because I'm not *her* sort," she said dryly. "I made the point that I didn't want bias. Just to have a fair shot. Between that and three of them having been noted at protests that were very anti-my husband and wife's job, I didn't think I'd get it. As is I had to take one of them to the Dean once because he misgraded my test on purpose." Crumshires winced at that reminder. He had been dragged into it to regrade it. "As he saw."

"He did. He admitted he did it on purpose and I'm not sure how he has tenure." He looked at her. "That took balls."

"I've heard that recently but sometimes you have to be a bit pushy to get a fair shot. I frankly wouldn't have cared who did my board as long as they were giving me a fair shot. Even though I know you hate me because I corrected your pronunciation twice in the same class." He smirked and nodded. "You did get it wrong."

"You proved that point, Summers."

"I don't speak up unless I have a point I can prove, Dr. Crumshires. I'm not some reactionary little bimbette. I earned my degrees. I'm hoping I earn this one."

"It's impressive work," he said. "But most of us hate you."

She smiled. "Failing me for that reason just keeps me around and makes me more stubborn," she said. "Then I'll get to try again and again and again until I finally make it. All the while being in the department taking more classes."

"We can ban you," he offered.

She shrugged. "Then I'll go to Finance. Not like I don't have a good working knowledge of that field. That's possibly my next one if I don't take some medic classes just in case they're necessary."

He blinked at her. "You really do have balls."

"Sometimes I wonder but I've never put on the illusion choker that could change my form and shape to give me real ones. I only guard it and sometimes use it to confuse my husband so he gets a naughty thrill."

His mouth flopped open and then he burst out laughing. "That's good to know. How strong is it?"

"One in another realm belongs to a Xander. He's not godly like ours but he's a world class thief and gunman. Due to that choker and a fertility spell by Janus, he had two sets of twins and a single." He groaned. She smiled. "I'm guarding it."

"Good!"

She smiled. "In his life it's really handy."

"I'm sure it is." He stared at her. "We have to decide."

"I await your decision, professors." She nodded and gathered her laptop to go wait in the hallway. Usually you heard within a few hours. She relaxed and texted Pepper that she was waiting to hear. Pepper sent her an SOS so she worked on that acquisition contract while she waited. She looked over as the door opened, saving her work and shutting her computer to walk in.

"Summers, we found your work impressive," one of the other professors said. She nodded. "Though we're debating if you're ready."

"Ready for what, Professor Rothschild."

"To teach."

"I have no interest in teaching beyond my children and Mr. Stark's children. Or any children that we may take in. My focus has always been languages. I was talked into taking the teaching of languages by the late Professor Morton."

"That makes sense." She looked at the others. "You demonstrated a good feel for both fields. Very field work and practical oriented." She nodded. "We feel that you have not totally proved your point however."

"Where did you think I failed so I can look into that matter?" She clamped down on Clint's swearing in the back of her head.

"Actually, a few of us think you should have stuck with business."

Dawn shrugged. "I'm sorry they feel that way. I like languages. It's my area of genius. I'm just really good at business things."

"I can see that point." She stared at her. "We feel you have proved a few things. Including that you are quite stubborn." She nodded. "We also think that you're doing work that is not suitable to this institution."

"My dissertation was that bad?" she asked.

"They hate your spouses," Crumshires said bluntly.

Dawn nodded. "I didn't know that an education depended on who you married and loved. I'm sorry they feel that way. I don't think it's going to change anything in my life however." She looked at that professor.

"They won't give you a PhD here ever, Dawn."

"According to who, ma'am? The same professor that his wife was trying to impact?" She got sneered at. She stared back. "I'm aware that people don't like me personally for having gifts I use when I feel they're necessary to use. For multiple reasons. I'm aware of the people who hate my spouses for who they are and what they do. I personally do not care about anyone's bias until and unless it impacts my life."

"There's no tape," she said smugly.

Dawn pointed at the one behind her. "That camera?" She looked and blanched. "They started that second camera immediately because there was an allegation by another student, who has a parent within SHIELD and one in the FBI that they were not given fair hearings. They send that information out in a memo to all PhD candidates so we're aware of our rights to have things taped."

"I doubt that one has one."

"That one's a digital camera, ma'am. It tapes off-site." The woman went pale. She looked at Crumshires. "Is that the feeling of the whole board?"

"No, it's not. She and two others are highly against you ever getting any education ever again."

"I've never known anyone who could stop me from reading a book. So I guess they've failed."

He smirked at her. "However." He glared at them. They shrank down. "The review panel is still meeting." Dawn tipped her head at that. "Are you all right?"

"The anti-nausea medicine is starting to wear out." She shrugged. "It happens to me now and then." She calmed herself and looked at him. "When should I hear?"

"Within twenty minutes."

The Dean of the graduate college came out. "No, we're done. Dawn, we accepted it." She smiled at him. "You were right to push for a fair hearing and you got one."

"Thank you, sir."

"Are you walking?"

"Yes. I haven't really gotten to walk any of mine due to other things going on. I think it's time I walked a college degree."

He smiled. "Are you going for a higher business degree?"

"I don't know. The doctors in our infirmary wanted Clint, Natasha, and I to take medic classes in case it became necessary. I might do that next."

He nodded, shaking her hand. "Congratulations."

"Thank you, sir." She smiled and hugged her laptop. "Dr. Crumshires, I look forward to having you hood me? Or whatever we do as PhD's?"

"I accept." She smiled and left. He looked at the members of his board. "That's why I asked for the dual hearing." Those ones got up to stomp off. "Thank you."

"She earned it. Or else I wouldn't have. You know I have no patience for whiners and she wasn't. She proved her point and her case." He walked off. Hopefully Dawn would go to a different school for any future degrees.

***

Dawn walked in and found Pepper pulling out her hair. "I'm almost done."

"I needed it thirty minutes ago."

"I got interrupted by biased people and then the actual panel had to rule." Pepper stared, mouth open. "They accepted it," she said. Pepper squealed and hugged her. Dawn hugged back. "Let me finish this." She settled on the couch in there to finish typing it up. It let her put her feet up since one was swelling after her turned ankle. Pepper noticed. "Heel broke."

"That person needs to pay you back for all those."

"They're good beyond that and I'm having all the others tested, Pepper." She nodded. "Most of the other ones made grandma looking shoes." She got back to work, finding that she had been mistyping for half a page. She went back to redo it. She let Pepper proofread it and nodded, sending it over within the deadline. "Linda?"

"Has no idea," Pepper sighed. "I asked and she said she had no idea how to format those."

Dawn nodded. "I can show her." Pepper smiled. "Clint owes me dinner." She thought at him and calmed him down, showing him what had happened after she had shut them out. That calmed Natasha down as well. Neither one was in the mood to go beat someone to death. Then Dawn told them they needed a dinner out. Natasha said Joyce was busy. So was Bruce. He was having an angry day. Dawn got up and went to find him, walking into his lab. "What went wrong?"

He flinched and stared at her. "I'm not good company, Dawn."

She stared at him. "That's why I asked." He blinked at her. "What went wrong?"

"I... It's like a pile of things that just suddenly got uncovered in the back of my mind."

"Since when have we had telepaths on this realm?" He stared at her. She nodded. "Sounds like it." She wove a protection around him and he growled. She looked at him. "Don't." He flinched back. "Okay, Stepdad." He shook his head and walked off. "Hell, if I get another concussion maybe it'll fix the dizziness I still have." She watched him pace. She checked, the spell was in place. On a hunch she typed into his computer at JARVIS. Who sent back a positive. "Huh. Someone's testing pheromones." He paused to stare at her. She showed him. "I'd suggest calming down before you see Mom," she said quietly. "I'm not sure if Mom can handle that."

"I'd never, Dawn."

"I know." She grinned. "That's the great thing about you. Even though you have great rage monster problems, you've never once let them hurt the family." She patted him on the arm and that's when the Hulk came up. She blinked at him. "Hi, Stepdad." She waved. He growled. She stared at him. "Calm down. Please?" He growled and balled up a fist. "You hit me and I'm going to send you to Saturn." He lunged and she moved. She concentrated. "JARVIS, I need a containment shield down here please," she said quietly and calmly. "Whatever bullshit they were feeding him has gone a bit too far."

"Pretty girl," Hulk sneered. "Get smashed."

"No, I'm not." He lunged and she teleported, holding her head. "Okay," she said, blocking his path. He threw the chair. It was backing her into a corner. She saw Tony in the doorway and teleported. That let Tony put up the containment shield. She sighed, leaning on the wall. "I touched his arm."

"It has to be whatever whoever was pumping in."

"Can we find them and beat them?"

"Yup. I'm going to. Then make sure he doesn't blame himself."

Dawn looked in there. "He's going to get free."

"The sedative's not going to work with him hyped that way."

"Blow up doll?"

Tony gave her an odd look. "Why?"

"Have you ever seen the Hulk get hard?" she pointed out with a point at him. Tony looked and shook his head. "JARVIS, send Stepdad to the clearest gym and clear it."

"Callia's in the yoga room alone. It will take a minute to get her moving."

Tony hurried off to get his daughter out of harm's way. Dawn stayed there to make him focus on her instead of getting free. It was scary but she could handle Bruce and get away from the Hulk if she had to. Which she would have to because he broke a wall. He was beamed and Dawn put up more shields around his work area then headed down there. Tony hadn't gotten there in time. Callia was scared and sniffly. The Hulk was fighting with himself. Dawn got between them so Tony could move her. Hulk roared and rushed her. She teleported off. She held her head. "I don't think the celebration dinner's going to be tonight." She sent that at them before going to get sick. Tony had it, he could handle it. He could beat whoever started that.

Callia finally let all the anger out. "WHO IN THE FUCKING HELL DOSED MY GOD DAMN GRANDFATHER WITH SOMETHING!" she shouted. It nicely carried over the intercom. "BECAUSE I WANT TO TALK TO YOU, BITCH!" Then suddenly she and her wheelchair weren't there.

"I sometimes forget my daughter has magic," Tony said. He looked up. "JARVIS, where is she?"

"She is presently pummeling the person who is most likely responsible. With your son, sir."

"Great. Where?"

"Lab six."

He looked at the Hulk. Then around that gym. "You know what, take Dawn's cure. Jonathan's giving up his kevlar impregnated sex doll." The AI just sent it in there. The Hulk roared and tried to rip it up. "Make one with life sounds? Put Joyce's biorhythms into it. Send it in once it's done." He stopped Joyce and Steve as they came off the elevator. "No. Someone filled his lab with aggressive in heat sort of pheromones." He saw the flash and the Hulk let out a pleased yell. "We gave him a sex toy, Joyce. Give him time to be embarrassed and calm down." He walked off. "Let me go stop my daughter from ripping up a biochemist with bad ideas to teach her little brother how to punch. Dawn's vomiting again." He went up to lab six.

One of the other scientists was nibbling on some microwave popcorn. "For being in a chair, she has a great swing, Stark."

Tony watched and nodded. "We did a great job teaching her and clearly she's been teaching her baby brother." He walked in there to haul Chris off. "Out in the hallway."

"Hell no," Callia snarled. "My grandfather is not a damn science experiment!"

"He'd agree with me doing it!" the researcher shouted. She was crying through all the snot and blood.

"I doubt he would've agreed to participate since it nearly made him rape my aunt and me. Thankfully I'm still small enough that he hesitated." She hit her again then moved back. "Get out of my company."

"You're not...."

Tony pointed. "We're going to be talking first but I think it might be a really good idea." He hauled her up and down to the infirmary to treat her. He'd talk to his daughter later, make sure she was okay. Natasha walked in looking nicely dressed. "She did tell you that you didn't have a sitter, right?"

"She did. I'm on my way to meet an old friend at the bar to get some information. We were going to do her celebration dinner tomorrow night." She found Dawn, helping her up. "Are you all right?"

"I know Bruce isn't like that and I'm pretty sure he's going to be horrified afterward." She hugged her. "Have fun with Brenda."

"I shall." She tipped her chin up. "We are very proud but your children are pouty."

"Is Mira pouty too?"

"She is very much your daughter most of the time. She's been complaining at me all day long." Dawn smiled and kissed her on the cheek then went to see what had happened so she could go home. Pepper was worried and a bit pouty since they hadn't won the bidding. "Sorry."

"No, it's okay. These things happen." She smiled. "Are you better?"

"Slightly. Stepdad's still in a hormone induced rage thanks to whoever."

"Callia beat her with Chris." She pointed at the kid in the corner. "I'm waiting to see what happened."

"I'm wondering what happened too," Dawn said. She looked at Chris. "Got an explanation?"

"She fumed him on purpose because he's not normal and she thinks he wouldn't mind."

"I think he'll Hulk up again to beat her ass himself," Dawn said dryly. "If Mom leaves her living."

Chris looked at her. "Grandma?"

Dawn smiled and nodded. "Where do you think I get it from?"

"Wow. I didn't know that about Grandma." Pepper pointed so he turned back around with a sigh. "Callia not in corner."

"She will be when I find her ass," Pepper assured him. Tony walked in with a police officer. "Is she charging Callia?"

"Nope. The officer is here to take Miss Bad Science away." He put down the forms. "Need your signature relieving her of her grant as well." She looked at it and signed it. "Thanks." He handed it to the officer with a grin.

"Is the Hulk contained?" the officer asked. "Or should we try to evacuate the other tower?"

"They fumed him with sex hormones," Dawn said quietly. "He's locked in an area with a surrogate that sounds like Mom." The officer shuddered. "Then we'll calm him down afterward."

"I'd be upset too." He went to finish the arrest once the infirmary had her stitched up. Callia had been a mean little girl.

Joyce Summers walked into the infirmary. "I want her charged with trying to make my husband rape Dawn and Callia, because he was very close to it and both girls managed to get out of harm's way, and the rest of the people in this building. Because he has no control at the moment."

The officer nodded, adding that to the sheet. "I'll talk to the DA personally, Mrs. Banner."

"Thank you." She glared at the woman, who shrank away from her. "I'd think you should probably beg. Callia's not the one to worry about here." She walked off.

"You probably like it like that anyway," she sneered.

Joyce paused to stare at her. "No. He gives great cuddles in Hulk form but I'm not like you. I'm not that deviant." The woman flinched. Joyce walked off. Bruce was starting to calm down but Steve wouldn't let her in there. Not until he was mostly changed back. She walked in and he flinched, backing away from her. "Shh. The bitch who did it is going to jail."

"Don't come near me yet, Joyce. I'm... I'm not calm."

"I know." She sat across from him. "She dosed you on purpose because she decided you were a great experiment." He growled. "She just slung at me that I probably liked it like that anyway." That got a deeper growl. "Everyone's okay. You didn't hurt anyone but I had them add the charge of attempting to make you rape every single person in this tower."

"I saw Callia," he said, swallowing hard. He got up to be sick in the corner. He waved her off. "No!"

"Bruce, you didn't really think about her. You saw how tiny she was, how helpless, and you stopped yourself from even trying. No matter how much your primitive brain might've yelled, you stopped yourself and Dawn led you away from her before your primitive side could overrule you." He stared at her. "Really."

He sat down against that wall. "I knew I was a monster."

"You are not. Most men would've reacted. You just had a stronger one thanks to him." He snorted, banging his head against the wall. He looked around and spotted the doll, shaking his head. "Tony's idea."

"It was a good one. It probably saved a whole bunch of people." She started to move. "Please don't."

She got up and came over, sitting in front of him. "It was not your fault."

"I've never lost control like that."

"Well, now you know how college kids feel when they wake up somewhere they didn't expect to be." He glared. She smiled. "You did."

"Slightly."

"It was not your fault."

"I should have better control."

"How? Even Natasha would've reacted to that. Or Steve." Steve nodded from the doorway. "She pumped it into your lab on purpose. To see what you would do. She's a science bimbo."

"She is." He rubbed his hands over his face. "I need better control."

"Then let me find Oz and see if the werewolf transformation meditations will help." He stared at her. "There's a temple in Tibet that teaches werewolves how to transform at will instead of at the mercy of the moon. They don't have to transform at all."

"I... I might like that."

"I'll see if I can get hold of Oz tonight." She reached over but he shook his head. "Bruce, you didn't do anything."

"Tell that to the doll."

"Bruce, think for a second," Steve said quietly. "If you were fully out of control, without any higher brain functions, do you think that doll would be in that good of shape? Even if you didn't have conscious control you still stopped yourself. You stopped yourself from hurting Callia. You hesitated long enough that Dawn was able to appear and distract you." Bruce stared at him. "Even if it was just the skin of your toenails you had enough to keep yourself from breaking out of here to cause real harm." Bruce shuddered but nodded. "I'll call around, see if we can find Oz."

Xander appeared, staring at Bruce. "Oz is coming this way. I already talked to him." Bruce nodded, looking down. Xander tipped his face up. "I have seen warriors lost in the middle of the battle, reacting to the battle heat. The most gentle men ever but the fire in their blood won and they did horrible things. They went looking for ways to feed that fire they were under the spell of. You did not." Bruce shuddered but nodded. "For that matter, you weren't trying real hard. Dawn only teleported away from you and you've caught her before when she did that."

"That's good." He looked at him. "I need to meditate."

"Of course you do," Joyce said. He avoided her touching him and she understood why. "Bruce, you're no more of a monster than you were yesterday, which is not at all."

"I can't feel that way, Joyce."

She smiled. "Then it's good that I have enough faith for both of us." He nodded. "C'mon. We can let you hide in your basement at home."

Tony leaned in. "Joyce, we need to put a monitor on him to make sure it's all out of his system." She glared. "Looking at her notes it was an extended release version." Bruce groaned. "Bruce, she pumped so much in it was bad. It spread it was so bad. The boys both pounced their wives in front of the kids. Thankfully Caro got them moved. Ten percent of the air in your lab was contaminated by her chemical mixture."

"Ten percent?" Steve demanded. "Shouldn't that have killed him?"

"If it wasn't for the Hulk, yes," Tony said bluntly. "She had also fiddled with the nitrogen ratio on the filters." Bruce stared at him. "She did it on purpose and swore up and down she'd prove you were a scientific nightmare brought to life. Even that asshole DA is agreeing to charge her heavily. Including the attempted raping and killing of every single man, woman, and child in this building." Bruce exhaled. "So we need to get you to a better room to meditate in. One where you've got proper air. Unfiltered air. Somewhere quiet you can calm down and check yourself over." Bruce nodded. Tony came in to help him up then Joyce up. "Joyce, do you want to sit vigil in the room where we'd usually stay to monitor him?"

"Please. I know it wasn't him, Tony."

He grinned. "We know too. Bruce is a great guy or else I wouldn't let him near the kids." He walked him down there to the observation chamber. He flipped off the switches on the wall. "Okay, you're not on an alarm. You're not on filtered or enhanced air." He looked at him. "Heart pads?" Bruce stuck some on and the EEG pads too. "Okay." Tony put it on the wireless setting for him so he could pace or sit in the corner. "The only alarm that should go off is 'we're being attacked by morons' or your heartbeat is so far out of whack. I'm putting it on the silence setting." He did that and looked at Bruce. "Want dinner? A drink?"

"I could use some water."

"Okay." He pointed. "Urinal but it'll have to do, buddy." Bruce nodded. "I won't ask for samples. I've got plenty of hers to go over." He patted him on the arm without hesitation. Bruce stared at him. "Chris got exposed and he got hard too," he said quietly. "He's nowhere physically capable of that."

"I.... I'm going to work on my anger at her."

"Good. You should be mad at her and not yourself. If you had went full on primitive Hulk, Dawn would've been a painful greasy spot and so would Callia because we moved you before she could have gotten out of there. You stopped yourself. We're all really thankful that you stopped yourself."

"It helps. Not a lot but it helps."

Tony nodded. "Someone fed me acid and I realized I was collecting knives before I started to come down. A few minutes later and the whole party I was at would've been a bloodbath," he said very quietly. "Not quite the same but yeah, I get the point."

"Can you tell her...."

"No. I can't tell Joyce she can't touch you to comfort you. It'd be futile and I'd look horrible with the black eye. I hid from Pepper for three days because she kept asking what had happened and trying to touch me. She finally gassed me and tied me to the bed so I would talk to her. She thought I was mad at her for something and she cried a bit but then she calmed me down, helped me ground myself again. Remember, every good meditation has a focus and a grounding point. That's why I made the doll sound like her."

"It helped," he said quietly.

"Good. Let me send in something to drink and some soup." He called that in and the nurse brought it in. "Let Bruce meditate. If the short redheaded guy shows up, he's allowed in but no one else. Even Callia or Chris."

She nodded. "Okay." They closed the door but didn't lock him in there. Bruce locked it instead. She got Joyce a more comfortable chair and dinner. She'd be there for a while helping him. She'd wonder but she had heard them talking in the infirmary over that nasty little woman who had gotten beaten by Callia.

***

Dawn showed up the next day after the meeting with the headmistress of last resort. She wasn't going to deal with it. She'd put Philip with a personal tutor first. It had went well. She hoped he would get in. The woman had noted that she knew she was the last resort and why. Dawn had corrected her assumptions too, making her look horrified. Dawn had been brutally honest that she didn't really prefer their school because Philip was already doing some of the second grade work. They had gotten him in to test him and he was above average for their grade levels. It was expensive but a necessary evil. Really she'd be paying about that much for a tutor per year. She ran into Clint. "How's Stepdad?"

"Still keeping calm. Oz showed up right before breakfast so he's leading him through them. Hulk likes Oz's wolf." He looked at her. "Did you insult her?"

"No, we were honest with each other. Including me correcting her assumptions that Philip had an educational trust from Stark. They did ask for tax returns so I handed the last five years over. She was amused that no one knew. Then she asked about the settlement. I pointed out I had only gotten the first payment recently. She was horrified but they're considering. If not, I'm hiring a tutor. It'd be the same cost. He's doing second grade work for most everything but geography. It's not worth the stress to keep this going."

"Sure." He hugged her. "Calm down." She sniffled but did calm down.

Pepper came up the hallway. "Dawn...." She paused. "Go that badly?"

"This is the last one or I'm hiring someone," she said, looking at Pepper. "Did I do what?"

"The Henderson file."

"What Henderson file?"

"I told you about it yesterday."

Dawn shook her head slowly. "No. I was gone most of yesterday, Pepper." Pepper stared, blinking hard. "One of us clearly has short term memory loss. I'm hoping it's me. Yesterday was my defense, right?" Pepper gave her a dirty look. "With the concussion it's not unheard of."

"Yes, yesterday was your defense. I told you about it while you were working on that one acquisition form."

Dawn shook her head. "No, you were proofreading something." She called up footage to show her.

"Okay, so I have short term memory issues." She rubbed her forehead. "We need it in an hour. It's the parts contract."

"I might have that done." She got into her desk computer, staring at it. "Okay, or maybe someone wiped it on me." She got into her data backup. "I've been doing one."

Pepper looked and moaned. It was empty. "JARVIS?"

"Someone last night somehow let loose an EMP. I sent an email."

"Which I never got," Dawn said. "Not that there was much I could do about it." She looked in her laptop and tablet. "Okay, is this it?" Pepper shook her head. "Is it like that?" Pepper nodded. "Let me do that. Clint, can you go get me a coffee please?"

"Sure, Dawn." He went across the street to get her a good one and came back to find Pepper and Linda talking in the office. He handed Dawn her coffee. Linda was sniffling. "JARVIS, who did the EMP?"

"One of the cleaners." He put up that picture. "I do not know who he is."

"That's my ex-husband," Linda said quietly. Pepper moaned and thumped her head on the desk. "I'm sorry, Pepper. I had no idea! He's got a restraining order...."

Dawn held up a hand. "Linda, we all have ex's like that. I ran into an almost ex because he was trying to kill Steve while we were on vacation," she said as she typed. "Pepper, I need particulars." She handed over the file. Dawn warped an older document to reflect those changes. She let Pepper and Linda proofread it and sipped her coffee. She looked at Clint. "Can you please find my USB?" Linda handed it over. "The other one. That's my diss."

She found it and Dawn ran it, finding the things they'd need later this week. "Thankfully I work ahead. Linda, take this and proof it. We need it tomorrow at 9am." She printed it and handed it over. She handed Pepper three more things she printed and Clint one. "For Tony please?" She smiled. "You make a great assistant." He smiled but went to do that for her. Dawn reloaded everyone's calendar and looked over what they still needed. Only one was critical for that day. That got done first. Pepper hugged her then Linda before going to work on some things of her own that needed to be recreated.

"When problems hit Stark, they do it all at once," Linda said quietly.

Dawn nodded. "Definitely and usually at obscene levels of stupid to quote Rodney." She got back to work after draining her coffee. She answered the phone one-handed. "Thank you for calling Stark International, how may I direct your call?" She smiled. "Yes, headmistress, this is her. No, I'm in the middle of recreating something that the computer ate. I can take two though." She saved and leaned back to listen to her. "That was my ideal solution but then that headmistress decided I was being uppity.

"His learning is why I did not consider you originally," she agreed. "Because I want my son to move forward without having to be skipped. He's too young for that. No, I think by next fall he's going to be even further ahead. The schools I wanted him in were either closed or were snotty to me because I choose to work." She listened, pointing at the phone when Pepper looked at her, getting a nod. She listened. "That's where I really wanted him. Clint said he didn't care as long as it was good and not full of snobs. Natasha was all for him going to East Lake."

She heard the delicate shudder. "He liked the building. Clint wouldn't have minded and we would've enhanced what they were teaching him at home." She listened to her suggestion. "I'd love to but she was snotty to me at a business tea. She had people come harass me. Yeah, that was her thing. I had to ask her husband to remove himself from my dissertation board. It did not please anyone. I had to make sure I got a fair hearing though." She crossed her legs.

"Dawn, work," Tony complained.

"It's the headmistress of the school, Tony. I've only got one thing to do today and I'm half done. Count it as my lunch?" He grimaced but nodded, going into the office. "Yes, I am. We had a huge computer issue last night. Ate weeks of work. No, I've got some of it backed up in places where it shouldn't have been found." She frowned at her desk safe then in there. She pointed. Tony shrugged, coming out to see why the EMP had worked there. "That's what we wanted but if it's going to cause that much stress on my son I'm about to hire a private tutor. I won't have my son upset by people like that. That's why I let my tax return slip so well. So they'd quit trying to be so snotty. It didn't work."

She smiled. "I had not looked at them. Clint didn't like them to be honest. He thought the main building looked like it was going to fall in." She heard they were building a few new buildings. "I know it's a parent's job to help fundraise," she said. "I had to tell him about that actually." She smiled at Tony. "If he'd interview us, I'd adore that. When is a good time for him?" She pulled up her calendar while the headmistress talked to him. "I have a meeting during that time but I can send the spouses and listen in. Well, yes, but it's proprietary to the Avengers. It would be a huge misuse but I'm pretty sure my boss wouldn't mind."

"Nope," Tony agreed. "You could call off the meeting."

"That's with the FBI. Us making peace with the local office that we had to find out the hard way was full of idiots who didn't want to do their job."

"That one," he snorted. "Great." He looked at Pepper.

"They called it," she said.

"Pity. I'd reschedule."

Dawn hugged him. "Thanks, boss." She sat up again. "That's fine. I can definitely do that. No, this has to do with them ignoring things like biological weapons being sent to us and them not doing anything. They were ordered to make peace and we were all but ordered to play nicely." The headmistress laughed. "I can make that if he'd prefer it. Sure, that's a great time. I can make him put on clothes and all that. Last time I heard, he was wandering around in big boy undies and his father's t-shirt because he had an ear ache." She smiled. "Even better. Thank you, Headmistress. That is very kind of you. It's a great weight off us and a huge favor I owe you."

She smiled. "I can talk to Mr. Stark but the kids are probably going to the one in Long Island where Callia's going. They're doing the same sort of work Callia was. Including Liz. Yes, all that. I can mention it though. Thank you." She put the phone against her shoulder. "They need a roof on the science building." She mouthed, "I can do it" and he nodded. She put it back against her shoulder. "I think I can talk him into contributing at least fifteen thousand for that new roof. All students should have a safe place to experiment and learn to love science."

She smiled. "That's a great thing. Of course. We can send over a cashier's check today. Give me a few hours to go to the bank for him." She grinned at Clint when he came back. "Sure, thank you and him for me please. Have a great day." She hung up. She wrote out the check for Natasha since she came off the elevator. "It's to be in cashier's check form for the school we are not going to. She got us an interview with a good one later tonight."

"Philip feels miserable," Clint said.

"It's then or while we're meeting with the FBI. This was a huge favor she did us."

Natasha nodded. "I will do that. The one with the willows?" Dawn nodded, grinning at her. "The new one?"

"The one Clint thought looked like it was falling down. They're building a few new buildings."

He nodded. "Which they'd like us to contribute to?" he guessed. She nodded. "Are we buying his place, Dawn?"

"No. They have half the city's academic olympic kids in their system." Clint looked impressed at that. "I would've liked him to go there but you hated it."

"That school. Okay. If that works out."

"If not, I'll hire a tutor." He grinned. "And design our own home school curriculum." He walked off laughing. Natasha went to the bank for her. She hugged Tony. "Thank you. My son would be in public school if you didn't pay me outrageously. Now, how did my shielded safe have an EMP?"

"It didn't." He held up a device. "It had a problem."

"It was locked when I left. Or I thought I locked it."

"I can find out." He went to look at the security footage. The guy had picked the locks. That was sweet of him. Stark got Steve to have him scared to death for tampering with them. Plus enforce the restraining order. Steve was more than happy to help. Things were very quiet today.

***

Bruce looked at the judge. "I wanted to talk to you, Your Honor."

"I know who you are, Mr. Banner."

"Then you know that what she did was very dangerous. She made it so I lost enough control that I nearly attacked my granddaughter, who I adore, and my stepdaughter, who is someone I never even thought about, even when she was in a bikini on the beach," he said quietly. "It's not only humiliating but I nearly broke free of the building." The judge shuddered. "Dawn had to put herself at risk so they could move Callia because she hadn't been able to get out of the way before then." He cleared his throat. "Tony had to send in a surrogate device with Joyce's body rhythms and perfume so I would attack it instead."

He handed over the evidence. "From our internal sensors. She had the air so poisoned it leaked out. The two young engineers in the next lab from hers were caught in it. It was male specific and she cranked it up because I was slightly protected by... by the other guy." He slumped some, putting his hands in his pockets. "I know you have to decide on those other charges. I had no control. Not conscious, not unconscious. I'm told I barely hesitated from nearly hurting my granddaughter in a horrible manner, which is when Dawn stepped in to risk her own life.

"I would have gotten free because as soon as I realized I would've fled. Still hyped or not. I can't guarantee that I wouldn't have hurt whoever I ran into. I know what sort of monster I can be. That's why I've worked so hard to control it. She took that from me. She nearly turned that monster onto the city. I can't say whoever I ran into I wouldn't have worn that out on. So no, it wasn't just the building, it was probably the whole city, Your Honor. No matter how ashamed I am of that fact."

The judge looked at him. "Do you feel like you were raped by her serum?"

"I do. My control was taken from me. It made me attack others in a sexual manner. If she had given a college guy that same serum at a human level, he would've been as much of a victim. I was just a more dangerous one because she decided I was an experiment and a failed one. That I wasn't human any longer."

He nodded. "That was put out by the prosecutor." He stared at him. "Are you getting counseling?"

"I'm working with someone on my control and my wife has been helping me. Joyce is really better than any therapist and I can tell her things I couldn't them."

"Good. You're right. You could have hurt a great many people, Doctor Banner, and I'm glad you didn't."

"Me too. I ...I'm not sure I could stand that. Especially not Callia. I can't even stand to look at her because I get flashes of myself staring at her."

"I'm going to leave those charges in." Bruce nodded, swallowing. "I hope you can find the help you need to see it wasn't your fault."

"Even though I know it, does it really matter?"

"It does. That child would tell you the same thing." Bruce nodded and left. He summoned both sides. He looked at the prosecutor. "I just got handed information from Stark's internal systems." He let him see it. "Did you have that?"

"No, Your Honor. We weren't going to ask Mr. Stark, to keep down the problems."

"Well, you have it now." He let the other one see it. "I just talked to her primary victim. He explained how bad it could have been if he had gotten out of confinement. Including that he nearly raped his grandchild and stepdaughter." The lawyers both shuddered. "That he could have gotten out of that building and the rest of the city would've been screwed too until it was out of his system. The charges are standing. I find a great bit of merit in the jury hearing that it may be relevant."

"Yes, Your Honor," the defense attorney said. He looked at the prosecutor. "Deal?"

"We'll talk about it tomorrow. Let me have this explained to me." He took the papers to have the judge's assistant copy them for them. He went to his favorite ME. "Explain this to me please. This is what the Stark internal sensors found in the air in Dr. Banner's lab."

"Is this about the twit that drugged him?" He nodded. She looked it over. "In a normal human he would've been dead at half this level."

"That's what I thought you'd say. How bad would it have been if the Hulk had gotten out."

"Only he'd know."

"What sort of damage would he do to a human body?"

"Depends on the size of them. A tinier human or a child? They'd be in pieces. An adult too probably because he'd get upset and rip them up in other ways." She handed it back. "Is he okay?"

"No. He's not."

"That makes him a decent human being." He nodded and went to think about the charges he wanted to apply the most. She said a silent prayer for the poor guy and got back to work.

***

The SHIELD infirmary nurse logged into the patient room. It was in the secure section and you had to have special clearance to visit any of these patients. This one was a quadriplegic thanks to a gunshot high up his back. He was not happy, ever, but she could understand that. She had no idea of his name, if he was a former agent or a prisoner. All he was to her was a patient and a number. "Hello, Patient Number 9." She smiled. "Let's get you through your daily exercises and then cleaned up." He grunted. He didn't have a breathing tube but he never talked to her. Just grunted in displeasure.

She moved each of his joints to make sure he didn't atrophy too much. Then she gave him a bed bath and checked his nutrient drips and bags. She did what she needed to do to take care of him then left. She nodded at the new doctor when she passed by him in the halls. Must be his day to do rounds down here. He was so adorable. Movie star handsome, dark hair, soft pale skin. Liked knives, which was a turn-on for her at least.

The doctor logged in and walked in, closing and locking the door. He stared at him. "What are we going to do about you?" he asked.

Barney Barton turned his head barely to look at him. "Give me mercy?"

"Or give you a new body."

Barney smirked. "Sure, why not try it again. This time I'll be more subtle."

"Just don't go after your family. She'll do worse next time. Look how often my original got hit by that dark angel." He put the machine on his head to read the memories. It was strangely like the SGC's version but made for a much different purpose. When it was done downloading all the memories and skills, he killed the patient and left, going to the lab. He had someone who needed a miracle and he was the guy to do it. His original was off playing with the other clone that had been made. Not like he had the skills or memories to use the swords his original did. The science information he had stolen was much cooler anyway. He'd thank the guys that had gotten him free of the tube but they had unfortunately all died. But not before he had found their nifty memory machine. The last one had been very informative.

***

Clint came in from the interview, loosening his tie, blinking at Dawn. "He didn't believe her and had Philip do the test all over again." Dawn smiled, she had heard that. "And he passed. The headmaster was amused. Especially when Philip asked him why he didn't have a beard and a funny set of clothes."

"He was watching Harry Potter yesterday." She grinned. "So I take it he got in?"

"He did get in. In first grade." She hopped up to kiss him. He cuddled her. "Thank you for turning into the uppity bitch."

She nuzzled his throat. "Anything for my boys." He smirked at her. "Anyway, meeting went poorly."

"Dawn!" Pepper complained.

"It did."

"Well, yeah." She came to the doorway. "I'm sensing celebration?"

"Philip's going to first grade."

"Aww! That's great!" She hugged him too. Then Dawn. "Now if only Dawn had all the stuff that got eaten done." Dawn pointed at her printer tray. "Oh, please no."

"Only way it can't be erased." She grinned. "Because you called me chunky, Pep." She beamed.

"Bitch," she muttered, taking it to look through. "That's still four short, Dawn."

Linda came in with hers. "I have three of them."

"And I'm proofreading the last one, Pepper."

Linda looked. "Wasn't I supposed to do that one?"

"I don't remember," Dawn said, flipping to the other one. "But sure, I nearly have this one done." She looked at Clint.

"Daycare with Chris, bragging."

"Oh." She finished up and did a spell check, printing it for Pepper with a grin. Pepper looked and held up the duplicates. "Okay, I do have short term memory problems." She frowned. "I printed it while it was incomplete?"

"I believe I found the originals," JARVIS said. "Which means that I'm now printing the one that is missing, Dawn."

Dawn smiled at the ceiling. "I love you, JARVIS. You're a great fussy uncle."

"I do adore looking after you, Dawn, and you do look like you cuddle nicely."

Pepper looked. "Have that one, JARVIS." They went over all them and Dawn found the last one, which was in outline format. She sighed and settled in to do it while Clint lounged by her and watched her type. Pepper went to her office with a sigh. Clint and Dawn were flirting again. It was pitiful but cutesy. Especially with Clint in that suit. Tony didn't look like that in suits. She really had to have Dawn go with him to gay him up again as Dawn called it. Though... Tony came off the elevator taking off his tie. That had to be a suit Liz had picked. That looked good on him. She shut the office door. "I'm busy, Dawn."

"Sure, Pepper."

Tony smiled. "Busy are we?"

"Yes, she had to print." She took a kiss. "I'll be proofreading all night."

"Then it's a great thing I intend to make you dinner." He pushed her onto the couch and followed to tease his Pepper. His levels of her were low, sucked out by politicians who had not a single idea who they were screwing with. He looked over when something was slid under the door and they heard Dawn and Clint leave. Well, hopefully it'd be good for them too. It certainly was for Tony.

***

Liz found her grandfather in his lab and sighed, walking in there. He flinched when she climbed up him but she was just as stubborn as her sister so she made it into his lap, standing up to stare at his eyes. "You did not hurt us. Callia got *really* upset because the science bimbo hurt you but she wasn't scared of you. She knew you wouldn't hurt her."

"I'm not so sure I wouldn't."

"We. Are." She smiled. "And since we're girls, we're always right. That's why Chris wants to be one of us."

He hugged her. "Not always, Liz, but close enough." She cuddled him. She wasn't scared of him. Joyce wasn't scared of him. He was scared of him though. "You still shouldn't interrupt me in the lab."

She snorted. "If you were doing work it'd be different. You're not. You're pouty like I am when I run out of gummy bears." She looked at him. "I can get you some so you can share with Grandma."

"I'll pick her up some candy when I go home." He smiled slightly.

She stared at him. "That's tonight, right? Since it's your anniversary?" He winced. "And Grandma's birthday is in *two* days? I can help you shop."

"I'm sure you can. You do a very nice job."

Joyce smiled from the doorway. "He's already got my present, Liz, but thank you. You helped a lot."

"It's not fair he's hiding from me, Grandma. I might have to turn mean and dye his hair or something." She stared at her grandfather. "Really, I might. I might dye it green and purple. Make Uncle Clint wonder if you're flirting with him by wearing both your colors." He gave her a cuddle until she wiggled down. "I'll let Grandma have you so I don't have to be mean. Remember, I learned from Callia and Mommy Pepper."

"You learned a lot from them, sweetheart. Thank you." She grinned and ran off to get a treat for being so good. Even if the security guys did escort her to the pastry shop. He looked at Joyce. "I...."

She kissed him. "You had to figure out that you still had control, Bruce. I understood. I know the hating yourself for being weak, all that. Really, I do understand." He pulled her into his arms and cuddled her. She cuddled back, nibbling on his ear. He pulled back to give her a look. She smiled. "I need dinner."

"Are you turning cannibal?"

She smirked. "I don't know. I've been known to make a nice lunch out of you."

He blushed. "Joyce!" She pounced in a way that would do her daughter proud. They ended up on the floor but the slight banging only made Bruce more tender to the touches she gave him. When he finally came apart in her hands, he cuddled her as hard as he could. She had made him see he wasn't a monster. It had sank in and it was good. He kissed her hair and they laid there, just out of sight of the doorway. Which is why Chris started to walk in then paused and grinned at them before running off.

Joyce looked over then at him. "Chris?" He nodded. "I'm sure by now he's seen his father naked at least once." She kissed him again.

"We have two bedrooms," he reminded her.

"Yes but they're at least thirty minutes away with the way traffic is and I'd hate to traumatize my driver, dear."

"We have guest suites not two floors down." She kitty smirked and hauled him up so he could lead her to one. That was an idea she could get behind. It proved why he was the family genius.

Upstairs, Callia sighed because she was bored. Some day she'd figure out why the silly adults kept hiding and giggling to have sex. Just not this year. Or anytime soon.

***

Dawn stepped out of the limo, smiling at the driver holding the door for her. "Thank you." She walked forward. They were meeting at the event since everyone was scattered today. It was a charity event in LA for a children's hospital. She smiled at the first reporter, who wasn't a fashion one. "Morning."

"Dawn." He stared. Her dress looked like water was flowing over her skin from the side. It covered one arm, went around her throat, 'drizzling' down her back in a beaded set of lines to the very low, asymmetrical waistline that slightly uncovered one hip. In the front, you could almost see some sideboob and it clung in waves down her side to be joined with the back by a large aquamarine broach at the lower hip. It bared that side's leg up to her thigh and the other side was fully covered but there were little wave-looking things around it. "Is that fitted right?"

She looked. "Nope. Hold on." She attached a few of the waves to their intended spots. "Short or long?"

"Long," he said, staring in awe. "Not that one. Or the one that pulled the waist." She undid those and he stared. That had made it fit so her chest was highlighted now and it had taken up the slack around her waist on the fully covered side. The waves highlighted the patterns woven into the blue fabric, which was probably a very delicate silk. She smiled at him. "Um.... Sorry if I drool."

She laughed. "It's all right. I'm sure others will. This is Mom's first charity event."

"Ah. So you're taking the pressure off your mother."

"I am." She winked at someone that walked behind her. Then got frozen by staring over his shoulder.

"Huge problems?" he asked, looking around.

"Clint's right there," she said with a point. She smiled at him. "He's staring and trapped me."

He looked then at her. "If you were my wife I'd stare too. And then pounce a whole lot."

"That is a great thing about Clint." She winked and checked her hair in the 'wardrobe mistake' tent that they had off to the side. It was pushed off one side and held back by a coral and pearl comb, with the rest in curls. She came out to find her mother coming up. "Mom." She looked good. It was one of Dawn's dresses she hadn't gotten to wear. It was a bit cleavage baring but not too immodest. Her hair, though, had a feathered....hair appliance in it. She looked up.

"My assistant thought it'd go nicely," she said.

"I think it does," she agreed. "It does highlight your hair's color." She smiled and took her arm, blowing a kiss back at Bruce, who was blushing but rubbing the back of his neck while staring at his wife's backside. Joyce was blushing about it. "That dress does do wonders for you, Mom." She smiled as they ran into Clint and Natasha, who had to come from the local SHIELD office. Clint looked nice in his tux. Natasha looked very nice in her subtly sexy formal gown.

Clint looked at his naughty wife then at Natasha. Then back at Dawn. "You're getting it later."

She smirked a tiny bit. "Then it's a good thing we have sitters so I can get loud, huh?" She kissed him, earning a smirk. "C'mon, Mom."

"Sure, dear." She patted Clint on the arm. "You know she does it for that reaction."

"Yes, she does," he agreed. He watched them walk and moaned. "Damn I'm a lucky bastard."

"Yes, we are," Natasha agreed. "I think that would make charming strips of fabric to tie her down with." One of the other people attending choked. She looked at him. "Dawn does deserve such attention at times." They walked on with Bruce. Steve, Pepper, and Tony were in their own group.

One of the fashion reporters stopped them. "Dawn, wow." She smiled a tiny kitty smirk. "Um.... same guy that did the sheet dress?"

"Yes. You should see the fire one he made for me." That got a moan from Natasha and a head shake from Clint. "I'm sure you've seen my mom before."

"I have. Mrs. Banner." She shook her hand. "That's a great dress."

"Dawn leant it to me. I don't usually have anything this fanciful in my closet." She touched her hairpiece. "My assistant said that fascinators were in."

"They are." She looked and nodded. "That's a pretty one and it does highlight your hair very well." Joyce smiled. "You guys have fun inside."

"This is a charity the whole family supports thanks to what Mom had to go through," Dawn said more quietly. "We do a lot for the cancer charities."

"That's sweet, Dawn, and we know you've helped and mentored at a few cancer centers in both cities." She squeezed her hand. "Go make Clint drool some more."

He wiped his mouth with a grin. "Trapped between these two? Yeah, I drool a lot." She laughed and they walked on.

"Should we switch sides of the carpet?" Joyce asked quietly.

"If they want us, they'll yell for us," Dawn assured her with a grin. "We are not desperate for attention." Her mother smiled and patted her arm that was joined with her own. They got stopped by a few others. Dawn smiled at one, letting her mother have the spotlight.

"Oh, my god, Dawn," Pepper said, staring at her. "You have a picture of you looking like that."

Dawn smirked at her. "That was the dress's inspiration. You should see the fire one."

Pepper moaned, shaking her head. "I'm so glad I'm secure that I can't be twenty-four again." Dawn giggled and hugged her. Tony and Steve were both staring at her. "What?"

"One of the little waves came undone," Bruce said with a point. She looked and hitched it back into place. Tony sighed, looking at Pepper.

"I know she's like our eldest kid at times," Pepper assured him with a grin. "You did teach her how to be flirty, Tony."

"Yes, I did." He looked at Dawn. "Way too damn well." Joyce laughed, swatting him on the arm. "Save me a dance, Joyce. You're hot but Pepper doesn't get jealous of you."

"She has no reason to get jealous of anyone, Tony. Pepper's a stunning woman in looks, skills, and her mind," Joyce told him. Pepper smiled and hugged her. They went inside and it was a lot easier in there. Joyce had gone to a few events in the past. This part was a bit more normal to her. She could almost relax in here and Bruce was a very nice dancer. And if more people watched Dawn dance with Clint and Natasha, that was fine with her too.

***

Pepper was watching the fashion review show the next day with Liz. "I don't know why they let her do that to others," she said dryly at one scathing comment.

"Okay, it's time for a section of 'what the hell'?" the older woman said. "Because, literally, what the hell were they thinking!" Pictures were flashed of Dawn and Joyce.

"Well," one of them said. "Dawn said a few things that got noticed out front. This was her mother's first event. So she was drawing attention from Joyce."

"That's nearly as bad as that sexy sheet she wore that time," the older woman said.

"But she looks good, even if it's unorthodox," the younger woman complained. "She looked hot. She even froze when her husband caught sight of her and stared." They put her up on the 3-D rotating view. "It fits her well. All those little waves let her adjust her fit as needed or wanted. Even if it does look like she got painted by laying on her side in the tub, it's a great dress."

"It's still.... .that," the older woman said.

"If I had a body like that, I'd have worn it to something bigger," the one said. "And she did draw attention away from her mother all night with it. That let Joyce stay calm and react like a normal person who hadn't done any events in nearly ten years."

"Ten years?" the lone male on the panel asked.

"Her first husband had a bit of status due to his job so they went to minor charity events and the like," the younger one told him. "I looked that up when she was made co-Director of SHIELD with Captain Rogers. Who still hides behind his boyfriend most of the time."

"Some people aren't really comfortable with that sort of attention," she agreed.

"Okay, I can see her doing it for that reason. She's gotten some outrageous dresses in the past to try to draw attention from the others in the group."

"Which is one reason why Stark hired her," the other woman said with a smile. "He's said so a few times. Dawn's part diversion for them."

"Huh. I guess I can accept that, even if it is sexy water. I'm sure her husband had a lot of fun undoing her."

"He was talking to his other wife on the carpet and mentioned cutting it off her to use it to tie her down," the young one said with a smile. "Dawn just shot him a look and blushed."

"She didn't hit many reporters," the male said.

"When they walked off from talking to me, Joyce asked if they should talk to anyone. Dawn said if they wanted to talk to them they'd call out their names. Not that many did." She smiled. "Dawn's pretty savvy. Stark and Potts taught her well how to manage those things for them. I know Joyce said she was borrowing a dress Dawn hadn't gotten to wear." They switched to Joyce's outfit. "It fits her well. It doesn't show that she's still a bit on the thin side and having problems keeping weight on." The others stared at her. "It's been five years I think since she got out of cancer treatment and she's still having some problems keeping weight on. We've noted in the past she's looked a bit thin and tired." They all nodded.

"Okay, what's with the hair?" the older one demanded.

"She said her assistant talked her into it. It's also brilliant that it's covering where her hair's still a bit fragile," the other woman said.

"Hmm. Mum's hair after her breast cancer treatments got a bit more curly when it grew back but it breaks horribly and she had a terrible time getting any length back," the young one agreed.

"Me too. Thankfully I didn't lose that much but Joyce lost most of her hair over the years. She didn't shave it, like a lot do but she was always hiding it with pretty scarves. I think it does well holding her hair into a gentle style that won't break it and it doesn't let you see all the little flyaways where she's probably got breakage and where she's been going gray a lot more since then."

"She could color it."

"No," the other woman said with a head shake. "That'd destroy her hair. Chemotherapy does a lot of bad things to your hair and skin. It did mine."

"It did my mother's," the young one said. "Mum had weeks at the spa trying to undo some of the heavy chemical damage from it."

The other one nodded. "I did too. Joyce got her skin back but her hair is still rebounding. I've seen some that never get back to the point of having thicker hair. You lose a lot of hair and what you have left changes, breaks if you run your fingers through it, or it goes prematurely gray." She looked at the headpiece. "I think it was a bit high. If it had been maybe an inch shorter I would've liked it more. Though it goes well with the outfit."

"It does," the guy agreed. "Her husband clearly likes it with the way he was caught watching her walk more than once that night." He smiled. "Dawn got her booty from her mother."

The young one nodded. "Joyce was seriously hotter in her youth. Before the bad marriage and all that." She put up a picture she had uploaded. "That's her before her wedding." They all smiled at the fashionable, perky young woman. "I can see her wearing some of Dawn's less outrageous outfits."

"Me too," the old woman agreed. "Women had class back then."

"Dawn wasn't uncovered, wasn't showing cleavage. It was tasteful even if it was back bearing and showed the swell of one hip."

"Dawn has the body to pull that off. Pepper would be too skinny," the guy said. "Joyce too." They all nodded they agreed with that. "But Dawn has that body from the kids."

"Clint said he appreciates it almost every single day," the young one said smugly. "I asked during the event. He said that's the greatest gift he's gotten outside the kids. Natasha nicely blushed at that when he praised how great pregnancy had changed their bodies."

"Natasha does look hotter in her battle uniform. She had curves before but the new depth of the curves from the maternity do make her look hotter," the older woman agreed. "I don't like lesbians but I'd tap that." They all smiled. "Okay, onto fashion disasters not named Summers. Or whatever Dawn goes by this week."

"She goes by Summers for business things or Romanoff-Barton in private," the young one said. "I asked."

The old woman shook her head. "Can't she pick?"

"Everyone knows her maiden name from the business stuff. Plenty of women keep their name except for formal naming conventions," the guy said. "She did the same thing but in private and non-business things she's a wife." He shrugged. "But I think it's cute."

"It is," the young one agreed with a grin.

"Dawn's in mushy, gooey love and it's adorable on her," the other woman agreed with a smile. "Though, have you seen that someone was making...toys from the team? I asked Dawn for a comment and she said they got Clint's four inches too short and an inch too narrow." They all gaped. She pulled it up to show them. "I'm not sure what they're basing it on."

"Let's look at Clint's outfit," the guy said, putting him up on the 3-D view. "No, they underestimated."

The older woman stared and nodded she agreed. "Definitely. We've heard Dawn had a few days where she couldn't sit. Now we know why."

"Eww, someone made a Hulk penis?" the young one asked. "It's even green."

The guy looked then shook his head. "Probably *very* underestimated. Though I doubt he's ever let anyone see it." The woman all smirked at him for that. "Some people are size queens," he quipped. They went to commercial on that cheerful note.

Pepper looked at her daughter, shaking her head. "I'm not telling Bruce about that."

"Grandpa already has an action figure," Liz said dryly. "He doesn't need more toys made of him. It makes him all blushy and then he tries to hide from us." She slid off the couch. "I'll go tell him."

"No, don't do that," Pepper said, but it was too late. She groaned and sent a text to Tony's phone to warn him. And one to Clint to warn him too. Clint would not be amused, well maybe at the remarks from Dawn that whoever couldn't visually measure properly but most likely not amused.

A few minutes later, Bruce carried Liz back in, shaking his head with a blush as he walked off. He was going to hide in his closet at home with Joyce for a bit.

***

It was the second round of interviews SHIELD was making them do. Dawn was up first because they wanted to talk to her more than nearly anyone. Her mother's was after Dawn's so they could go shopping for the kids. Philip needed things for his birthday. Dawn smiled at the reporter. Not a *real* reporter but more of an entertainment reporter. SHIELD hadn't cared as long as they did something for positive publicity. So Dawn had given in to some begging. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"A few things. First, some people said you were getting snotty with the local society folks?"

Dawn laughed, shaking her head. "Not hardly. I could care less what they think about me but I would not let the lying and the false assumptions stand. I kept hearing 'you're *just* an assistant' when we were looking at good schools for Philip. I couldn't let that stand. I'm more than an assistant."

"It's said that you run a few farms under another identity?"

"It's my emergency escape one but I'll have to redo it since you guys found it." She smiled. "In case things like what happened after Romania happen again."

"I guess I can understand that. Is that legal?"

"Within some loopholes but gray. Most of the time other countries understand when you're not doing it because you're a criminal."

"Huh. I did not know that, but you do have some contacts with other agents."

"I do, yes."

"Through your spouses?"

"Not all of them." She smiled. "There's one in England that tried to capture me so they could get me to give them the Iron Man plans. We fought and he kinda respects me. Anytime I find out about bad things that he should hear about and handle for the UK, I send them to him. I've met a few over things like that." The reporter gave her a funny look. Dawn grinned. "Sometimes those things happen."

"I guess." She looked at her. "A starlette said you insulted her because you thought women looked strange with a six pack."

Dawn giggled, grinning at her. "Some women can rock it, some women can't. I'm one who cannot. I look very strange. If she's one of the few that look good that way, then go for it. Personally I think women look a bit unnatural when they're that muscled. I can't imagine someone like Marilyn Monroe or Jane Mansfield with a six-pack of abs. Can you?"

She paused then shook her head quickly. "No, I can't. But today's Hollywood...."

"Is so full of shit," Dawn said bluntly. "No real woman is that tall and skinny. Biologically, women should have some curves. Some softness. Granted that was for childbirth to go easier on them and to nurture the child later, but I've seen a good few of them that looked like well clothed skeletons. Way too skinny and I want to make sure my nieces and daughters didn't turn out that way. Half the time I want to look at them and ask if I can make them a good dinner. Most of them look like they could use a few good meals. Even if I was in Hollywood, I'd be like the older screen goddesses. I don't need implants to keep my breasts and I'm about five pounds under my correct weight because this is where I look good."

"I can see that point. She said she could run a marathon and you probably couldn't."

"I only do 10K twice a week," Dawn said. "But I've run farther in the past." The reporter blinked at her. Dawn grinned. "I'm in Avengers shape, not muscle mass shape. If something happens I need to be able to handle it. Even if it means chasing a bad guy halfway across Manhattan."

"I guess I can see that." She stared at her. "She wanted to challenge you to run a marathon."

"Sure. Best time wins?" She smiled. "How much did she want to wager and would she agree that the winner pays the other's charity?"

"Charity?"

Dawn gave her a look. "Not like either of us would need more money. I've always donated to a number of charities."

"Oh. I'll ask her." She texted her. She got one back. "She said that's fine."

"Tell her to let me know which charity she's using. That way I can look into it." The reporter stared at her. "For future use. If they're good and need funds badly I might put them onto my donation list next year. I have four standard ones I do every year and then I've added in some here and there who needed it."

"You do?"

"I've put out donations since I was seventeen. I've always felt since I've earned more than enough to save for a comfortable life that I should donate to those who haven't had a chance to do the same thing yet. Or those who need help with bad things going on in their lives. One of the four constant ones I donate to is an abuse shelter for men."

"Men?" she demanded.

"It's not just a joke that women beat on their men, dear. Plenty of men have to fight the stereotype that they're men, they should be stronger, while women joke about clocking them with a frying pan upside the head. Men can and are abused daily and not a lot of attention is paid to it. Like male rape victims, there's a huge stigma there that they have to get past. I've always donated to a male abuse shelter. I have an acquaintance that needed their services one year and gladly gave him their name and number. Actually I keep a list of helpful organizations in my desk for anyone at Stark that needs them. I've donated to them for years and used my matching funds from Stark to add to it. I also donate to a few women's abuse charities as well."

"Huh. I never gave it any thought." She paused. "I've seen some butch women who could beat up their husbands."

"It doesn't take a butch woman. It just takes a companion that's snapped to the point of hitting them. Chronically or the first time doesn't matter. It happens to both hetero and homosexual male relationships. It's not covered, which it should be. The stereotype is really a bad thing and it keeps a lot of men from getting the help they need to stop it before their partner kills them. They run higher risks of that outcome or suicide to get it to stop than women do because women know there's help and people prompt them to get help. Men don't get that prompting or told that there is help. Some whole states don't have abuse shelters that can help men, especially with their kids. For this being one of the most modern cities in the world, we only have one and nineteen female abuse shelters, all of which turn men aside. Which I can understand but it's a problem that's not noted. Both sexes should be safe and happy in their chosen relationships."

"I hadn't given it much thought but you see anti-violence campaigns aimed at wife beaters."

Dawn nodded. "You do."

"Huh." She made a note of that. "Do you have their name right off so I can look them up?" Dawn wrote down a single contact name and number. "Thank you."

"They do good work and there's a growing need on both sides. I'd probably have the wager donation go to them."

"I'll keep that in mind." She looked at her. "Lighter questions." Dawn grinned. "How are the girls?"

"They're great."

"Are they multilingual? I heard rumors about you and a dissertation?"

"Yes, I did defend my dissertation and I'm walking in a few weeks." The reporter blinked. Dawn grinned. "I did it on teaching children to be multilingual naturally the way the kids in Europe get it using a more Americanized system of teaching. We teach our kids differently but if kids in some countries over there natively speak three and four languages, why do ours get pushed to only speak one?"

"I don't know," she admitted.

"Even if you're working as a guy who sells newspapers, the other languages can come in handy."

"It can." She smirked. "Is Philip?"

"Yes. Philip this morning looked at Mommy Natasha with his most grumpy face and told her she was an evil queen for waking him up too early in Russian. She praised him for using Russian and told him if she was an evil queen he'd be eating oatmeal without any flavoring. Instead she was making him one of her protein shakes because he loves that Mommy Natasha eats weird food."

"Awww. Did he learn it from her?"

"Some. Some from me. Some from a show."

"You let your kids watch tv? I took you as the 'you don't need that garbage' sort of parent."

"They're allowed to watch educational shows right now and some movies. All age appropriate. Though I am not showing my kids Bambi. I don't want them that upset. They aren't allowed to watch Nickelodeon most of the time. Natasha had a really bad reaction to Sponge Bob that meant we needed a new tv. Twice. She gets this cute eye twitch about Sponge Bob."

"I can see that point and I think most parents get that same eye twitch over Sponge Bob. So no watching Old Yeller?"

"Nope. Actually, Philip loves animals but hates animal movies. Even animated ones. Which is kinda nice since so many of them are depressing."

"They can be. There's educational shows like Dora in other languages?"

"Yeah." She smiled. "He likes the Russian one. It comes on when it's bath time so he sits in there and watches it during his bath. Then he goes to babble about it at the girls. Which is nice. Lexi was calling Mommy Natasha Babushka the other day."

The reporter laughed. "That's adorable."

"It is. Mira tends to scowl at us for not talking at her no matter which language we're using. She's a tiny bit grumpy when she's not being paid attention to. Some day soon she's going to be the diva that Philip turns into when you get him up too early."

"Does Clint mind him and his clothes obsession?"

"He's not *obsessed* at the moment. He has things he favors, he thinks are neat. Liz Stark showed him how pretty some things made him, which freaked out Clint a tiny bit since she also did a stunning lipstick job on him with Mommy Pepper's lipsticks, including on his eyelids. Really a lot harder to get off than eyeshadow. We had to talk about how eyeshadow went on the eyes and lipstick was only for lips. She's convinced both boys that they have to be pretty."

The reporter tried not to laugh. "How does Mr. Stark take that?"

"He goes along. He knows the boys will grow out of it for the most part. Liz almost had Chris convinced that he could become a girl, so therefore always be right like his big sister and her, by putting on the pretty dresses." She pulled out her phone to look up the picture. "This was Chris's idea while we were sorting out my closets again. He did a really great job of tucking it so it looked right on him. I came back from a trip to get a drink and found him doing it." The reporter did burst out laughing. "Tony explained that pretty dresses didn't make you a girl, it made you a transvestite and they were pretty but still not girls. So he liked that answer and picked on Liz some more."

"He doesn't pick on Maeve?"

"She's too young and he knows Callia will swat him good if he picks on the baby. At least until she's old enough to defend herself slightly."

"So I hear you have an assistant?"

"No, I have an under-secretary that works with me. We have a lot of things that have to get done weekly and I've heard a few jokes about time turners in the past." She smiled. "We used to have two but they were found to be the major leaks back to the press." Clint popped in with a thought about that being part of that concussion dream but she said Tony had joked a few times too when he had caught her reading Harry Potter.

"So you're not training your replacement?"

"No. I'm in no way ready to leave Stark and I'm pretty sure I'd never quit so they'll have to fire me. Have you heard I'm being fired? I haven't but you never know with the way wild rumors abound right now."

"No, I haven't. I've heard Pepper joked a few times about you making out with a spouse during your lunch break."

"We don't usually make out but if Clint's coming to pick me up for lunch or the end of my day, he'll sit and watch me work for a few minutes." She grinned. "Pepper teased him about that a few times."

"How are things personally between you three?"

"They're great."

"Do you three fight a lot?"

"Not really. If it's more than a tiny thing the kids all get to go visit Grandma for a few hours while we have a fight. I don't think the kids need to see that. They know we don't always get along and have some disagreements but I don't want them to see us fight."

"You think it'll upset them?"

"I do and I also think it sets a bad example. The tiny things that we glare at each other across the kitchen about. Natasha complaining about I put the dishes up funny or did the dishes funny. They see those. Big things, no. They don't need to see that. There's been a few fights we've tabled until they could go visit Grandma or Uncle Tony or someone else."

"Do you three tend to shout?"

"Not often. Now and then one of us will vent on the roof. We don't tend to shout while fighting. We tend to have those awful, painful silences more than not. Our last one it was so quiet the kids got worried because they were across the room. Clint and I fought while Natasha distracted them. No hope of a sitter there at that time."

"Huh. So it's like a normal marriage? You fight over the toilet seat and the toothpaste?"

"We have three sinks and two toilets in the bathroom," Dawn quipped. "It stopped most of those." The reporter laughed, shaking her head. "I have my vanity for morning makeup things so Natasha can have the bathroom all to herself since she's got lotions and concealers and I barely wear anything behind a bit of lipstick and some mascara most mornings. It lets Clint shave in peace once she's done since they leave first most mornings."

"I remember you had welts from her lotion."

"I did. She has this heavy duty lotion for when she's getting dry skin due to the heat and I'm allergic to that. I got it once when she came to bed right after putting it on and then some the next day off a couch pillow transfer." She grinned. "I bought her better stuff."

"Did it help with stretch marks?"

"We got a special aloe based lotion for those. I got one more on my side and it's already been bleached down to almost nothing like the one on my back. Natasha got one on her leg but it's also been bleached. She got the kit and used it on both of us."

"Huh. I need that one for my friend." Dawn wrote down the name, getting a grin. "I've seen that."

"We used it right out of the nightly showers."

"I'll tell her that." She tucked that into her notepad. "Do you think you'll want more some day?"

Dawn shrugged. "Not sure. Maybe an empty nest baby."

"Have you thought about adopting?"

"I have. If we hadn't been able to have kids, I would've adopted some out of the foster care system. Those kids need a lot of love and we certainly had it to give."

"Clint was a foster child, right?"

"His parents died in a car crash when he was young. He and Barney ran away from their foster home because it wasn't exactly great. Unfortunately some aren't even though there's a lot that are very good. When the system's as overcrowded as it is now, they end up taking in people who are doing it for the checks."

"I've seen stories."

"They're less than a tenth of the system but you never hear about the rest."

"Do you donate to any foster shelters?"

"I've never been asked to and the one time I asked I got laughed at and said they didn't take private donations from women who felt guilty."

"You nearly went into foster care."

"No. I was in protective custody at that point. My sister was still around and she would've taken care of me until I graduated. We talked about that option but then Agent Coulson stepped in to point out I was in protective custody and they could help me find somewhere that wasn't dangerous."

"Yet you were kidnaped a few times."

Dawn smirked. "I was in protective custody because there was a hell goddess after me. We found that out right after we found out about Mom's brain tumor."

"So it's not that uncommon?"

"It's not as common anymore. Most of the ones I see these days are more about the kids."

"Huh." She stared at her. "When did that change?"

"After the battle in Sunnydale."

"Oh." She blinked. "They didn't see you as helpless?"

"Half the ones that would've wanted me couldn't use me at that point because I wasn't a virgin after that battle. I had spilled blood and had sex so I was ineligible for most sacrificial rites or reasons. Half the ones that still wanted me had been fought off and arrested or killed by Agent Coulson and others. There's still a few who'd love to get me but they realize that I'm kinda mean about those things."

"So we've seen."

Dawn smirked. "No, I've been meaner than any you've seen." The reporter shuddered. "I figured they earned it by trying to kidnap me. Bad things happen to bad guys." She frowned for a second. "Philip cooed that at the pickpocket Natasha scared the crap out of the other day."

"Do you secretly want to be a stay-at-home mom?"

"No. The kids would drive me nuts if I didn't have a way to get away for a few hours at a time. Even if I wasn't working, they'd still have a daycare at least twice a week. I think it's good for their socialization and my sanity."

"Playgroups?"

Dawn shook her head. "No, daycare. Licensed, bonded, background checked daycare."

"So you think it'd be a safety issue?"

"Yup. I also think that Philip would be running over a lot of kids his age. He's starting first grade." The reporter cooed. Dawn grinned. "We've always read to him, taught him stuff. I think a lot of kids in his age group are coloring. Which he does a ton of. He's coloring on things like Daddy's field mission reports when they have diagrams. I'm told the agent he hands those to is not really amused by those but yay." She grinned. "Every now and then Chris will let him help him color in Dad and big sister's design drawings. He was bragging to Clint he had colored in his new bow design a pretty purple because Daddy likes that color." The reporter had to walk off she was laughing so hard. Dawn grinned and waited. She finally came back. "I think Philip might freak out the other parents a bit."

"Did your son get gun safety lessons?"

"Clint and Natasha taught him and Callia both. They're working on Liz's now. They taught Callia how to shoot in case she absolutely needs it to protect herself because the tower's been attacked again or something. Mommy Natasha and he like to sit down and read Guns and Ammo every time a new one comes in. He and Daddy read hunting magazines. He and I read hunting magazines and fashion magazines plus music ones and all sorts of things. He really like the pictures in Smithsonian's magazine."

"He likes music?"

"We all like music."

"Rock, country?"

"Depends. Clint likes older rock, seventies, early eighties, harder rock but not Kiss. He's a Led Zepplin fan and those sort of things but he'll do country sometimes. At which point in time I hand him headphones. I tend towards more modern rock with some temping in club music. Which he hands me headphones for. Natasha likes some classical, some lighter rock, some jazz. Philip gets exposed to it all. Basically, whoever gets home first gets to pick whichever Pandora station we're listening to for dinner. We each have our own and Philip's got his. He's made one for the girls that Lexi adores, she's very happy with music, and Mira tolerates it. She's not so musically inclined. She doesn't like noise."

"Sensitive hearing?"

"No, I think she just doesn't like noise. She squeals at her sister when she gets too happy and squealy. She squeals at Philip when he gets loud. She's like the librarian you see on comedies, shushing everyone. She did it to me so I turned the music up louder and made her dance with me. Which she didn't like either but her mommy saved her from the mean one making her do something besides look out the windows."

"Some kids like nature."

"She likes the reporter that likes to try to get pictures into our apartment from across the street. I think she's flirting with him. But she'll stare at the windows even when the shades are drawn. We're not sure why yet. Her pediatrician is amused by it because she'll just stare at him like 'it's your turn to impress me, now do something that doesn't require a needle'."

"She's spoiled?"

"We should've named her after Nat's cat," Dawn shared with a smile. "We really should have."

The reporter chuckled and nodded. "Sometimes girls are like that. Which one of you does the housework?"

"The housekeeper, who Natasha kindly taught how she wanted things done. Because I never did it good enough for her and she hated how I did laundry. Then she'd complain about how expensive it was when I took everything to the dry cleaner. I gave up and let her do it. She's the cleaning person, I let her do it."

"Which one of you does the most cooking?"

"We all cook. Clint's the best cook of the three of us. Sometimes he'll just decide it's his night even when it's not." She smiled. "He's really good. I learned a lot from him about how to cook. I think he used to dread that my weird food combinations when I was younger would come back and he'd end up eating stuff he didn't think went together. I liked it but he used to joke that maybe when I got pregnant my food cravings would be for normal food."

"So you're not the domestic goddess sort?"

Dawn shook her head. "I could care less if we vacuum three times a week like Natasha likes to have happen. Or if we let the dishes soak overnight, which drives her nuts."

"Is she OCD?"

"No, she's just...she grew up in a fairly strict environment so she's used to things having to be done exactly the way someone taught her to."

"Her parents?"

"Ask her."

"I can do that. What about Clint's family?"

"Ask him."

"I can do that." She smiled and Dawn smirked. "Any upcoming announcements for the Expo?"

Dawn smiled and texted someone, getting permission and a threat from Pepper for missing paperwork. "Give me two." She found it on her tablet and sent it to Pepper, texing her it was in her inbox again. Where she had sent it earlier if it had been eaten. Pepper huffed and found it. "Sorry, Pepper lost an emailed in file. Tony said, and I quote, there is a dual Stark time this time. One will be his usual flashy announcement of our greatness and the other is going to be the tinkering group he's part of and their announcement time."

"Tinkering group? He tinkers?"

"They all play around with ideas and lean on each other during it. Him, Bruce, Rodney, Andrew, Jonathan, and now Callia and sometimes Chris. With a new math person who recently got added in for some higher stuff Callia started off the tinkering group on. She's taking Calc 4 and it was above her. Really it was above everyone but Rodney but he deals in theoretical maths from other places anyway. So they pulled in a math guy Callia had talked to."

"Hmm. Sounds interesting."

Dawn grinned. "They've come up with some neat stuff. Including Chris taking one of Howard Stark's old inventions and making it work very well with a new one that was his and his dad's project."

"Very interesting tease." Dawn smiled. "Um, spinach."

"Sorry." She got it out with a fingernail then cleaned the nail off. "Thanks."

"Welcome." Dawn's phone beeped and she looked at it. "You hear about assistants that have to be on-call twenty-four/seven."

"I kinda am but I'm not really. I'm not a rock star assistant."

"You hear about some of them being forced to pick up people for their bosses for the night."

Dawn laughed. "Tony's never had a problem getting his own and Pepper has taste so they'd never ask me that. Especially if they had pissed me off that day. I might've given them someone from the Valtrex patrol." The reporter burst out laughing, shaking her head. "It never pays to piss off your assistant." She smiled sweetly. "We do control things like your dry cleaning, all your clean clothes, all that. Thankfully I'm not that sort of assistant and I have great bosses that are like stepparents most of the time."

Her phone beeped with a 'Pepper said you're grounded' from Tony. "I'm guessing Tony logged into my phone. I need to figure out why that file translated itself into Japanese. You have a great day." She shook her hand and strolled off to get back to the office. Dawn walked in and looked over Pepper's shoulder, clicking on something. Pepper sighed. Dawn tested her forehead. "You have the kid's flu. Go to bed. Before I tell Steve."

"Fine," she mumbled. "Thank you, Dawn."

"Welcome, Pepper." She smiled. "Did you find the original?"

"Yes." She looked at her. "You'd be that mean to him?"

She smiled. "Yup. If he made me pick him up bimbos I would've made sure he hit the Valtrex patrol at least once every few sluts and probably the clap at least one other time. That would've made him come running to you so you could've babied him and nagged him at the same time until he saw he was an idiot for not treating you right." She walked her up to her bed and tucked her in then went back to handle the office stuff.

Tony leaned in. "That's mean, Dawn."

"Thankfully you used to pick up your own sluts, boss."

"Yeah, thank god." He frowned. "The clap can kill your brain."

She smiled sweetly. "Only if left untreated."

He shuddered. "Barton needs to work that out of you."

"Yeah but I'm going to be filling in for Pepper since she's clearly got the flu."

"I was starting to think it was menopause."

"She's a bit too young for that, but you never know." He grimaced, going to talk to Doctor Pigalli about that stuff. Dawn got back to work. All the stuff Pepper had been complaining about was automatically sorted for her into a folder within her email. She switched where it went and that fixed most of the upcoming problems. Though she was missing a page of the newest contract. Linda had it to correct and emailed it to her. That worked and it got sent up to Pepper's tablet since she was logged on. Then Dawn sent up a note about where things had been hitting due to a filter issue and how she had fixed it.

Pepper sighed her thanks and said she was resting since everything was now done for the meeting in two days that was so important. Dawn smiled and treated Linda to a good coffee drink for getting it done early then they got back to work on the next issue coming up. Dawn made sure to put her graduation on the business schedule. It conflicted with a meeting in Brazil. Oh well, she couldn't go.

"Dawn, you have to go to Brazil," Pepper said from her phone a minute later.

"I'm walking my PhD that weekend, Pepper. Can't."

"We need you there."

"I didn't make it to any other graduations except my one from high school. Don't you think I should walk the important one?"

"Well, yes. They asked that you be there since you can speak the language."

"That's sweet of the cartel lord that's supposedly reformed but I'm walking my PhD and I'm not going to Brazil. This is important to me, Pepper, and I'll translate virtually the rest of the weekend from the system except for during that."

"I guess we can do that."

Tony came off the elevator to stare at her. "Where's our invitations?"

"Printers," she said with a smile.

"Oh, good."

"Tony, that's the Brazil meeting," Pepper said from the phone.

Tony snorted. "Are you really Pepper? Because I don't remember my Pepper being that grumpy about Dawn walking a degree. Beyond that, I've got an honorary one I'm accepting the next weekend and you've scheduled me somewhere else." She moaned. "If you're not Pepper I need to check you for electronics. Or lowering estrogen, something like that."

"I do not!" she complained.

Tony snorted. "Pepper, is it menopause?"

"You're so dead when you come up here."

"If you kill him I have to take over the damn company!" Callia shouted from what sounded like the living room. "Don't you dare, Mom! I'm not hiding his body and he'd have to haunt us so he could finish training Chris and Liz."

"I didn't mean literally, Callia," Pepper said impatiently.

"Bullshit. You've been in a cranky mood all day. I was about to sneak you midol." She came closer. "Really gooey chocolate brownies with hidden midol, Mommy?"

She groaned but nibbled on one, they could hear her chewing. "You can't tell."

"I used the pot brownie recipe to hide it. By the way, when I looked that up, nice save on that with Chris, Auntie."

"Thanks, dear."

Tony shook his head. "I thought it was too." Dawn smiled. "Callia, call your mother's doctor. Tell him she needs a full workup please. We're not sure why she's suddenly turned into a mean Pepper and one who would deny Dawn her rightful walking of a degree. And I'll be right up there." He hung up the phone and looked at her. "I'm attending." She smiled. "I'll break something on your spouses if they're on assignment. And if some major threat happens, I'll tell them they have to wait because we're busy."

"I have kindly asked the two major groups not to attack that weekend as I have to graduate then and it would really piss me off in ways that would make me destroy their whole group. One laughed and one promised, he remembered his own PhD ceremony. He'll do it the next weekend."

"Damn."

"Which we can handle, boss." She smiled. "You can wear your robe over the suit and all that."

"Uh-huh." He walked off. "What if that one tries?"

"I've already started to unravel their organization from the inside. I hired them an assistant." She smiled sweetly. Tony paused to stare at her, eyes wide. "Natasha told her what they needed and I taught her how to slow things down so they weren't efficient any longer. She's more than happily doing all that paperwork for them."

"Oh, no," he said, rubbing his stomach. He suddenly had heartburn.

"Well, organizations and businesses do run on their paperwork, boss." She smirked. "She's doing a fantastic job and once they're reformatted again she'll straighten them out."

"Oh, dear to quote Steve." He walked off, going upstairs. "Pepper, Dawn and Natasha hired HYDRA an admin assistant."

Pepper choked. "Why did she do that?"

Tony stared at her. "To fix their efficiency problem." She went pale and shook her head. "In the negative way," he said more quietly. "Natasha helped."

"Well, I guess they're not going to be attacking during her graduation. I'll try to reschedule both of those."

Tony stared at her. "You're going through the early stages of the change, Pepper. We'll handle it, you'll get what you need, and we won't let you turn that bipolar like some women do."

"Shut up unless you never want laid again," she said dryly then ate some of her brownie. She held up the small plate. "Midol?"

"Sure." He took some to nibble on and curled up next to her to make her feel better. He had to remember, Pepper was nearly his age and women his age were having menopause. They'd handle it though. He could make something if he had to. Thankfully he'd probably miss his daughters going through it.

***

Dawn came home that night sniffly. Natasha stared at her over the lid of her laptop. "What happened?"

"Pepper's having a bad day."

"Did she say something mean?"

"Kinda. She called me a mommy instead of my usual perky assistant self." She kicked off her shoes and walked over to get a hug. "Tony said she's hitting menopause. Her and Mom both."

Natasha patted her on the back. "It will be fine."

"If you're sure."

"I am." She kissed her on the cheek. "Things will be fine and I'll be there tomorrow to help as I compare their things with your lab's ordering to see what they're doing."

"As long as you do it with Stark. That way I don't get into trouble."

"I'll try."

Dawn went to curl up on the couch, smiling when Philip came over to cuddle and nap on her. "Long day too?" He nodded with a yawn. "We can nap together." He yawned again and snuggled into her shoulder to nap. She fell asleep cuddling him.

Natasha smiled and got to work on her current case. It was nice doing it without the field work this time.

Clint came in carrying the mail and his bow. He dropped a box on the table. "I didn't know it was time for checks."

"Those are from a printer so they're probably invitations."

"To...."

Natasha stared at him then pointed at Dawn. "Graduation?"

"Oh!" He looked and they were. He smiled and set them somewhere they wouldn't get messed up. "I heard she asked HYDRA and Doom not to attack that weekend."

"She did and he agreed not to upset her graduation."

"Huh. That's decent of him. So he'll attack Monday?"

"Probably."

"HYDRA?"

"I don't think they're going to be attacking anytime soon." She heard Dawn's phone beep and grabbed it from her bag to look at. She called her. "Pepper, she's napping on the couch with Philip. What needs to be found?" She listened to the complaining. "I believe she said she sent that to your email earlier, Pepper. Then check the new folder since she moved them all. She sent how she fixed it." Pepper saw that and sounded pouty. "I will. You try to rest." She hung up and shook her head. "Definitely the change."

Clint shuddered. "I don't want to think about that topic though I feel very sorry for Bruce and Tony." He checked on the kids then moved to make dinner. Since Dawn had bragged and all, he could make something really nice. Natasha smiled at him for it while she got back to work. Neither of them had ever thought about creating an administrative snafu to take down a group. She looked up the qualifications of that young assistant and paused. "She went to the evil genius school?" Clint quipped with a smirk at her.

"Yes. She is." She congratulated her on how effective she was and promised to write her a report if she needed one for a class. She bragged she was sending in reports of how she was doing but that a recommendation would be great and thanked her.

Clint laughed. It was like Dawn to mentor a future evil genius to give their kids someone to work against. Well, a cranky Dawn with PMS would. Normal, perky Dawn would laugh it off.

***

Callia looked up from her bed that night. "Why can't she be normal?" she muttered. "I wish she wasn't going through all this and confusing Liz and Chris."

A demon appeared. "I have a wacky idea that would work."

Callia stared at her. "You're a wish demon." She smiled and nodded. "I didn't really mean it that way."

"There's a potion that can make them ten years younger."

"They wouldn't be in the same shape, right? Because Grandma had the brain tumor then."

"No, it wouldn't revert them health wise, just physically deage them." She smiled. "I can find you a copy."

"Ingested?"

"No."

"I can work with that. It's probably a bad idea...."

Tony opened the door to stare at them. "Yes, it is a bad idea. She'll kill you for it." He stared at the demon. "As much as I would like that, no."

"Fine, just trying to help. I could've given her the one to make her even younger, around her aunt's age."

"I don't want a mom that young," Callia said. "It'd be weird."

Tony nodded. "Very weird." He stared at the demon. "No thank you." She huffed but disappeared. The scroll was now hidden under Callia's pillow. "I can hear it crinkling, don't you dare."

"I won't. I might show it to her though." She smiled.

"No." He came in and got the potion, taking it before the bad ideas set in. Sometimes he worried his kids had no common sense, then he usually remembered dating half the starlettes in Hollywood within a few years. Sometimes at the same time. So they at least got it naturally from him. He had the scars to prove it. He put it onto the dresser and laid back down. Steve hadn't woken up this time so that was good. Pepper either, and that was better.

***

Pepper woke up in the morning first, which was unusual. She checked Steve, he was apparently in the land of nyquil again. Tony snuffled and shifted over to cling to Steve since she had moved. She tucked them in and headed for the bathroom. She spotted the scroll, taking it with her. That was interesting. Where had Tony found that and why was it on a scroll? She cleaned up and got dressed, coming out to make breakfast. Callia was making toast. "Did you look up a potion for your father?"

"No, I was complaining that you've turned into a neurotic, whiny starlette on crack so a wish demon gave it to me," she muttered. "Dad took it." She was clearly half asleep still.

Pepper stared at her. "What did you just call me?"

Callia looked at her. "You can't find things in your email, even when you know where they are? You blamed Dawn for not looking at your new messages to see what had come in? You blamed Dawn for your coffee spilling on something when you poured it, you put it on your desk, and she was halfway across town, Mom. I've seen less cranky starlettes. Pretty soon you're going to start throwing phones at someone's head for them breathing. And I can't promise Auntie Dawn won't throw it back." She sipped her morning Red Bull, staring at her. "Daddy's nice but I'm too tired to be anything but honest thanks to hairballs from the dog." She finished making her toast and rolled over to the table. Pepper huffed. She looked at her. "You did."

"I did not."

"Bullshit. Watch the security footage."

"Young lady...."

"If the truth hurts you're doing something wrong and I'm hoping like hell I never get PMS like you or Auntie Dawn. Or like my mother's because Spike told me a few demons held off an attack due to her having PMS once. That way she didn't rip them to tiny little pieces instead of killing them."

Pepper glared. "I do not." She pulled up footage and Pepper glared harder. "That's not cute, young lady."

She stared at her. "I haven't been *cute* since I was Liz's age. A bit mean, fairly blunt, kinda pretty, but not cute. Maeve is in her cute years, Mom, not me or Liz."

She huffed. The footage still played and she watched as she totally nagged Dawn about things she hadn't been doing. And wasn't supposed to do. She sniffled.

Chris wandered out, blinking at her. "Mommy, if you're pregnant can I have a baby brother so I'm not the only one? Please?"

She stared at him. "I don't think I'm pregnant, Chris. Why would you think I am?"

"You're watching you and Auntie Dawn videos from work and crying again. You did with Maeve."

"Huh. No, I'm not pregnant. Sorry."

"Then are you sick like Grandma? I'll make something to make you feel better. I promise I'll make something to make you not sick." Callia stopped him and hugged him. "You'll help, right?"

"She's not sick like Grandma. Mom had a bad day yesterday, that's all." He relaxed and she cuddled him.

Pepper came out to get him. "I'm not sick, sweetheart. It's okay." He nodded, cuddling her. "If I get sick that way I'll let you build me something great to help me." He relaxed and snuggled into her shoulder. She patted him on the back. Callia stared at her. "I need to see someone about those mood swings." She made Chris his favorite breakfast and let him eat it, going in to wake up Tony. She sniffled. "Chris just asked me if I was sick like Joyce and he'd make something to make me better."

He pulled her down to cuddle. "We'll figure out this new level of female hormones too, Pep," he said quietly. "That way you don't scare the kids or Dawn." She nodded, cuddling him.

Callia rolled to the doorway. "First he asked if she would give him a baby brother this time because he needed to even out the odds." She rolled off again.

"No, I don't think you can do that," Steve muttered, flipping over to rub Pepper's back since she was against Tony's other side. "We'll figure all that stuff out." Tony grinned at him.

***

Two days later, Dawn had enough. She looked at Linda then at Pepper. "I'm taking the day off," she announced.

"You can't do that!" Pepper complained. "You have to ask for days off, Dawn."

Dawn looked at her. "I'm taking the day off before I tie you down and feed you more midol. Really, I am." She stared at her. Pepper huffed. "I can't deal with this on top of the headache and the yelling you're doing over stupid shit that has no consequence, that neither Linda or I did or had any part of doing, is making the dizziness come back. So I'm taking today off."

"You can be fired for unauthorized days off," Pepper said.

"Okay." She got her stuff and walked off. Pepper stared, mouth open. Then she flopped down and started to cry. She was trying really hard but it wasn't working. Linda got her some tea and closed the office door for her, then went on break. She wasn't sure she should tell someone about that. She wasn't going to gossip but maybe someone else should know? She decided to tell MB. She knew Dawn and Pepper pretty well and Linda had lunch with her at least once a week. She could figure that out for her. And her former boss because Gloria handled legal matters for Dawn too. That way they could work that out.

***

Twenty minutes later, MB walked into Tony's lab, slapping him on the arm. He winced as he stared at her. "Pepper just drove Dawn off."

"Crap. How widespread is the gossip?"

"Linda told me and she said she had to tell Gloria in case it affected something she was handling for her legally."

"I think Dawn has her on retainer too." He pulled up the footage and sighed. "That's so bad."

"Is that the change? I'm having mine removed before I get to that point."

"That just speeds it up," Tony said dryly. He went to calm down Pepper. She was trying to handle some of Dawn's work and failing. She had no idea what Dawn was working ahead on. She looked up at him, trying to hide the confused look. "We'll figure it out and get her back."

"She's mean. She left."

"You yelled at her about things that aren't her fault. What did you expect her to do? Even the dog's hiding from you, Pepper." He watched her huff and get up to get some water from her fridge. "When is your appointment?"

"Yesterday. He said it's not."

"Bullshit." She scowled at him. He stared back. She sat down with a huff. "I'll talk to Dawn tomorrow. For now, you probably have everything you need for the next few days. We'll use it to calm down and deal with things." She nodded, swallowing hard. Then drank some water to cover it up. He went to call her doctor. He wouldn't give him facts but assured him Pepper was too young for that and she might just be having a mental snap. Which meant Tony sent her on vacation and then went to talk to Dawn. He unfired her in the system too and locked Pepper out of that system for now. He also told Gloria Dawn was on vacation, she was not fired nor had she quit. Gloria said that was a good thing since she wasn't on retainer for her. Tony said he'd mention that to her when he took her to lunch.

***

Dawn walked off the elevator and put down her briefcase then got something to drink and went to take a bath. The kids were with Beya in the gym, she had heard Philip cackling in there when she had come in. She could have a few hours uninterrupted to sulk and make plans. She had no idea that Stark had just called for backup from her spouses and Steve. Which meant that Bruce and her mother stepped into it too. She ran a warm bath with bubbles and slid into it with a sigh of pleasure.

***

Tony looked at Bruce when he walked in with Natasha and Clint. "Bruce...."

"She's my stepdaughter, Tony. What happened?" He put up the footage. They all sighed. "Joyce is having lesser mood swings."

"Pepper's turned almost psychotic." He looked at Clint. "Where is she?"

"Having a glass of wine in the tub with bubbles." He looked at him. "Want us to tie up Pepper for you?"

"Don't tempt me. She's going on vacation. Dawn's officially on vacation. I undid her quitting."

"Okay," Clint agreed.

Natasha sighed. "I hope to never go through that myself. They make medicines."

"Her doctor doesn't seem to think it is. Her bloodwork says differently. Her doctor wanted to put her on prozac."

"Maybe for a few weeks," Bruce said.

"Pepper doesn't need it."

Natasha rubbed her head, frowning. "What is that smell?"

"What smell?" the guys asked.

Clint stared at Natasha. "Why are you going into battle mode?" he muttered.

"JARVIS, scan for something being put out?"

"I believe there may be, sir. Women all over the building and the city are being more aggressive. There's been a number of reports of women fighting in the streets."

Clint looked at Natasha. Who had shifted her stance to more of what she used during battles. "Okay. Any idea?" he asked.

"No," Tony said. "JARVIS, where is it coming from?"

"I believe from across the river. The majority of the incidences are coming in the direction of the wind and spreading. Though, Pepper's incidences are not caused by that. She's upstairs sneering at Liz's outfit, which is part of it I believe."

"Liz, come see me please," Tony called over the intercom. "Callia, bring me your sister."

"In a minute," she called. They could hear her snapping back at Pepper, who huffed off crying. A few minutes later Liz and Callia came in, Liz riding on her sister's lap. "There's a shelter in place going on."

"Good!" He took Liz to cuddle. "The bad air is making your mom upset. She'll apologize later."

"I'm adorable," she said with a pout.

Tony looked at her outfit. "It doesn't match very well but you look good in it anyway." Liz pouted but cuddled him. "Callia...."

"Maeve and Chris are in my new lab space. I've got the air scrubbers on and locked all adults but emergency personnel out." She took Liz and brought her back there.

Tony looked at Bruce. "Any idea?"

"Not yet." He settled in to track it backwards. "That's a chemical company that had a fire the other week but it's coming from behind them."

Tony pointed. "That's a chemical storage area for their company. That's where they had the fire."

"Okay, so we've got a chemically induced rage problem in females," Steve said. "How do we cure it?"

Tony looked at him. "I don't think we can."

Tara stomped in. "Stark, I need a plant-based filter made."

"What sort, Tara?" She handed it to him and he looked it over. "How big?"

"Big enough for the bridge?"

"It's in the air," Bruce said. She growled. He stared at her. "Don't, Tara. Don't provoke him." She huffed. "We'll do what we can but we're not sure how to help yet."

"Those plants clear things out of the air."

"Okay, that's great," Tony said. "But we're finding it halfway to Pennsylvania right now." She groaned and stomped off again. "Bruce, go make sure it's there." He nodded, taking some equipment from the science labs and going. "Romanoff, guard the building please. This is a good time for someone to do something stupid." She nodded. "Barton, talk to your wife?"

"I'm going to." He went to talk to her. The kids were upstairs and Dawn was reading to them from the tub. She was covered with a towel so the kids couldn't see anything but they were watching the book she was using anyway. "Guys, can I have the mommy?" Philip blew a kiss and rolled the girls in their walkers out to play in the living room. He closed the door. "There's some sort of chemical accident in New Jersey," he said quietly.

"Is this the start of a joke?"

"No. It's creating an aggression problem in women all over the city." He turned on the tv in there and changed the channel. She groaned. "So part of that was...."

"Pepper's hormones. If I still have a job I'll go back to it tomorrow, when she's calmed down. I did this once when she was carrying Liz due to the mood swings." She shifted and looked at him. "I can't take that."

"I wouldn't have," he agreed, leaning down to kiss her. "Tony said you're on vacation. She's going on vacation." She huffed. "If she's allowed out of the city."

"Probably not. What's Tara doing?"

"She wants to make a plant based filter. It's all over the city."

Dawn nodded. "I'm not feeling more aggressive than usual." He grinned. "Let me call Tara."

"Okay." He took another kiss. "We'll help mediate between you, Pepper, and Stark. If not, well you can do the home schooling."

She smirked. "Maybe. Or I might just start a great business." He smiled and left her alone. She called Tara once she had on the headset. "It's me. What's going on?" She listened. "Tara, if it's in the air, we'd have to super grow a hedge." She grimaced. "You know what, I'm not being hit and I'm in the tub with my lavender bubbles. Try that?" Tara sniffed some. The lavender canceled out this new stuff. "Okay so we'll deal with it. Would a good, hard rain help ease it?" She nodded. "We can, yup." She got out, rinsing off the bubbles. She put on her robe and went to her closet to get something she could work in. "I'll meet you at SHIELD." She hung up and got dressed, walking out to kiss the kids on the head. "Beya, we're going to handle the super aggression going on thanks to New Jersey."

She snorted and nodded. "Please do. There's a bunch of idiots."

"They can be." She walked out and nearly got pounced. She punched one of the women who shrieked and tried to scratch her. "Nope, not today." She got a cab and went to SHIELD. "The air is flowing over where Tara said there's a chemical fire in New Jersey," she told him. "Lavender is helping release some of that problem, or blocking it." He nodded quickly, calling that to his boss. Within an hour, all the cabs in the city would smell a lot better with lavender fresheners. She walked into SHIELD and waved at them. "Handling the issue."

"Tara's upstairs, Dawn," one of the guards said. "Sign in."

She did and went up there. Joyce was staring at the incident map. "Mom." Joyce looked at her. "Lavender."

"Okay. People, let's get some lavender scent put throughout the building." They moved to do that. Tara smiled at Dawn. "How did we find this out?"

"Pepper was having a hissy at me about something there was no way I was even remotely involved in so I went home to take a bubble bath." Joyce stared at her. "It got to the point where she blamed me for spilling her coffee yesterday and I was halfway across town, Mom. Hell no."

"I can see that reason. What will you be doing instead?" It was clearly time to talk her daughter down out of her stupid pride.

"I already have a few business interests, I can run them more closely and teach the kids until I get bored." Joyce nodded. They watched as the female agents all started to calm down. "Let's go make it rain, Tara. Then we'll talk to people about putting up a huge fire in the way of the wind stream that's full of lavender." She nodded. "Mom, talk to Stark. Clint said there was a chemical fire there and he thinks that's where it's coming from."

"I can do that." She called him. "Steve, give me good news about Stark having an idea how to stop it?" She listened. "Can we help them clean it up, tent it, something?" He nodded. "This is the security of the city, Steve. If we have to, we can tent it on them and they can use Hazmat gear. If they fuss, yay." She listened and looked at Maria. "He's sending you the pictures of the wind stream. Bruce is there and taking measurements."

She nodded, getting into her computer to find them. "It may not be the primary cause but it's helping," she said. "Doctor Banner isn't finding the same chemicals in the air in the same strength. He's looking for the start point, Director."

Joyce nodded. "Keep me updated when he finds out how."

"I can do so." She tracked the wind back with Stark and had him fly out in his suit to take readings since it was over open water. He found the initial cause and Bruce was finding the things that were strengthening and adding to it. "Ma'am, we have sightings of a ship that is pumping chemicals into the air. Iron Man stated that the person doing it was trying to promote a female pheromone response. I believe it was the same person that dosed your husband." Joyce growled, eyes narrowing. "Doctor Banner concurs and said that the two plants in the way are adding and changing it so it's aggression related instead. He's having the one that's still operating shut down. They're arguing but he's called in the FBI since they're trying to investigate. He found out they have a minute chemical leak in their storage area and the burned, altered remains of that other one is what's changing it."

"Have them tent the fire related one and shut that one down even if he has to smash it," she ordered. Maria relayed that. Joyce called the head of the FBI, who was on site to deal with it. They decided to shut down the company for a few days under threat of the Hulk destroying their building and their storage area was tented for them. The other one was tented and shielded by some of Stark's new shield designs. Joyce relaxed. "Let me know when it starts to go down and if Stark has to blow up that ship."

"He's got the Coast Guard coming and they're coming in Hazmat suits as well, an all male crew just in case," Maria reported. "Though he did promise he was going to blow her up."

Joyce nodded. "I'm not going to get near her because I'll beat her to death even without that."

***

Upstairs on the roof, Dawn and Tara were checking the local weather. They were pulling in clouds from higher up, toward Canada. Dawn called two news stations. "It's Dawn Summers and I'm acting on behalf of SHIELD. There is going to be a sudden, intense, cold rain happening within an hour. It is to wash some of the chemical stink coming from New Jersey out to stop that aggression problem. That will *help* reduce it but the smell of lavender blocks it from stuffing up our noses. I have no idea how you handle that. For all I care, they can do a huge bonfire with lavender soap and oils," she said dryly.

"We're doing a huge rain storm to help. People are working on the cause. For right now, warn people about the rain and that it's going to screw up projected weather patterns for a few days." She hung up and called the Mayor's office. "It's Dawn Summers for SHIELD. We are working on it. We're starting locally with a huge rain to start cleaning it out of the air. Lavender blocks it from affecting us as hard. SHIELD is looking at the cause. This is a stopgap. Within an hour. We're having to pull Canadian air." She hung up on the complaining and took Tara's hand to work with her. Callia rolled up a few minutes into their working, taking her aunt's hand. She looked at her.

"The coven's pulling from the southern winds to do the lower parts of the wind stream. I told them what Dad found." Dawn nodded and they started the rain. It was a cold, chilling rain but it helped. They already could feel it lessening. Callia sighed, looking at her. "Dad unfired you."

"That's great." She looked at her. "I'm forcefeeding her something."

"I did with the midol." She smiled. "I think her doctor suggested prozac."

"Maybe." They watched. "We need a huge lavender bonfire over there." She called Bruce. "For some reason lavender blocks the scent." He grunted and nodded passing that on. "It's raining over here." She helped Callia inside. Her wheelchair had an optional motorized climbing feature now. "Chris?" she asked her.

"Me. Stairs suck ass and it might be necessary." Tara hugged her and they went to dry off in the changing areas. They reported to the main floor. "It's raining," she announced.

"Any scent that works beyond lavender?" Maria Hill asked. "They wanted to know."

"I noticed my lavender bubble bath blocked it," Dawn admitted.

She reported that to Bruce and Stark, who said they'd figure it out. They started a huge bonfire of lavender oil with lavender bushes on the side of the last chemical company that was contributing. Everyone would smell like grandma's sheets for days but if it helped.....

An hour later the city was reporting it did help and so did the rain. The weather men were going nuts. They had been warned and were revising their opinions for the next week or so. The coven smoothed out some of theirs. Dawn and Tara went up to smooth out some of the weather they had yanked after a few hours. That caused a new fit but it meant it wouldn't affect other areas. That inward-water bound air stream was being fixed too. Turns out they had a witch working with them. Stark zapped her with a repulsor and she went down. Tara and Dawn let the coven undo her work since they were closer.

***

Tony landed and let the system take his suit from him. He looked at the waiting people. "They'll keep the big lavender bonfire going for a while. FEMA tried to step in but it wasn't that sort of disaster." He put up the results of what had happened.

Bruce came off the elevator, putting up his own. "Here's how it changed. By the way, the head of the FBI yelled at Joyce for telling me to smash them if I had to."

Tony nodded. "It might've caused more problems but yay." Bruce grinned. "I'm hoping whoever examines the storage areas shows up to start checking everyone's."

"Is there someone?"

"There should be. I'd hope there was." They shared a look and a shrug, letting Tony do a web search.

Chris looked over. "I've already sent them a very public message from me, as heir to the Stark legacy, and shared up-to-date information from SHIELD that Grandma said I could. They said they're going to be there in a few hours to look at their storage leak and that fire site." He grinned. "They called me an uppity bastard just like you, Dad."

"Was it an ex-girlfriend?" Bruce asked with a smile.

"Yup."

"Thankfully the FBI arrested the science bimbo," Tony said, getting them some water and sitting down. "Where's your mother?"

"Locked in her bathroom having a bubble bath." He looked at him. "You'll need to unglue the door. Maeve's in the daycare so I didn't have to change girl diapers."

"Why did you seal her in there?" Tony asked.

"Because she started to throw a fit and rant and scream and cry about the air." He looked at his father. "If girls are like that, why do boys like them?"

"Most of the time girls aren't like that, kiddo. Most women only have those things a few times in their lives."

"Well, maybe I'll turn gay then because I don't want to deal with that again. Dr. Phil says gay sex can be normally fun." He went back to his lessons. "Callia's at SHIELD with Auntie and Auntie Tara."

"That's fine. They'll protect each other," Tony said. He and Bruce settled in to teach Chris some new things and wait on Callia to get back. Callia had sent everyone home for the day and started the air scrubbers so the building was pretty safe.

Tara walked off the elevator with Callia, who had paused to pick up lunch apparently. She smiled. "Nice work, guys."

"Thanks," Bruce said. "Nice work with the rain storm too. It's brutal but better."

Tara grinned. "Thanks, Bruce. Tony, she was very helpful."

"I'm glad." He hugged his girl. "Go get a laser and unglue your mother's bathroom door?"

Callia opened her bag and ate a fry, shaking her head as she chewed. "Not yet. Let her have a nice, warm bubble bath and all that, Dad. She could use the spa day."

"That's not nice," Bruce warned. Callia pulled up footage, making him wince. "No wonder you glued the door shut, Chris."

He nodded. He looked at his sister. "Are you going to turn into that sort of girl?"

"Damn I hope not or I'm having all those nasty girl parts ripped the fuck out so I never go through it." She ate another fry.

"Then I might not start to like guys instead." He went back to his worksheet.

"Like dad, you'll probably like both," Callia said dryly. She looked at her aunt, who was blushing. "Mom's enough to make me not like girls." She shrugged. Tony hugged her. "It's okay, Dad. I figure I might be bi since you are and it'll be okay. I'm good with that." She went back to her lunch. She even let Chris steal her spare cheeseburger.

Tara shook her head. "It's not always that easy, guys."

"I can ignore boobs," Chris assured her. "I have that Stark focus."

"Which most Starks use to stare at breasts," Tony said dryly. "And quit calling them that."

"Fine, sorry," Chris mumbled.

Callia smiled. "At least you won't grow some."

"That's probably a good thing," he complained. "I'd be scary." He ate more of his burger. "The Mayor called six times and I told him you weren't back yet, Dad."

"Then he's probably on his way here. He'd have someone tell him when I flew back."

"He's huffing up to the front of the building now, sir," JARVIS told him.

"Great." He went down to the office to talk to him. "What?"

"Your assistant works with SHIELD?"

"She's an adjunct Avenger and yes. Why?"

"She announced she was working with SHIELD."

"When it's the fate of the world, SHIELD moves into action, even adjunct members get called in. I went out as an Avenger. Bruce went out as an Avenger and SHIELD scientist. Dawn went as an adjunct SHIELD member." He shrugged. "That's what we do in emergencies. I turn into Iron Man, Banner turns into the Hulk, Dawn turns into an adjunct Avenger. Steve turns into Captain America. It's not a secret we work with SHIELD during the big things. She's been in every battle here in New York, including helping move people out of harm's way during the Chitarui invasion."

The Mayor blinked. "She was?"

"Yes."

"We never noted her."

"Good. She'd hate that."

"Is that because she's your assistant?" he demanded, staring at him.

"No. Dawn hates that sort of attention." Dawn came off the elevator and got into her desk. "Don't you dare."

"I'm getting my personal laptop, Tony, not my work one."

"Take them both." She stared at him. He smiled. "You're on vacation but still."

"I...."

"Yay. By the way, the kids glued her in the bathroom." She snorted, smiling some as she shook her head. "Yeah, they felt the same way."

Dawn smiled at the Mayor. "Problems with the rain storm?"

"How much do you work for SHIELD?"

"I'm an adjunct Avenger. I take over Hawkeye's place when he's unable to get to a battle or I'm there in case it takes magic. Not like they pay me to be fashionable and perky."

"They'd better never try to steal you to be their fashionable, perky assistant," Tony complained. She patted him on the arm and left with both laptops. He looked at the mayor again. "Pepper had a mood swing so she took today off."

"Pregnant?"

"No. She's forty-five."

"Oh." He nodded. "My wife was hell for four years."

"There's medicine for that," Tony said dryly. He looked at him. "We don't do it for the medals. Usually, all of us duck medals like they're the plague."

"I'll keep that in mind. How long?"

"We've set up air quality meters and as long as the FBI doesn't tamper with them, which I'm not counting on; it should be a few days to fully clear it. At least it's a good, clean scent. It might make the city smell less like stale urine and cabs."

The Mayor shook his head. "Other cities smell the same."

"Some smell worse. Really." The Mayor walked off shaking his head. Tony called Dawn. She had to have a girlish idea to help Pepper. And her mother since Bruce had said she was going through the same hormones. She had a few ideas and so did Dr. Pigalli when he talked to her about it. She even ordered them so he could hand them to Pepper. He went upstairs with one of his daughter's cutting lasers, going to unseal the bathroom. Pepper was pouting in a tub full of bubbles so he kicked the door shut and put the bottles on the vanity. He looked at her. "Talked to Dr. Pigalli."

"I'm sorry."

"We know you can't help it. Joyce is doing the same thing and she's three years older than you are." He stared at her. "These are the hormone replacement therapy meds and a very light valium to take when you get too bitchy," he said quietly. "She said a lot of women go on a light dose of prozac during this time due to the mood swings that cause them hell."

"I don't want to."

"I know. That's why we went with a Valium 5." She nodded. "As needed. The HRT will help the other things." He pointed at them. "They're both once a day and if you have to go up you can." He leaned down to kiss her. "I unfired Dawn. She's officially on vacation this week," he said quietly. "I gave Linda a few days off too. She nearly hugged me, Pepper."

"I didn't mean to...."

"We know. Linda said she understood, she had seen her mother's change. Dawn's getting it from both ends." She nodded, sinking lower. He kissed her again and smiled. "We'll work it out. Within a few days you should be closer to an even keel. That'll make Chris quit swearing off women for life and Callia quit vowing to remove her girl parts so she doesn't have to deal with that." Pepper let out a bitter snort, looking pouty. "Okay?" She nodded. "Good." He kissed her again and let her soak.

She took the first pills and settled in to write Dawn an apology email. Then one to Linda. She hadn't meant to hurt them or upset them. Dawn accepted and Linda's email back said she had seen it before but she was nicer than her mother's since her mother had nearly stabbed her with a kitchen knife. Pepper wrote back that she'd never be that bad or Dawn could tie her down. She put her tablet aside and ran more hot water. It was good and she had needed a day off. Things were insane and she was losing track of things.

***

Chris looked at his uncle that night when Tony had invited everyone over for a family dinner. "Uncle Clint?" He looked down at him. "Is having two wives different than having two husbands?"

"Kinda. Why?"

"Someone on tv who then got shouted at about Mormons and polygamy."

"Oh. Them. It's different from most people's viewpoints, and even though they claim that their book of faith discourages it, almost all the relationships are. They don't like to admit it."

"Oh, so they're the Candyland people."

"Huh?"

"Auntie Dawn explained to sissy about people who think they live in Candyland instead of here. She told us about that when we started to have those same thoughts."

"Yes, they are," Dawn called, smiling at him. "They definitely are." Chris smiled at her. "And we care not a bit about them or their viewpoints."

Clint kissed her. "Me either." She smiled. "Nat, do you care about them?"

"Not particularly. I tend to mock them most of the time." She smiled at Chris. "Having two wives is easier than having two husbands. He only has to pay attention to us. Your mother has to soothe your father and Steve when they argue."

"You guys don't argue?" Pepper asked.

"Not usually," Dawn said. "Sometimes but we also send the kids to Grandma." She smiled at her mother.

"It makes sense to us too," Bruce assured them.

"Half the time, Dawn and Natasha argue and I just watch it in case they get into a real argument then I make them kiss and make up," Clint told Chris with a grin. Natasha actually blushed. "That's why two wives are easier."

"It'd be nice if I could do that," Pepper said.

"Anytime you want, Pepper," Tony quipped. Steve was giving him a dirty look. "She can."

"Maybe." Pepper smiled and he kissed her.

"See, I get to watch them do that all I want," Clint said with a grin.

"Wow. Daddy kisses Stepmom sometimes and he and Mom kiss sometimes. They're pretty together."

"They are," Clint agreed. "The only problem is when they're having huge problems and then you have to baby them. Sometimes you don't have enough attention for that."

Dawn nodded. "Sometimes," she agreed. Clint kissed her, making her smile. "It probably won't come up again though."

"Probably not," Natasha agreed.

Steve looked at her. "You could...."

"Probably not," she assured him.

"Fine." He smiled. She gave him a pointed look. Dawn was laughing behind her magazine.

Callia rolled out from the kitchen. "Salad's done and I only agreed to make that part of dinner." Tony got up to get the rest to put on the grill. Callia transferred out of her wheelchair and onto a lounge chair, stretching out with a sigh of pleasure. "I needed the sun."

Dawn reached over to hand her the sunscreen. "It's late but still bright."

She put some on and got comfy. She fell asleep there. It had been a long day. Someone would get her up for food.

Pepper looked over. "We need to start enforcing a normal set of hours," she told Tony. "She's going to have hell in school."

"She has a study hall/nap time right after her individual gym/PT time," Tony said. "That way she can do her extra physical therapy she's making herself do then nap. She's only taking one regular class with the other kids and that's a history class, Pepper. The rest she and the other gifted students are in a classroom working on their own things and doing the video lectures. They have a teacher there to help if they get stuck but she could probably sleep through one if she had to. And yes, I'm going to remind her she has a month before she has to start being up all day long." Pepper smiled at him. "When are you getting her uniforms?"

"Next week. Is she going to stay in the back brace?"

"No. The physical therapist thinks it's not necessary unless she's so tired she's slumping and hurting herself. He did think she's pushing herself too hard." Pepper nodded she agreed. "She's doing good though. They all helped her work on the leg that she got to move a tiny bit on her own for the last few days."

"That's good," she decided. "Is there a PT there?"

"The head gym teacher is a licensed trainer," Dawn said. "That individual gym is with a few other kids that need the same sort of help due to accidents and one other kid in a wheelchair due to a horse riding accident. He sent a letter requesting her medical records so I put him on with the physical therapist to tell him what he needed to know without giving those over."

"That I liked," Tony agreed.

"Then I guess that's okay, as long as her physical therapist agrees," Pepper said. Dawn nodded she'd make sure. She smiled at her. "I'm sorry."

"I know. It's not your fault your body's going out of whack but if you ever scream at me for daring to go to the bathroom again I'm taking another vacation day."

"I can agree to that." She smiled at her. "Linda too. Thank you for clearing her out."

"She needed one," Tony said. He looked at Joyce.

"Maria's already handed me pamphlets on HRT and other matters," Joyce said with a smirk at her daughter.

Dawn looked at her. "Remember when you were so sick after your first few radiation treatments and I had to teleport the pills into your stomach?" Joyce burst out laughing.

"That's a handy skill to have," Tony admitted.

"She couldn't swallow thanks to all the throwing up she did," Dawn said with a grin. "It helped a lot. The nurses were happy she was getting what she needed."

"The nurses called it weird but effective. It meant less time on the IV drip." Dawn nodded. "They had her help a few others that way too." Dawn grinned. "It did help."

"It did," Dawn agreed.

Bruce smiled. "I'm sure we'll handle it, Dawn."

"Okay." She grinned at the girls. Maeve was pouting at them. "What's wrong, Maeve?" She pulled her out to check and cuddle. "You're all pouty and Mira's been sucking on your thumb for you. So what's wrong?" She patted Dawn's necklace. "Oh, you want something shiny." She found something in her purse, handing it over. "Would that help?" The baby smiled and shook it, showing it made noise. She got put back into the playpen. Lexi and Mira got their own shiny rattles.

Tony looked then at her. "Silver?"

"Yup." She smiled. "Stepdad, how's Oz? He wouldn't have breakfast with me yesterday."

"He does meditations from sun up to about ten, Dawn, and he's good. He said to apologize for that and to invite him to lunch."

"I can do that."

"When you come back next week," Tony said.

Dawn smiled. "You gave me a whole week off?"

"Yup. Linda's got Friday on to make sure we're not stuck over the weekend." Dawn grinned. "You can teach her the monthly filing next month."

"Sure." She settled in with her book. Mira grumbled but found her rattle she had dropped. She spotted Daddy staring at her and grinned, waving it for him.

"It's really pretty, Mira. You handle rattles very well." She beamed and shook it some more.

Natasha smiled. "You like flirting with your father and we like that about you." The baby cackled and went back to playing with Lexi and Maeve.

"She is very flirty at times," Dawn agreed. Lexi beamed at her so she waved. "Hi, Lexi." Maeve looked at her. "Hi, Maeve. Hi, Mira." Mira huffed but played. "Fine, you have a favorite mommy too."

"At least it's not as bad as Philip's was. He'd barely let you change him," Natasha said. Dawn smirked at her. "I did try."

"You also dressed him this morning." Her son was wearing red and black. Natasha had dressed him.

Philip looked over. "She said I look pretty."

"You do, son. Why do you never wear that blue shirt I got you?"

He shrugged. "Not go."

"It goes with tan, black, and gray, son," Clint said. If only so they didn't have to shop for his son anytime soon. Who knows what Philip would bring home this time. Philip huffed but nodded he'd try to wear it tomorrow. He looked at Dawn. "Doesn't he have enough clothes?"

"Not if we take out all the stuff that's too small. Then we'll have to do it with the girls in about a month."

He groaned. "They don't need that many clothes, Dawn."

She nodded. "They won't have a huge growth spurt for about six months this time."

"Don't remind me. I have to clean out Maeve's closet and go for her and Liz," Pepper sighed. She looked at Chris. "And you it looks like."

"I like these swim pants," he complained. "Tough."

"Excuse you?" Tony asked him.

"Fine. I get new ones that look like these?"

"If I can," Pepper agreed with a smirk. "Just for that, no dresses."

"Awww!" Philip nudged him. "Have kilt?"

"We'll see," Steve said.

"Philip's is too small," Natasha said. She was happy about that.

"I get new one," Philip told her with a smirk.

Dawn looked at him. "Who did you go shopping with, son?"

"Guy with swords but no mask and no splotchy spots."

"What?" she asked.

"I thought he looked like Deadpool," Clint said.

"His clone's over there," Dawn told him.

"We need to check on that. He was spotted taking out Barney." They shared a look.

"I'll get him again if I need to." She opened a viewing portal. "Deadpool, is your clone with you?"

"Yup. We just ate tacos," he said, smiling at her. "Cute bathing suit."

"Thanks, Stark pool rules." She looked at him. "We thought we spotted him here in this realm."

"Nope. Does that mean I have an evil clone? Because that's seriously great."

Clint nodded. "We think you might."

"Cool!" He looked over. "Hey, other me, we have an evil other us."

"Great!" he said happily. His mask was the backwards version of the original's, red where his was black and black where his was red. "Is he in the mask too?"

"Not the other day. He was pretending to be a doctor," Clint said. "Took out the clone of my brother."

"Awww. Did he eliminate the bad guy?" the original Deadpool asked.

"We're not sure if he's not making a new one," Dawn admitted.

"Even better!" He smiled. "Thanks, Dawn. I'll get lots of bragging about my evil clone. Send him over if you want."

"I can do that." She wiggled her fingers. "Philip." He came over to look, smiling and waving. "We found out because he took the son shopping."

"Awww." He smiled. "I saw you when you were first born from my mean dark angel there."

Philip smirked. "JARVIS had film," he said happily. "You're kinda neat." Deadpool, both of them, smiled at him for that. "Have you seen sissies?"

"Not yet."

He picked up Lexi to show her. "My direct sissy Lexi."

"You're pretty," he cooed.

She grinned and gummed her new rattle.

"Dawn, is she a meta?"

"We think so. We have a tiny subspace portal here in the building."

"That's so cool!" he cooed.

Philip got Mira. "Is my other sissy by Mommy 'Tasha. This is Mira."

"You're pretty too," he cooed. She blinked at him and cackled, waving her rattle. "You're going to like weapons, I can already tell." She batted at her sister. "Yup, you two are like your mommies. That's wonderful."

Philip grinned at him. "Some day I use self-defense class to beat up on boys for them. Boys like pretty girls with boobs." Dawn swatted him. "Hey!"

"I told you not to call them that."

"They are."

"Yay," Dawn said with a smirk.

He huffed but looked at the neat 'uncle' guy. "Mommy fussy sometimes about boobies."

"Some girls do," the other Deadpool agreed. Mira squealed. "I'm sorry, did we ignore you for a minute?" She grinned at him. "Wow, Dawn."

"Yeah. They're cute little hellions in the making. They'll be like their mommy. All flirty and happy and perky and fashionable, but yet deadly when necessary." The guys both shivered. "Thought I'd mention the other clone and I'll send him over if I find him."

"Looking forward to it." He winked. "Send pictures of the kids."

"I can do that." She smirked and closed the portal. She looked at Mira. "Want changed?" She pouted at her. "I know but it's okay. Want me to change you?"

Clint got up with a groan and took them to change. If Mira had dirtied herself, Lexi wasn't far behind usually. Though the reverse was always true, anything Lexi did, Mira had to do better. Philip helped him. He gave him a hug for that help and he went back to helping Chris color. The girls got put back down together. "Pepper, want me to change Maeve?"

"I can," Chris said, hopping up.

"No you can't," Steve said, taking her to change. "You're too little."

"Callia did credible attempts at it when she was his age," Dawn quipped. "She used to help Tara with the twins."

Steve looked at her. "How close did she get?"

"She was never big enough to reach the changing table so she'd drag in a chair and was usually on cleaning them up when Tara got there."

"Huh."

"She did the same thing with Philip," Tony agreed. "Then Chris. Which is how she realized Chris was circumcised and they weren't."

Philip looked at him. "What's circumcised?"

"Why you wondered about Chris looking different," Bruce said.

"Oh! Okay. Thanks, Grandpa!" He grinned at his buddy and they got back to coloring. He had gotten Chris a kilt of his own so they could match tomorrow. His would go with that blue shirt Mommy wanted him to wear. He knew Chris had a nice blue shirt too.

Clint looked at his wife. "You know I'm still jealous, right?" She blew a kiss but grinned and blushed a tiny bit.

"As am I. We will be proving that she is ours later," Natasha said, turning the page on her e-reader's screen. "As only I have to go to work tomorrow."

"I'm going to daycare," Philip announced. They all stared at him. "Play with Chris!"

"Fine," Natasha agreed. "I can drop you off on the way but that means getting up earlier." He shrugged and got back to his coloring.

"Stark, is the food ready yet so I can eat that instead of the wife?" Clint joked with a grin for him.

"Nearly and we do have spare rooms, Barton," he quipped back. "We don't need to see you eating her. We might have to protest."

"Daddy would not chew on Mommy," Philip said impatiently. "She'd swat him good and quit being wiggly and flirty for him."

"Probably, depends on where he bit me," Dawn said, looking at Clint, who smirked at that challenge.

Xander and Phil finally got there, and Phil put down the kids so they could run over to pounce the boys. Xander handed over their contribution to dinner. Stark put them on the grill too. "Sorry we're late. Melissa was having a crisis."

"I didn't match," Melissa said. "Mommy likes me to match." She carefully laid down and got into the coloring with the boys.

"Why are you wearing a skirt?" Joyce asked.

"Mommy Maria said I had to learn to wear one sometime."

"Playing isn't the time for that," Natasha said. Melissa smirked at her. "Stark, does Callia have some shorts she can borrow?"

"Probably." He got her some. "Put them on under the skirt so you quit flashing people." Melissa wiggled into them and smoothed the skirt down over them then got back to playing. The others were sucking up to Joyce and Bruce since they hadn't seen them recently. Tony started to pull food off the grill with Clint's help. Phil set the table for him and it was good. They could relax and eat, and ignore the lavender scent that floated up at them.

***

Clint got up long enough in the morning to watch his son pick out his clothes. He blinked a few times at the kilt and the one he was packing. "Why do you need two?"

"One's for Chris."

Clint yawned. Mira had kept him up all night and from snacking on Dawn. "Try that one on since the one you're wearing is too big?" He wiggled out of it and put on the other one. That one fit so he packed the other one with a grin for his father and pulled down that blue shirt. It was a polo shirt and it went well with the tan cargo kilt. Philip put on socks and his boots, letting his father tie them for him. Then he ran out with his backpack to bounce around Mommy Natasha until she fed him. Clint went to the bathroom then back to bed. He heard Mira fuss but Natasha was handling the girls. Dawn woke up with a yawn when he nudged her. "Go to the bathroom. They're about to go to daycare." She got up to do that, putting on a robe on the way out so she could kiss and hug all the kids. Lexi cooed at her and Dawn cuddled her extra. Mira was still huffing at her so she'd let Nat handle her for a few minutes. "Daycare," Clint called.

"Fine," Natasha agreed, packing up the girls to go to daycare as well. She looked at her son. "Why did you pick today to wear that?"

"Chris and I match."

"Oh." She was not going to ask her son how he knew he and Chris Stark were going to match. For all she knew they had went telepathic with each other somehow due to something Callia had created. She nodded and got them down to the SUV, taking them to the tower so she could go to SHIELD. She wouldn't put it past a Stark. She had to file reports on how HYDRA was falling apart.

Dawn grinned at Clint. "Want me to make coffee?"

"Later. C'mere." She took off the robe and came back in to cuddle him. This was a great sleeping in and they could do more in a few hours, when they woke up.

***

Philip smiled at Miss Nancy. "Me go wake up Chris."

"Let him sleep, Philip."

"I bringed him stuff." He held up his pack with a grin and ran out, going to the elevator. He knew how to get upstairs. He wasn't a baby. He ran off and hugged his Uncle Tony as he ran past him. "Bringed stuff for Chris."

"Okay then you have to go back to the daycare," he said firmly. "You can't stay up here by yourselves." They had barely put out the kitchen fire the last time the boys had tried to sneak back upstairs to hang out together. They had wanted pizza bites and Chris didn't understand the stove yet. Or the microwave.

"Yup." Tony got onto the elevator. Pepper was still getting dressed, she'd make sure they made it back down there. Which was probably a huge mistake but he'd regret it later when the daycare called. Philip walked into Chris's room, handing him his backpack. Chris had a nice blue t-shirt so they'd match. They put on the stick-on tattoos he had gotten from the gumball machine. They were cool and all kids loved tattoos. His daddy had some and they were great.

"Tv say no wear undies," Chris said. "Not under kilt."

Philip considered it and shrugged. "Okay." He took his off and they went into the backpack. It might be nasty but Mommy had taught him how to clean his butt so he wouldn't leave marks on anything. Chris could tie his own shoes so that was great. They ran out together before Pepper finished doing her makeup, going to the cafeteria to sneak sweets. The ladies in there smiled at them.

"You're both adorable, boys. Those are very pretty tattoo stickers." The boys grinned and Chris swiped his card in the machine. They let them run off with their pastries and juices.

Miss Nancy watched them come in. "Awww, you got breakfast and kilts." She really was going to have to talk to Clint. The boys looked like little mini goth kids only they weren't wearing guyliner and didn't have spiky hair. They settled in to go over things with Liz, who just smiled and patted them both on the head. Philip gave her one of the tattoo stickers to put on. She squealed and had their help putting it on. Miss Nancy was taking notes. She really had to talk to the parents sometime. She even took pictures. Caro and Etta ran in with Etta's little sister Marjorie following in her remote control stroller. She was barely walking and it was cute. Caro and Etta spotted the boys and giggled, going to play with Marjorie for now. It was Marjorie who would point out a flaw that Miss Nancy had missed.

"Butt!" Marjorie announced and pointed.

Miss Nancy looked. "Chris!" He hopped up and his kilt quit wiggling up his thighs as he shifted to color something else. "What ..... Why aren't you wearing underwear, Chris?" she asked, taking him aside. Then she came back to get Philip too. Since Philip had brought Chris things, it was probably partially his idea.

"Tv say you don't under kilt." He grinned. "Much nicer."

"In daycare you have to wear underwear at all times, boys."

Philip shook his head. "No, not supposed to under kilt." Chris pulled up an internet search. She closed it down on them and settled in to reasonably talk to them about it. They were boys and stubborn boys at that so they refused to understand the rules. Finally, she had to call a higher power. "Mr. Stark, may I see you in the daycare?" she requested politely.

"I'm a bit busy with a meeting, Miss Nancy. Is someone injured?"

"Stubborn but having a bit of a problem of the clothing sort."

"Send them up to me. Philip too if he's involved. With a note so we can talk about it."

"Gladly, Mr. Stark. Thank you." She hung up and wrote the note, handing it to Philip. "He's in a meeting." They grinned and would deviate to the cafeteria again for some oranges but they were boys and like that. Miss Nancy looked at her helper and went to the bathroom, shutting herself inside to laugh herself silly and a bit sick. The boys were very smart. And smartasses.

Tony hung up. "Sorry, problem in the daycare." His son and Philip came in with their oranges. "That's a nice fruit choice, boys. I see Philip's kilt addiction has spread."

"They're boy skirts so for pretty boys," Chris said with a grin, showing off his tattoos too.

"Very nice tattoo stickers. Your mom will adore those." Which she wouldn't but oh well. They washed off eventually. He took the note and sighed, putting the boys in his lap. "Let's handle the meeting and then we'll talk, guys." They nodded, staring at the other person.

"That's your son and who?"

"Dawn's son. She sent him to daycare this morning because he and Chris are best friends."

"Mira up all night with baby hairballs," Philip said.

"Ah, I know that sound." He patted him on the back. "Eat your oranges." They settled in to peel them, the lunch ladies had gotten them mostly done for them. Tony went over the details of the plans.

Chris looked up at him then at the other guy. "That's really 'spensive. Does it really cost that much to make it or is that markup?" He ate a bite of orange. "Some day I'll need to order for my own stuff," he said at the stare the guy was giving him.

"It's a bit of a markup. Each business has to make a profit," he said with a smile.

Chris nodded. "Profit nice. Profit gives allowances and paychecks," he told Philip, who grinned.

"Allowances are nice. Mommy types up agreements and she said markups are part of it. She 'splained it to me."

"It is. We agreed how much markup we're allowed to charge your father's people for our materials," the guy said. "They're really smart, Stark."

Tony smiled. "They probably think you're overcharging me." Which he was but Tony would deal with it later. He handed Chris some napkins from the table for his fingers before he sucked them clean. Philip took the napkin too. He and Dawn had made sure the boys took hints. "So, delivery dates?"

Chris looked at him. "Soon? I might need some to make stuff for Sissy's wheelchair again. She made a stair crawler but it's not efficient. Has low power waste that needs solved."

"She did what?" the guy asked, looking at Tony.

"Emergency stair maneuverability feature. We ran into that problem during a tower assault," he said quietly.

"Oh. That's good I guess. I sell your father computer components, Chris."

"Which most motorized things take," he pointed out. "You need components to make power circuits to run stuff. Like our goat powered engine." He grinned. "Sissy and I shrank a battery for her chair but she still wants to roll it by hand most of the time. It powers that and the seat lift since tables are too high sometimes."

"I guess that's handy," he agreed. "Very practical."

Philip grinned. "We made her new cover the other day. Bulletproof and pretty."

"That's very helpful," Tony said. "Thank you." He grinned. "What else did you guys make her chair?"

"New wheels. Hers are pitiful," Chris said. "New grips too. They're too smooth, no traction. We inscribed lines on them for ease of gripping. She can go faster now. We put a laser on it." He grinned at Philip. "He helped hold it."

"I'm sure she appreciates the laser," Tony said, giving his son a strange look.

"She has to leave tower and there's bad guys out there, Daddy. She needs laser in case huge poopy head shows up again." He shrugged. "Or other bad guys that don't like us for being really smart."

"I guess she does," he agreed. "Put an emergency alarm on it?"

Philip bounced some. "Did! It's on her seat. She can push it with her butt."

"That's cool," Tony said with a smile. "How much electronics did it take?"

"Six boards and three connectors, Daddy, plus some pipes," Chris said.

"Sure, we can look at what you took them from."

"Old suit you let Callia tinker with," Philip said. "I helped by unscrewing."

"That's very helpful." He grinned at his supplier. "Chris is already working with me in the lab. He and Callia did the renovation plans that we updated since it was right before she got hurt. Liz decorated everything."

"That's great, Tony. It's clear he's a true Stark."

Tony grinned. "Very. Liz likes medical stuff and decorating."

"Aww. She's her mom's daughter."

"Liz is mean," Chris said. Philip nodded quickly. "She's going to be the mean, evil empress of Stark."

"I think that was Dawn," Tony said dryly. "One year for Halloween." His supplier cracked up. "I'm sure she'll have a lot to teach Liz over the years." He went over the rest of the agreement.

Chris looked then at the guy. "Your math is wrong."

"I used the calculator." Chris drew on the virtual screen he pulled up to show him. "I guess it was. We can correct that." Tony drew through it with a pen and changed that. "No Dawn?"

"Vacation day. Linda, her helper, too." He looked at him. "Linda will be back Friday or Dawn on Monday so I'll get that page to you on Tuesday with the changes? Sign this one as the preliminary?"

"That'll work for both sides," he agreed, making that note and signing it. Tony signed it.

"Pleasure doing business with you," Philip chirped with a grin. "You should go have a beer at the pub to celebrate."

Tony looked at him. "What did you sneak and watch on tv?"

"Movie?" He smiled shyly. "They do business stuff too."

"Hmm." He cuddled the boys, cracking the other guy up. He shook their hands and left. Tony put both boys onto the table to talk to them about how boys, even under kilts, wore underwear, no matter what the internet said. He had to show them how their kilts were cargo kilts, not true kilts, and only true kilts had that underwear exemption. They pouted but went up to put some on. Tony took the contract to Pepper, who gave him an odd look. He handed over the note. She moaned and shook her head. "I got through to them. They know you have to be wearing a real kilt, with tartan plaid and all the extra stuff like the bag that Philip called the external furry ball sack to not need underwear. So they're putting some on."

"Good!" He handed over the contract. "Why preliminary?"

"Math error. Chris caught it. I said we'd fax the corrected sheets over by Tuesday."

"That'll work," she agreed. She put it down to stare at him. "Why does our son have a kilt?"

"I have the feeling that Philip got it for him. He said it's a boy skirt, so therefore for pretty boys to wear. That way he's not wearing a dress and upsetting someone." She let out a tiny whimper. "He logiced it all the way through, Pepper. Philip really thought that out."

"I guess it's a good transition from Liz talking them into wearing her dresses." She rubbed her forehead, prompting him to give her a temple rub. "Do they own tartan kilts?"

"I don't think Chris does. Not sure about Philip. He did say he'd have to get the bag."

"Okay. Sure." She smiled back at him. "We need to clean out the closets anyway."

"That fits him better than his pants did."

"We can help him shop this weekend."

"Sure." He smiled. "They even match. They're both wearing blue shirts and khaki cargo kilts."

"They are scarily like twins some days," she said. Tony gave her a hug and went up to play with the boys. He caught them in the halls and explained that Pepper wasn't used to boys who wore kilts. He took them to his lab to show them where Pepper was from. They wore jeans down there most of the time so she had to get used to kilts. He showed them internet shopping too.

"How you try things on?" Philip asked.

"You shop the size you should be. Most people make things the same size. Except for shoes." They oohed and found a lot of stuff they liked. That helped and he even helped by teaching them how to sort out the clothes that were too little so Pepper didn't have to. Philip was great at sorting by size. They even did the dirty laundry so they only had to wash the stuff that was the right size. Which Tony taught them how to do. Even if Philip disagreed because Mommy Natasha did it differently.

***

That night, Chris couldn't sleep so he was looking at other boy skirts online. There were whole groups of people that wore boy skirts. They were pretty. Some were like his favorite shirts that were too small now. Sarongs looked neat and they tied instead of buttoning or zipping. There were ancient boy skirts too and he liked those. They were longer like his kilt. But they were plain and boring. He found out how they made those and he could make some of the sarongs into them he guessed. There were even boy skirts that turned into pants when you tucked them up. They were Uncle Xander's mommy's people's boy skirts. He ordered some of those too. Uncle Xander would probably show him how to tuck them in. He found out he could order candy too. When he had to finally pay for stuff, he frowned when they wouldn't let him swipe the card he used in the cafeteria. "JARVIS?"

"Yes?" the AI asked.

"How do I do this?"

"I can make you a virtual card number from your trust fund this one time."

"Cool!" He ordered more candy. He was a boy, he lived on candy and Red Bull. He found he could order that too and they would deliver it to him weekly. That was great! Him and Sissy wouldn't have to sneak off for it. He let JARVIS fill in those sections for him. Then he ran down to see how his new lab was looking. His elevator gave off smoke sometimes and it was so epic! He was going to be the best Stark geek ever!

***

Two days later, Callia answered the apartment phone. "Starks." She listened. "Did he get presents from the pervert in Norway too?" she quipped. "Is it huge? You know he's five, right? Sure, I'll see who's here and who can get it for him. Thank you." She hung up and looked around. No Auntie. She had to leave work early because Mira had cut herself trying to get the baby in the mirror and knocked it over on her head. She was in the infirmary getting stitches. Grandpa was working at SHIELD today.

Well, that left one trusty, strong adult who didn't do much real work. She called him. "Bucky, Chris got some mail and it's heavy stuff. No, I asked if it came from Norway too; Dad said he had ordered him clothes the other night when Mommy wanted to take him shopping. Thanks, Bucky. No, he's in the daycare." She hung up and got back to her homework and planning how to put on pants all day long. Maybe she'd go to skirts for a bit. At least those didn't bind or ride up on her.

Bucky came off the elevator with a hand truck full of boxes. "Ya think Stark ordered enough?" he complained.

She looked. "Maybe. This is Chris we're talking about and he's almost as fashionable as Auntie Dawn."

"Good point." He went back to get the rest.

She frowned at one box. "Dad ordered him Red Bull and I'm not allowed to have any?" she complained. She followed Bucky to break into that box. She took it back to do her homework. "Thanks, Uncle Bucky."

"I'll make Stark tip me for it," he said dryly. Stark was in a meeting with Pepper so he left a message with Linda that he had hauled it up there for him and the kid.

***

Tony looked at the pile of boxes. He had a sneaking suspicion his son had learned a bit too much. "JARVIS? Why is there a box of Red Bull?"

"Your son ordered it, sir. I did limit what he bought to under what you spent on his clothes in each category."

"Category?" Tony had to wince. He knew how much the clothes had cost.

"He found some other clothes he wanted to try and the Red Bull, which will be delivered monthly thanks to Amazon.com. I switched it from weekly on him as I didn't think he'd need that many a week." Tony looked at the nearest speaker. "I also kept it under that amount when he found the candy stores online, sir."

"He spent how much on candy?" Tony demanded. He opened the boxes, wincing at the sarongs in wild flower prints. And the dhotis. The bags were marked. And a real kilt and two bags so that solved that issue he had tried to stop. He found the three largest boxes from Amazon had candy. Another large box had bulk candy from a local bulk candy store. He stared at it. "Pepper?" he called. A few minutes later she came off the elevator. "Help me hide his stash?"

Callia rolled in and looked then at him. "At least I don't internet shop. If I want candy I go find it." She grabbed something and rolled off.

"Hey, mine!" Chris complained.

"I stole a Red Bull too, Chris. Daddy found the candy stash. Nice job!"

"Callia!" Tony complained. "Son, let's talk about how you have to have all shopping online approved by me or Mom, okay?" He walked him off to talk to him. Pepper was staring in horror at the candy. When Steve got there he helped her hide it up where the kids couldn't easily reach it. They hadn't counted on Callia building something to levitate stuff with Andrew. By the morning, all the candy was hidden in other places. Which Tony still found with the workmen who were going to be starting on that level's renovations soon.

Callia helped the most. She showed Chris how to budget and that his trust fund went down each time he ordered candy. That worked because he thought college sounded neat. He had been watching college movies to see what his sister was going to be doing in a few years.

***

Steve, Pepper, and Tony had a meeting about the kids in the office. The kids were all asleep. JARVIS was to tell them if any of the kids got up. They were going over the various issues they were having.

"Callia's clothing," Steve said. "It's gotten a bit tarty."

Pepper snorted, looking at him. "It is not."

"She has cleavage."

"All women have cleavage and unless she's wearing turtlenecks, which she can't in the summer, it's going to show. She's almost always kept it at a tasteful level and most of those were because she was outgrowing things." Steve slumped. "Women don't wear their shirts buttoned to the collar, Steve. In fact, a lot of button-up shirts for women don't have collar buttons." She looked at Tony. "That does bring up the subject of kilts."

"He's growing tired of it because he got told it meant he had to keep his legs closed. Our eldest is really good at handling him."

"I'm sorry, I don't like kilts," Steve said. "He's not Scottish. He's not whatever you call those funny looking kids at the mall."

"Actually, he and Philip are both a bit goth," Pepper admitted. "And I'd like them to be for more special occasions than daycare days." Tony nodded that was fine with him. "He needs to learn to set a schedule."

"He does. So does Liz," Tony agreed. "Which we're working on."

"Good. Because I can see them flunking out of college because it runs on a schedule and they don't. Callia too."

"By the time she gets there, she's only going to have project hours," Tony said.

"Damn." She crossed her legs. "She does sometimes keep one."

"She does most of the time," Tony corrected. "She makes it to physical therapy unless she's been up all night in the lab and she's cut back on those nights to make it to physical therapy."

Pepper nodded that was true. "Then the bikinis get to disappear, right?" Steve asked.

"No," Tony said. "She's allowed *tasteful* suits. Her black and blue zip top that goes near to her bellybutton is tasteful and we'll expect her to get more tasteful bottoms." Steve glared. "Welcome to the modern age. Have you been to the mall recently? Seen the booty skirts and shorts? Which her mother used to wear a lot." He pulled up pictures of Buffy. "That was her mom's frequent patrol outfit, Steve."

"She's an adult." He got comfortable. "I'm not pleased that she's showing more than telling."

Pepper shook her head. "She's not a nun, Steve. She's not dressing in business clothes. When she can comfortably put on jeans again she'll be back in them and leotards."

"Does she...."

"Yes," Tony said. "She does. She wore them for years in gymnastics. She wore them in swimming. They're her version of my concert t-shirts. They clean easily, let you sweat less in the lab, and they're comfortable." Steve slumped. Tony pulled up sites for teen girls to show him. "What would you rather have her wear?"

"Not those. Can't she dress like a young lady?"

"She's not wearing skirts in the lab," Pepper said. "It'd only cause her problems."

"They make pants."

"That you'll never get grease out of," Tony said. "That's why we wear jeans or chinos or khakis. Because you can get grease, dirt, and sweat out of them."

"She's got to do more than be in the lab."

"She's got her plans and it's a good one," Tony said. "I would've went that way if I thought my father would've let me. She'll still be in the lab all the time but she'll have her group of geeks that'll help her turn her ideas into things that do more for humanity." Steve nodded. "I was in the lab most of my twenties. I only came out to bar hop and get laid for the most part." Pepper laughed and nodded. "And the occasional meeting that I got forced to. I didn't own a suit for five years in there because I didn't need one."

"I don't see why they can't dress more nicely even in things that are lab appropriate. MB manages it."

"She's a chemist. They sit on a stool and mix things," Tony said. He banished the first screens and pulled up different lab views. What he and Callia did when they were tinkering together as well as him and Chris versus MB and others like Bruce. "We get into things. They mix. They study under a microscope."

Steve stared. "Can she learn to like that stuff?"

"No," Tony said. "She liked chemistry when they taught her stuff but it's not her love. You go into any science due to the love of it. It's in your blood and it's what fires you."

Steve grimaced. "I still think the kids all look sloppy half the time."

Pepper snorted. "They're not going to dress up to be at home, Steve."

"They have good clothes they consider play clothes."

"No they don't. That's all stuff that's too small. They're playing with it by giving it to the siblings to make them wear it. That's why Chris has dresses."

"They went to the Salvation Army," Tony said.

"Good!"

"So did Liz's old ones." He grinned.

"Thank you. That saved me a ton of work." She looked at Steve. "Girls aren't the same as they were in your day, Steve. They don't go out and play in dresses with dolls. They don't just jump rope and play hopscotch. Even my generation did a lot more than that. Girls have bikes. They have rollerblades. They have all sorts of things that require not only jeans to keep themselves from being hurt, but also they do more these days. And sometimes less when it's a video game day."

"I still think it's unnecessarily showy. It's flaunting her new shape."

"The one she used to hide by illusion?" Tony asked. Steve scowled. "She did."

"She did," Pepper said. "I worried about her self image because of that. We were all embarrassed but we learned they were just boobs and we got over it after about a year of our first periods and having to learn how to grope ourselves to put tampons in."

"Eww," Tony told her.

She smiled. "Few years from now, Tony."

"I know." He looked at Steve. "Callia's usually fairly conservatively dressed for her generation."

"There's girls that wear more."

"Yeah, they're future nuns, Mormons, and kids who do *nothing* all day. They're the ones who expect to be future wives and mothers. Even the 'wear a skirt daily' women who are trying to make women move backwards don't do all that much in them. I realize women in your generation wore things a lot longer and buttoned up. We gave that up outside of maxi dresses and those look like sun dresses and usually show off your upper figure." Steve grimaced. "She's not going to be wearing power suits. She'll probably have a few in her closet for necessary meetings but otherwise that's not who she is. You don't have a problem with Dawn's outfits, do you?"

"She's not my daughter and yes, she's a bit flirty."

"She's not that flirty."

"Linda wears pants."

"So does Dawn half the time," Pepper agreed. "They expect women in business to be steel backboned feminine women. It's a strange dichotomy that gets us underestimated. Dawn being that tiny bit flirty and feminine means that people underestimate her. They see a pretty assistant and don't see the language or self defense skills."

"What does her uniform look like?"

"Black shirt and pants or skirt and a red blazer," Tony said.

Steve grimaced. "Button up?"

"Up to her," Pepper said. "They're not that restrictive." He nodded. "She's picked out some black t-shirts without pockets and a few prettier shirts that have v-necks so it doesn't choke her when it rides up. She's debating pants over skirts due to the chair. Pants give her fits."

"She can't cross her legs so it'd be skorts," Tony said.

"That's an option I gave her but she was horrified and said they were for dorks."

"They can be," Tony agreed. "Depends on the style." He considered it. "Can we tailor them so the zippers are on the side to make it easier on her?"

"The tailor is making two, one on each side. That'll open up the hip area so she doesn't have as many problems. We got them a size too big in the waist too so she could sit more comfortably." He nodded. "I'd say leggings but she's still got that problem with pulling them up."

"They're tights," Steve said. "Without feet."

"Some," Pepper agreed. "Some are meant to be worn under a long shirt. They're cute and fashionable."

"They're tights," he said.

Tony shook his head. "Nothing is going to be as loose as they used to be, Steve. We found nylon elastic and it became part of everything. For that matter, Callia's got the body to carry it off. She used to wear leggings all the time." Pepper nodded she remembered. "By the way, she caught onto your 'watch old movies with me to see how women were classy' thing you had going. She said that's great and they'd probably love panty hose instead of stockings. Though, Pepper, she did talk to Dawn about pantyhose versus stockings to see why she wore them." Pepper nodded she knew that. "And the verdict was?"

"When she's older and it matters, she can switch if pantyhose give her problems like Dawn had. Dawn tried them for about a month and then ended up at the doctor's twice in three weeks. He told her to give them up and it cured the issues."

"Huh?" Steve asked.

"Pantyhose can cause yeast infections," Pepper said. "It traps moisture. It can cause itching, rashes, all sorts of nastiness. That's why Dawn wears stockings instead."

"I remember seeing her in them a few times," he complained. "That pink dress and the black one."

"That's ancient history," Pepper said. "The black dress was because everything else in her closet got slimed by a neighbor's science experiment. She had that and club clothes." Steve shuddered.

"I told her to wear the pink dress to make it look like she wasn't concerned. Sometimes the show is enough to change your mood," Tony said.

"Joyce still thinks it was a darling outfit, and I agree. Dawn looked like a cute young woman in it," Pepper said with a grin. Tony smiled back.

"Still too flirty."

"Welcome to the new millennium," Tony said dryly. "Women are expected to be slightly sexy, competent in their fields, and have it all."

"Which is unfair since guys only have to be presentable," Pepper quipped.

"True," Tony agreed with a smile. "Though you, Dawn, and Liz always make sure I look sexy."

"That's because it fits you," Pepper said.

Steve stared at them. "Guys." They stared at him. "She's still too young to be that flirty. She's eleven."

"She's not that flirty," Tony said. He pulled back up pictures. "The recent leotards are a bit loose but she's also mid-growth spurt."

"It's the last one she'll have for about a year," Pepper said. She looked at Steve. "I like how she looks. It's comfortable, tasteful, not trashy or overly showy."

"She shouldn't have clothes like that until she's eighteen," he said.

"Today, girls are women at sixteen and boys are guys at eighteen," Tony said. "Is she coming out, Pepper?"

"We haven't talked about it." She made a note. "I'll ask her."

"Why would she?" Steve asked.

"Because as a Stark, we're members of higher society," Tony said. "I'm a billionaire, Steve. It's part of the job sometimes." Steve stared at him. "It's the same reason we go to the symphony now and then and plays. Not as often as some of the society cows but often enough. I was announced and if I had a sister she would've had a coming out party."

Pepper nodded. "It's not the first time it's been asked," she said. "I did get asked about Liz."

"Up to you. She's my daughter, even if she's not biologically, Pep."

"I know, Tony. I'm considering it. It could help her future career unless she went into something really low class like being a waitress."

"She likes medicine, law, and business so far, plus art," Tony said. "Have her come out." She nodded, making note of that. "So, that means we'll have to have sixteenth birthday parties." Pepper nodded. "We can plan that."

"She doesn't need to one of those spoiled heiresses," Steve said firmly.

"She's not going to suddenly change just because she got introduced," Tony said. "That's how you raise your kids, not how they're born. It is expected she'd get a huge present at that time. Usually something like a car. Which I've always said we'd hand-build. So I'll have to start that at least a year before."

"Which she's going to help you with," Pepper said.

"She's going to hand-forge things?" Steve asked.

"Yeah. She's been wanting to learn," Tony said with a smile. "This is how she's going to learn. I've told her that all along."

"Do you think you pushed her into science?" he asked him.

"No. I think if she hadn't liked science she would've told us and we would've found what she did like. There for a while I thought for sure she'd end up a Veterinarian. Which was perfectly fine with us. All the kids will find their fields of interest and future work. None of my kids will ever be one of the spoiled slut society. They'll all have jobs. If Maeve or Liz want to retire after they start having kids that'd be up to them at that point. I wouldn't like it, it'd be wasting their potentials, but that's up to them."

"So if Liz wants a job like Dawn's?" he asked.

"She's getting a job like Dawn's if she wants to run the company or any business," Pepper said. "She's going to learn how to run it from the lower levels up. That's the best way to do it and it means you don't forget the normal people when you're running it. No one's going to hand her a high powered position on her name. She'll have to prove herself and women in business still have a glass and wire ceiling above us. Like any other job, she'll start out lower and work her way up. If she wants to go into business she'll have summer jobs with Dawn or someone here."

"Or law," Tony said. "I asked and Gloria said she's doing it with her own son starting next year. I agreed that a paid internship during the summers would teach him not only about how you really worked at a job but also make sure that's what he wanted to do before he spent all that money on college."

"Then what?" Steve asked. "They go to college?"

"Yup," Tony agreed. "Even if they're not sure what they want to do they're going to college. Most jobs these days take college, even if you're going into art. We'd make sure she had a minor or second major that was more practical so she could live on that while she starts to work on her own art collections. The kids are only getting small living stipends when they hit eighteen until they're twenty-five then they have yearly restrictions on how much of their trust they can pull out unless it's an emergency and either us or whoever is managing her trust agrees. I fully expect them to save up for their first homes. I took my part of the sale of my first design to buy my house in Malibu. I only lived on my trust for about four years and that was because I was in college. After that, I ran the company, poorly but I did run it, and designed things. I built the company beyond what Dad had done."

Pepper nodded. "He did. Used to drive him nuts." Tony smiled and nodded at her.

"Can Callia dress more like you, Pepper?"

"No. Because what I wear is practical for meetings and being in the office. She's not going to be in the office, Steve. She's going to wear what's practical for her career and in her life. Beyond that, I have shirts that are more showy than hers and you like me in them."

"You're not my daughter."

"No, I'm not. Or eleven. She's allowed to pick her own clothes within reason. It's not like she picks slutty looking things. We haven't had a single pair of short shorts, even on the beach where she could get away with it as a coverup. Speaking of, we have got to get Liz jeans, Tony."

"I bought her six pairs," he said.

"Thank you!"

"I like how Liz dresses," Steve complained.

"She can't play in it," Tony said. "You can't play in a skirt, Steve. Beyond the whole flashing everyone thing that happens sometimes, you can't get on the floor and play with blocks or sit at the coffee table and do your homework that way."

"We have a table."

"And it's for dinner time," Pepper said. "We're going to overrule you on this, Steve. The kids are going to be wearing things that are easy for them to play and explore in. If we're in North Dakota at the house there, I fully expect the kids to hike into the woods and explore. Or the grounds in Malibu."

Tony nodded. "Me too. I want them to run, jump, and play, not have to sit perfectly so they don't flash panty. I want my kids to be down on the ground wrestling with their friends and all that. That's what kids do."

"Girls don't...."

"They do now," Tony said, staring him down. "That's changed. I know it's hard for you but yeah, girls now play football and basketball. They wrestle." Steve grimaced but slumped. "They can act like polite little society girls but they're not. They're never going to be the polite little society girl sort. They're girly enough and it's fine with us. Eventually, Callia's going to get back into sports. Chris might find he likes sports beyond playing pool."

"He did?" Pepper demanded.

"Yeah. Clint taught him." He grinned. "I asked him to so he had some guy sports time. Though he did like horse jumping when Liz showed him. So did she."

"Callia's school has that as a lesson set. We can enroll them in it when they're old enough. Liz could go next year." She made that note too. "She's a bit ahead but not terribly like Callia was."

Tony nodded. "She's a smart little mini Pepper." She grinned at that. "They also have art history classes and art classes."

"How are they getting to a school an hour from here?" Steve asked.

"Happy," Tony said. "I asked and he said he'd be more than glad to get the kids there and back. Callia's already talked to the band teacher, and admitted she slacked on her music since the accident, but he's going to let her have practice space after school." Pepper grinned. "It's good for her to have a lot of interests and hobbies."

"It is," she agreed.

"She's playing the bass," Steve said.

"Yeah, some women do," Tony agreed. "She can't practice that was as well. It's still awkward for her so she's dropping that one for now. She'll pick it back up later when it's easier for her to properly sit around it."

"That's fine," Pepper agreed. "I caught her playing her autoharp the other day and she sounded good. The cats were staring at her like she was a goddess again."

"She is their goddess most of the time."

"She could wear those broomstick skirts," Steve said.

"For school maybe," Pepper agreed. "She got a few knee length ones but they were A-lines. I'll suggest that for her school look."

Tony nodded. "They're loose cotton and comfortable from what Dawn's said."

"They are. Very light so not in the winter." She made that note too. Tony stared at her. "I've been forgetful."

"They said it happens." She smiled weakly. "We're behind you on that. Mostly so you can't hit us with anything, Pepper." She snorted but shook her head with a slight smile. He looked at Steve. "Any other topics?"

"The music thing," he said. "It's loud. It's annoying."

"It's how we think," Tony said. "My lab almost always has music on."

"Which is loud and slightly jarring," Steve said.

"Their labs are going to be soundproofed. The kids have been exposed to all sorts of music and they like a variety, including big band stuff you showed them. When they're working they do what I do and play hard rock or heavy metal. Though I'm a bit worried about all the Breaking Benjamin going on in Callia's lab. Pepper, can you talk to her about being a bit angry and depressed? I figure it's normal but I don't want her to get *depressed*."

"I have. She's still on the okay levels there. It's driving her to do better instead of making her give up."

"Thanks."

"Welcome. I worried too. Then again, she was playing a song she got from her aunt last night. She was sure she'd never be that sort of bad girlfriend but sometimes it fit her aunt very well when she teased Clint."

"Why does she know about that?"

"Because she's studied them," Tony said. "She studies people. She knows people a lot better than I do. She knows how to talk to them and how to inspire them. That plus tabloid stories about them going out to club sometimes."

"Is Dawn maybe a bad influence?"

"No," Pepper said firmly. "She's not." Steve grimaced but let it go for now. She and Tony shared a look. They'd let Dawn handle that one. Her phone beeped. "We're in here, Chris."

He leaned around the doorway. "I know." He grinned. He looked at Steve. "I didn't know you were like those preachers on tv who have not a clue and hate us." He looked at his father. "Maeve has Liz's snoring problem. I was up and heard her do that funny hiccup Liz still does sometimes and put her alarm on her. It started to go off once I hitched it down, which woke her and made her wail a lot. Callia came in to help. Where's the travel one? Callia can't find it."

"It's in my closet," Pepper said, getting up. "Thank you." She cuddled him. "You should've called."

"JARVIS said you guys were talking about adult stuff."

She carried him up there to get the spare alarm. Liz still slept with an apnea alarm just in case. Maeve was fussy but the attached oxygen meter was low. "Tony, she's got a low pulse ox."

"JARVIS, get one of the docs up here please," he said, checking the machine. "The air tank is low. It's not concentrating right. It must need serviced." One of the docs hurried off the elevator. "She's got Liz's apnea."

"I heard she had some." He came over to check her, looking at the low pulse oxygen rate. He adjusted the monitor and tickled her. It went up some. "Want me to set up a tent?"

"For tonight until I can get the machine serviced," Tony said. "Liz, want to go sleep in an oxygen tent?"

"Nope," she said. She took the travel alarm. She knew how to set it up for herself. They checked to make sure but took Maeve down there. "She'll get used to the mask," she told Chris when he climbed in with her. He cuddled her. "It's okay. They caught me not breathing at all." He gave her a squeeze and cuddled. She let him. It was nice to be cuddled.

"Chris, you have a bed," Steve said quietly from the doorway. "You're too old to sleep with your sister."

"She needs cuddles," Chris said, glaring at him. "Go away."

"I'm your father. Go back to your bed."

Tony came up and shook his head, walking Steve off with him. "He can cuddle her. Not like he's going to grope. Even if she had something to grope. He's being a protective brother." He handed him to Bucky when they ran into him. "Talk to him about that stuff, Steve. Maybe he can show you how things are now."

Bucky stared at him. "Which topic? I know you've been scowling about the clothing."

"That too. I just tried to get Chris back to his own bed instead of Liz's."

"Liz has that breathing problem and Chris is really sensitive to that stuff. Besides, I caught him in my Playboys the other day to see what big girls grew into. He was not amused by all the hair." Steve glared at him. He walked him off to talk to him about that stuff. Bucky had sneaked dirty pictures too and it hadn't hurt him. He'd get Steve to relax. Hopefully.

***

Dawn came back her first day back and looked things over, settling in to fix that page on the agreement. Linda hadn't gotten to it Friday. She smiled at Pepper and Steve as they came off the elevator. "I'll have this fixed in a few minutes. I also moved all the bigger documents to the shared folder Linda and I both have access to."

"Thank you. She said she couldn't find that one," Pepper said.

"Not a problem. I didn't even think about it. I sent her an email about where it was found on the server." She got back to work. "What happened?" I sense the air of gloom."

"Maeve started to do the hiccup/not breathing thing," Pepper sighed. Dawn stopped typing to stare at her. "She's fine. Liz's system wasn't concentrating properly so it's being fixed by Tony today."

"Okay. I'll add that to my mandatory pack list." Pepper smiled and went in to her desk. "Just got here so I didn't check it yet, Pepper."

"I know I'm early, Dawn."

Steve watched her type. Dawn was in a modernly modest dress that girls in his day would've thought was too showy. "Dawn?" She saved the document and looked at him, turning her chair to cross her legs. "I'm a bit worried that some of your...flirty ways are influencing Callia a bit too young."

She stared at him. "Women aren't like they were in your day, Steve. We don't believe that women's bodies are shameful things that should only be seen in classical art and nickel movies on Saturdays. These days, women learn to appreciate our bodies and accept it for the flaws it has. Some don't learn acceptance very well but they do eventually when all the fighting against what you have naturally wears you out. I don't think she's been overly flirty or showy. The new leotards are a bit loose but that's because she's went up a size in the last two months and is probably going to go up about another two in the next year. Even then I don't think it falls too low and it's mostly baggy around her waist. So why do you think that?"

"She had cleavage."

"All women have cleavage. The bras they design make sure of it. There's not a whole lot of getting around that if you wear a bra." He gaped. "That's the whole purpose of a bra. It's just that girls are getting breasts earlier now than they were before. We've went from around thirteen for them starting to come up to some girls getting them at eight and nine now. All that within the last decade. I know Callia's not interested in anyone seeing hers. She's still embarrassed by her body. Especially with her injury. It's twisted how she sees herself somewhat. Any major injury does. I had some of that when I had the huge divot in my neck from that acid attack." She tipped her head slightly. "I'm sorry she's going through what girls used to do at sixteen but we grow up sooner. That's just a biological fact."

"I think you're teaching her the wrong things about her body. She has been awfully showy."

She snorted and shook her head. "No, she hasn't. She's not shown one hint of anything inappropriate. Pepper and I both monitor those things."

"She's got a strapless gown for that award she didn't get to get."

"Yes. It fit her the best," Dawn said. "And I didn't help her pick that out. Pepper did. It fit her frame and the restraints of the wheelchair the best. It's also not all that showy. It covers up her entire breast area. You can't even see cleavage with the way the tailor fit it to her." Steve gaped. "I saw it during the final fitting. It sits above the cleavage line. I'm told she was going to wear a shawl over it to cover her shoulders. Which is totally modest even by older standards."

"It's slutty!"

"It's not," she said calmly.

"Steve," Pepper warned.

"She's showing her to be a flirty little slut!" Steve complained, pointing at Dawn. Who stood up and punched him into a wall.

She stared at him. "Tell me that to my face, Captain." He blinked, mouth open. "C'mon. Women aren't helpless little bimbos anymore. We're trained from very early on to be fully aware of who we are, what we are, and what we can do." She snapped her fingers and brought something to her hand. "You can find out if you want."

"Dawn," Tony said, taking the choker from her hand. "That's mean." He walked Steve off. "Finish that contract?"

"Nearly done, I'm fixing the typos I apparently left in last time." She settled in again to type that up and talk to Clint and Natasha, who told Bucky.

Bucky showed up where Tony had Steve and hit him again. "For insulting Dawn from Natasha." He stared at him. "She's not a whore. Your daughter's not turning into one either. You accused her maternal aunt of warping the girl into a slut. You do realize that Dawn can kick you around and then kill you?" Steve opened his mouth. Bucky held up a hand. "Girls today get what they used to get at sixteen at twelve. Or sooner. Girls start their periods now at twelve and thirteen, Steve. There've been kids who've had babies at ten." He shuddered. "So you need to get over this. Now. Before Callia herself kicks you."

"I'd never kick him. I might hurt myself," Callia said from behind them. "Then again it might be worth the broken foot since someone thinks I look like a slutty heiress sort." She glared at him. "Are you actually Steve Rogers?" He stomped off. She waved. "Come back when you're normal, Stepmom. Because I don't need this shit on top of all the other shit in my life. I can dress like the other girls my age if you want."

"Like hell," Tony complained, staring at her. "You okay?"

"Yup."

"How much did you hear?"

"I eavesdropped through the security cameras. No matter how many times JARVIS shut them off." She stared at him.

"We don't have a problem. You always show taste and decorum."

"Thank you!" She rolled herself off. "I'm going to hug my aunt. She's pouting and upset because of him. She's not in trouble, right? Because if she is we three kids will overrule you."

"Not even if he presses charges," Tony said dryly. "I'll forgive that arrest." He followed her, giving Dawn his own hug. "I find you appropriately flirty and tasteful. Thank you for making sure she was too." He went into the office. "Steve stomped off."

"We'll handle it," she sighed.

Callia rolled backwards to look at them. "We're all dressing like the normal mall kids today." She rolled back to hug her aunt some more. "He's confused because even in his day girls wore pants if they weren't outside." She nodded. "Finish up. We're going to dress like normal kids."

Dawn looked at her. "Hot Topic?"

"Cheaper. Old Navy. That way I don't spend tons on an outfit like them." She smiled and rolled off. "Dad, taking Happy and my shopping card."

"If you must."

"Yup, I must." She gathered the other two and took them down to the car. Happy was waiting. "We need to hit Old Navy, Happy. Stepmom thinks I look slutty."

Happy Hogan winced. "No you don't."

"Apparently I'm not uptight enough." She let the kids get into the car first then transferred in and let him fold up the wheelchair to put in there. She got them buckled into their booster seats and Happy drove them off. She got out first since it was easier. Then Liz got Chris out. She looked at them. "Two outfits at the most," she warned. They nodded. She rolled in there, smiling at the saleswoman. "We need to look like normal kids at the mall. My stepmom thinks I look too slutty in this. We're showing him what eleven, six, and five year olds wear."

"I can do that. What's your budget?"

"Under two outfits. Mine I have to be able to get into."

"I understand. My daughter's been on the arm crutches now for over a year thanks to a car crash. She has to watch the length of her pants and shirts." Callia nodded. She found them a pretty fashionable look. Then let them pick the colors. The cute little boy wanted something more delicate but Liz handed him one and it was good enough for him. They got changed and she nodded, picking out another one. This one was a bit more...trendy, and slightly more tasteless. She knew that struggle very well. Her own daughter had done something similar. They checked out and got back into the limo. She hadn't noticed that but she knew that driver. She checked the slip and smiled. That explained a lot about why they wanted 'normal kid' looks.

***

Steve came off the elevator in time for dinner, staring at his kids. "What are you wearing?" he demanded.

"Trendy stuff. This is what the kids at the mall wear in our ages." Liz smiled at him. "I kinda like the skirt but it's short."

"It is," Callia agreed. "Knees together, Liz. I don't like polka dots."

Liz huffed but did that. "Why did you get pants?"

Callia looked at her. "Because right now my knees won't meet."

"Oh yeah. I forgot." Callia hugged her for that.

Chris hopped up. "See, Liz picked it out, Stepmom. It's what kids wear."

Tony and Pepper came off the elevator. Pepper stared. "Liz, that's way too short, dear."

"It's how they wear them these days," Callia said dryly. "They were *all* that short. In my size range they came mid thigh. Hers at least nears her knees."

"No! Skirts are not to be above your knee!" Steve said firmly.

Callia stared at him. "That's how we normally do it and you think we look like sluts." He flinched back. "You want it, you got it, Toyota," she quipped. She adjusted the shirt. "This boob thing sucks."

"It does," Pepper agreed, helping her adjust the shirt. "That's your right size too."

"Yup. Tight is in this year." She shrugged. "According to Old Navy."

Pepper nodded. "No, go change." She grinned and they went to change. She looked at Tony.

"At least Old Navy's cheap."

"It was sixty for all six outfits," Liz called.

"Thank you," Pepper called back. "Six?"

They came out in the other ones. "More trendy and hip for mall times with our group dates," Callia said with a smile.

"Dating?" Steve squeaked.

"Yes, most girls my age go out in packs that meet up with packs of boys at the mall. Then we hang out and do boring things while flirting. That progresses to one-on-one dates about fifteen or sixteen."

"Heck no!" he said firmly, pointing. "Go change."

"You thought *what* was bad?" she countered, staring at him. He glared. "Try it," she offered. He backed up, shaking his head quickly.

"He wouldn't," Tony soothed, coming over to hug her. "He'd never hurt you. You know that."

"Not by the look on his face. Maybe he's possessed by the ghost of bigoted grandfathers past. We should see." She went to change into pajamas. So did the other two.

"I'd never hit her," Steve said.

"She knows," Pepper promised. "We all know that. It's just that you were getting really mad and she had to break that before you started to shout." Steve calmed himself down and nodded. He went to the bathroom to calm himself down away from everyone. She looked at Callia. "Huge overreaction."

"Sorry. I'll apologize. I misread his body language," she said quietly. Tony cuddled her on the couch. She sank into his arms. "Do I have to be uncomfy, Daddy?" she asked quietly.

"No, you don't. Your clothing rules have not changed. None of yours have." Liz and Chris piled into his sides. "Now, when you're old enough to date, they change a lot." She snorted but it was a happier sound. He cuddled all the kids to him. Maeve fussed from her playpen so Pepper sat down on Liz's other side with her so they could cuddle too. Steve could join then when he realized he was being an idiot. Bucky came off the elevator. Tony pointed. He went in to talk to Steve. And possibly kick him around since Bucky had a date tonight.

***

Dawn looked up from her typing the next day when someone walked up to her desk. "Yes, how can I help you?"

"Mrs. Barton?"

"Romanoff-Barton."

"All right. I'm Agent Decker with the FBI, ma'am. May we speak?" She pointed at the chair across from her desk. "In private?"

"My boss is in a meeting and I shouldn't leave my desk at the moment. Beyond that, we're pretty well alone at the moment outside of my niece." She pointed at Liz, who was reading fashion magazines in the corner. She was 'hiding' from her homework. "What's happened now?"

"Mrs. Romanoff-Barton, we need to borrow your husband for an undercover mission. It'll be about six months."

"You do realize that my husband is fairly popular and plenty of people know who he is? That vastly limits his undercover opportunities."

"We can install someone in his place in your household so it doesn't look odd."

"So you think you can replace my husband in my household and you what, expect me to treat him the same?"

"Yes, we would."

"You're smoking what sort of crack?" she demanded calmly.

"It's highly important."

"Important enough to get my husband killed?"

"I doubt he would be. The person he's going in as has been imitating him."

"Probably without success. And who did you think this other person would be?"

"I'm told he has a brother Barney?" he suggested with a pleasant smile.

Dawn stood up, noticing Liz had run off. "Excuse me? You want to put my brother-in-law, who I nearly killed for kidnaping my children, in my home to pretend to be his brother?" she demanded coldly. "The one that's killed over a hundred people?"

"I'm sure your husband has quite the kill count at his job."

"No, Barney is a wanted felon who was in SHIELD custody. He's not an agent," she sneered. "And I doubt this little plot of yours will ever work. Even if I was inclined it would not work for multiple reasons," she said, enunciating very clearly. She realized she was starting to glow and didn't really care. "I doubt any of this would work since every single person in the US knows what my husband looks like. He's been on the cover of Newsweek six times in the last five years. He's the second most recognizable Avenger behind Stark." The man wasn't looking scared.

"Dawn, can you calm down before you destroy the city?" Tony said, coming up the hall. He was trying to look calm. He was shaky. He had not seen Dawn this mad in years. He never wanted to see it again after last time. Certainly not in his office building full of people and technology.

"No, I cannot, Tony. This nice agent, Decker wasn't it?" She looked at her boss with a frigid smile. "He wants to send Clint on an undercover mission for six months and put *Barney* in his place."

"Oh hell no," Tony said.

"Mr. Stark, this isn't really your call," Agent Decker said. "Agent Romanoff....."

"I'm not Agent Romanoff. I'm the other wife," she said dryly. "I'm the dangerous wife actually."

"Aw, come on, I'd never take what's Clint's unless you offered," Barney said as he came off the elevator. Dawn lashed out without looking and slammed him through a wall. "Ow. I wasn't going to hurt you."

Dawn looked at him. "Shut. Up. Barney." His mouth disappeared. She looked at the agent again. Now he was starting to look worried. Agents started to come off the elevator. Including Natasha and then Clint. "Natasha, he thought I was you. I think he needs his eyes checked as I'm not a curvy redhead."

"You are not but you cannot be this upset, Dawn. We do not want you to destroy the city."

She stared at her wife. "Did he tell you of his crackhead plan?"

"I did protest and he said I did not understand national security." Dawn let out a bitter sounding snort. "Please calm down?"

"Fuck no!"

Clint got between them. "Dawn?" She stared at him. "I'm not going. Not at all. Even if they could send in someone like Gamble I wouldn't leave you and the kids alone like that." She took a deeper breath because he prompted her to. "Please calm down? The alarm's going off. Your mother's scared and Bruce is taking her to the bunker right now. Okay? We need you to calm down before you destroy the state." He moved closer. "See, right here. Barney's not getting near you or the kids." He picked her hand up to put on his arm. "See, right here."

"Make him go," she said quietly. "It will save humanity."

"I can do that," Tony promised. "Guys, take her to the admin breakroom." Clint nodded, leading Dawn that way. Natasha saved what she was working on and put her computer to sleep then followed. "How fucking stupid are you!" he shouted. "Did you mean to make her threaten humanity! The agent flinched back. "Guys, let's go. I don't want this in the building." The SHIELD agents helped him get him outside. He pointed at a reporter looking worried. He knew at least one would be out there with the way agents had rushed to the towers. "Tell him something for Dawn."

"Sure, Mr. Stark. What's going on?"

"He wanted to send Clint undercover as someone else and put Barney in his place for six months."

She let out a whimper. "Oh, god, the kids will have to see her kill him. Possibly a few times with the way someone keeps making him a new body." She looked around at the other reporters starting to gather then at him. "Um, doesn't he know that we follow you Avengers everywhere?"

"Apparently not. Or heard of the conventions or anything else," Tony said. "Dawn said to please inform him of things."

She looked at the agent, clearing her throat. "There's multi-thousand people conventions to the Avengers team and Clint Barton is the second most recognized Avenger, after Mr. Stark here, and unless the Hulk is huge and green. Then we all kinda recognize him and run for our lives. Um... Wow, you took a victim from Dawn. You're really brave, Mr. Stark."

"Sometimes but she didn't have any of the poisons with her," he quipped. "He thought she was Natasha."

"Oh, he's that sort of stupid," she said, nodding.

"SHIELD teaches people to use poisons?" another reporter asked.

"There's classes in it," Tony said. "Dawn took some of them over Agent Coulson's shoulder. She's actually really good at it." The reporter was still giving him a funny look. "Did you think any assassinations had to be done by sniper?"

"Well, I never thought about it."

Tony nodded. "They're all very talented." The agent struggled and Tony prayed at Coulson because the alarm was still going off. Tony Stark wasn't normally a praying man but he could hear Dawn stomping his way and he really wanted saved.

"Oh, please, Alexander," one of the reporters prayed. "Save us from Dawn!" Dawn stormed out full of green glow, her hair moving in a breeze that no one else felt, her clothes melting into her light battle uniform, with the leather vest.

Agent Phil Coulson appeared and stopped her, staring at her. "It's my job," he said quietly. "Let me do it."

"Get out of my way."

"No, Dawn. Calm down. Please?"

"He threatened Natasha with going to jail if we didn't cooperate. Fuck. Him."

"Let me handle it," he ordered, staring her down. Xander appeared beside him, axe in his hand. "Xander, please," he said calmly.

He looked at his spouse. "I'm backing up Dawn." The reporters started to pray. He looked at him then at Dawn. "Maybe he could send Gamble in Clint's place there and you keep Clint?"

"I don't care and I doubt they need any version of Clint."

"Probably not," Coulson agreed. He called in for particulars. "I'm sure she won't be destroying humanity, Agent Hill, turn off the alarm. Before the city panics. Thank you." He listened. "I think that's a bad idea." He turned off his comm, looking at the agent. "I'm Senior Agent Phil Coulson. What makes you think SHIELD would lend the FBI an agent for such a suicide mission?"

"If he's any good it wouldn't be."

"We have over a thousand pictures of Agent Barton this year," one of the reporters said. The guy gaped at her in horror. "He's an *Avenger*. You save the world you get noted for it. Dawn, can I please live?"

"I'm not going to destroy the city. Linda wanted to make sure too so I wouldn't let her mother die. I'd never do that to my kids anyway. Just this one spot. I can even fill in the hole I create."

"No, Dawn," Phil said. "We may not harm the city at all. Even to plant an idiot in the ground as traffic hazard." He stayed between them. "Please calm down? Where's Clint and Natasha, Stark?"

"They were with her. Though, Barney's got a new body. She just removed his mouth."

"Great. He doesn't need to eat and I doubt he'll want it in prison anyway," Xander said with a grin. "Makes the other cons work harder." Dawn looked at him. "They will."

"I know." She glared at the man between her and her target. "I can kill him around you."

"We may not kill an FBI agent. Even if he did just suggest you be raped by your brother-in-law for a few months before he kills you and the children."

"I want her arrested," Agent Decker demanded.

Phil looked at him. "Denied." The agent gasped. "Shut up. Now please." He looked at Dawn again. "I can see the point in it but you're going too hard. You're too hot. You'd end up doing collateral damage. You don't want to pay for the rebuild, right?"

"No," she ground out. "Not really." Clint came jogging out and she got free of him grabbing her wrist. "Let go."

"Nope, sorry." He picked her up and turned her around. "You can be dangerous and deadly later, Dawn. We love you like that. And the way the suit fits you now because the baby did your body good again." She blushed, giving him a slightly peeved look but a slight grin too. "You got booty again." He moved up behind her, walking her off by hugging her from behind and walking them both off. "C'mon, we'll go calm down. That way you don't have to rebuild Stark's shiny towers or anything."

"Just one little poison?"

"No. If he's going to be poisoned I'm going to do it for trying to get me killed." She stared at him, stopping them. He grinned. "It's okay. I'm not going. He can bite me. I'll quit SHIELD first. Okay?" She hugged him. He cuddled back. "You're not losing me. It's okay." He rubbed her back. "Hey, reporters, quit. Now! Do you want to piss her off again?"

They quit taking pictures and looked at Phil and Tony. "Can we ask why?" one asked Phil.

"Some wanna be warlord who thinks he can imitate me," Clint snorted. "He doesn't look like me. Can't shoot worth a damn. He's not flexible. No way in hell. Cap, we're good," he said, spotting him.

"What is she doing?" he asked.

"Trying really hard not to destroy humanity for that douchebag of an agent trying to get me killed and putting Barney in my house in my place for six months."

Steve looked at the other agent. "I want your side of it."

"I don't know who you are...."

"He's the director of SHIELD," a few of the reporters said.

"That would be Captain America," another said dryly. "If you don't know that, where did you grow up? Are you an alien? Even demons on other planes know who he is. Captain, fast question. That one bearing concubine you took in? Boy or girl and did she go back?"

"She did go back and it was a boy." They smiled at him. "Joyce even gave her a pretty baby blanket." They grinned and took notes on that. He looked at the idiot agent. "Which agency are you with?"

"He said FBI," Dawn said quietly. "I'm sorry, boss."

"No, I would've destroyed humanity for a threat to my family too," he said. "You've seen me nearly do it before, Dawn. I'm just glad we got you calmed down. Can you change back?" She shrugged and sighed, pushing her hair back. Natasha came out to walk her back inside.

"Why isn't she being put under arrest. Civilians aren't allowed to threaten agents!" Decker yelled.

"She's an adjunct SHIELD agent," Steve said dryly. "Why do you think?" The agent backed down. "Coulson, please call the head of the FBI for me?"

"I believe he's coming this way, Captain." He pointed. "That appears to be their sort of SUV."

Steve walked over when it stopped. "Your agent just tried to steal one of mine for an undercover that's unreasonable and deadly, then put his criminal, murdering brother in his place inside his house to harm his wife and children."

"What?" the local head of the FBI asked. He got out and walked over. "Decker," he sneered. "File." It was handed over so he looked at it. "This Barton?"

"Hawkeye?" Tony suggested. "Blond guy with the bow? Husband of the one they just pissed off to the point where she was going to lose it?"

The FBI head sighed but mostly ignored him. "This brother?"

"Wanted for killing about a hundred-twenty people," one of the reporters said. "He keeps being given new bodies." She looked at Stark. "That's kinda comic book."

Tony nodded. "We noticed. We even think there's another clone of Deadpool running around doing it."

"Aww, the one that Dawn flirted with?" Tony nodded. "Greatness!" She shuddered.

"Basically," Xander agreed.

The head of the local FBI office looked at him. "Why do you have a battle axe?"

"I'm Alexander, God Protectorate of Humanity." He let out his glow. "Nephew of Thor." The FBI head winced. "It's my job to protect humanity. This time I was going to back Dawn up killing Agent Decker here so the rest of humanity would be spared."

Phil looked at him. "I would've helped more."

"She has poisons on her, Coulson, and Xander probably needs a workout," Tony said. "So why don't you both go spar with Dawn for a while until she calms down?" He could still see a bright green glow from one window.

Xander looked up then at him. "She's interrogating Barney. He's vowing up and down on his soul that he's never going to hurt her kids or her family because he knows how well she'll kill him after torturing him." He grinned. "I taught Dawn so well."

"You did," Tony agreed. "Especially since that demon took her idea to glue his front to a popcorn ceiling." One of the reporters laughed. "From his knees to his neck," Tony told her. They all shuddered. "Full naked skin contact from what I heard. So yes. Please go help Dawn calm down?" he asked nicely. They nodded, going to do that. Tony sighed in pleasure once they were gone. He looked at Steve. "Joyce?"

"Safe. Bruce has her." He looked at the local head of the FBI office. "So, Under Director Mullins. What are we going to do about this?"

"I'm going to fire that agent," he said. "This isn't his first bad idea. Are you going to charge Summers?"

"No. This man nearly caused her children to be harmed and her husband. We wouldn't have let her destroy anyone but him but I'm not going to arrest her for it."

"Fine. Can you make her go to the other coast?"

"No," Tony said. "She's our assistant." The Under Director huffed. "Tough. Dawn will calm down. She didn't mean to threaten everyone. She was just really mad. Any good spouse would be that mad. If you don't love them enough to kill the people threatening them then you don't really love your spouse."

"I guess," he muttered. "Decker, car. We have a meeting with the Director when we get back." He trudged that way. "Why are the reporters here?"

"SHIELD agents rushed here. We knew it was a problem if they rushed that way," one said. "That's our job. We report on emergencies or Avengers battles."

Tony nodded. "Some of them do great business with the coffee shop in the other tower." One of them smiled at him. He looked at the Under Director again. "I hope this goes better than the last thing we had to work on together?"

"I'm hoping so as well, Mr. Stark. Just...calm her down?"

"She's got both spouses and people she can spar with if she needs to. She'll be calm soon enough," Tony said. He nodded and went back to their SUV's to go back to the office. He had an agent to beat to death for endangering humanity. Tony looked at Steve, who shook his head. "The alarm finally off?"

"We turned it off. Coulson programmed the most annoying alarm ever for that one." He looked at them. "What?"

"There's an alarm for when Dawn loses her temper?"

"For when she lets go with major amounts of magic," Tony corrected. "That way we can find out where and when she's beating people who've tried to kidnap her." They laughed but left since the crisis was over with. He looked at Steve again. "Go save the kids?"

"Sure." He went up to do that. Dawn was cuddled in Clint's lap, head on his shoulder. Xander and Phil were having some coffee, talking to Natasha. "That target, can we deal with him in other ways?"

"They wanted him to infiltrate since the idiot had died," Natasha said. "It's not tenable even if they had perfected an illusion for him. He had no skill and a lot of pretension. Earlier he thought I was Dawn and she was me. He called her Agent Romanoff."

"You don't look a thing alike," Xander quipped.

"He was an idiot," Natasha reminded him. "Stupidity knows no bottom to their well." She sipped her coffee, watching Dawn calm down. "She's calmer."

"Then why is there a green glow?"

"Have we checked Liz?" Clint asked. Steve hurried to check her. Yup it was Liz losing her temper and Callia was trying to calm her down. Steve picked her up to walk her off so he could calm her down. She was little so she cried a bit and was better. "Anyone else really tired?" Phil nodded he was.

"I could use a good nap," Natasha said. "I think it's her exhaustion."

"JARVIS, we're going to take a short nap," he said.

"I'll tell Mr. Stark of that fact. There's a throw blanket behind the left throw pillow, Agent Barton."

"We're good, thanks, JARVIS." He flipped them so Dawn was smooshed against the back of the couch and he was holding her, protecting her. Dawn sighed in pleasure, wrapping herself around him to give him more room on the couch. That worked for them and Natasha sat at the foot of the couch to watch over them. Xander went to talk to Liz. Phil got a report from Natasha for the records. He was sure someone would be complaining sometime soon. They noticed when the battle outfit faded to Dawn's suit. Not like anyone would care that her bare leg was over her husband's thigh. He surely didn't.

Pepper leaned in and blushed. "She had been wearing her battle outfit," Phil said.

"I saw. How did she do that?" He shrugged but smiled slightly. "Great. Liz?" He pointed. "Thank you. Are they...."

"Napping," Natasha said.

"That's great. You know, if you want to leave SHIELD you can be Dawn's helper, Natasha. There's too much work for her and Linda." She went to check on her daughter, who was snuggling her uncle. She picked her up to look at her. "You have to let us handle adult things."

"I will, Mom," she said quietly. "I just got really mad. So did Auntie."

"So did I but I don't glow." Liz hugged her and she cuddled her. "We'll figure it out together." Liz nodded and pushed her down so she could snuggle her and her uncle.

Tony walked in. "Xander, are you stealing my wife and daughter?"

"She demanded," Pepper said with a smirk for him. "Like I'd put up with anyone else?"

"Good point." He kissed her, then Liz on the head. "Dawn?"

"Taking a nap being protected by Clint. Her clothes changed back."

"Wonderful." He went to glance in there, nodding at Phil. "Liz has him wrapped around her fist again."

"I figured she does. He does like the children." Tony nodded and left them to handle Dawn's calming down. He had to stop his two geniuses from making something evil. He could hear them arguing over repulsor (Chris) or chemical weapons (Callia). He walked into the room they were in. "The FBI is harming their own agent. If he comes back we'll figure out how to handle him in the most messy way possible."

"MB said biotech is working on something that'll make your insides explode," Callia offered with a smile.

He looked at her. "Bit psychotic today are we?"

"Yup, because he was going to have my cousins killed and I was going to kill the fucker for it. If he survived Liz and Auntie Dawn."

"Which he wouldn't. I was standing right there and would've gotten him to spare humanity from the fit." He stared at her. "Besides, Dawn's got a poison that already does that." She huffed. He walked off happier. His kids would bug Dawn later about the poisons. They could learn that so they could learn how to counter them. It'd do them good. He went to the infirmary to take something for his nerves. Dr. Pigalli looked at him. "Pepper's Valiums are locked up."

She handed him one. "That's the only one."

"Thanks." He took it and dry swallowed. "Dawn's calmer. Clint's calmer." He spotted

Barney and his lack of mouth. "At least you'll have less fun on prison."

Barney wrote on the pad someone had given him. //I know better than to piss off Dawn or hurt the kids. She taught me that lesson easily. I was going to take out the agent to show my loyalty to the family.//

Tony smirked. "Good." He walked off to go take his own rest. He was really tired. "JARVIS, do we have a sleep spell or something going on?"

"I believe Dawn may still be broadcasting a bit, sir, but it's calming down the deeper asleep she's going."

"Sure, we can handle a siesta today. It's a good day for it." He went up to make himself a margarita since it was siesta time. It seemed to fit. Maeve was in the daycare. Tony got the huge couch all to himself. Yup, a great day for a siesta. And napping meant he didn't have to deal with city officials when they showed up. That was Coulson's job.

Downstairs, Phil looked up with a scowl. "Fine, Stark," he muttered. Natasha looked at him. "He's taken a margarita to his nap on the couch up there. He said I could deal with city officials."

"I don't wish to and Dawn probably won't be able to."

"Sure." He went to stop him since he saw him coming up the street when he looked. He came out the doors and walked him off. "Sir, the situation is handled."

"What happened?" Phil explained it briefly and the Mayor stared at him. "Is she under arrest?"

"No. We are not going arrest her for that. Frankly the rest of us wouldn't have allowed ourselves to be stopped." The Mayor glared. "Nor is that a matter for the NYPD to butt into." He walked off. "Everyone else is recovering and napping." He went back inside to talk to Natasha. They hadn't chatted in a while. He missed them all living in the same building. The Mayor huffed off to talk to his police commissioner, who agreed. That wasn't a state or local charge. He had no jurisdiction. They'd have to figure it out later.

62: Playing Old Ones

Bikinis are a right of passage, a trial of faith, and an emotional coaster. For most every woman, even secure, confident ones.

Dawn looked at the catalog, holding it up. "This one?"

Clint looked over. Natasha was trying to cajole Philip into getting out of bed. They had both tried and failed so it was her turn before Dawn went in there to be the mean mommy. "Why are you looking at weapons catalogs?"

"Because it seems to be a family tradition that we start a small arms selection for each kid."

He tipped his head to the side. "I know you did that with Callia."

She smiled. "She still loves what I picked out and Tony updated some of them for the slayers. Liz and Chris have theirs and I'm working on what I'm getting Maeve for hers."

He sipped his coffee, staring at her. "Do we think the kids can't just have ours? Because I know you've stuffed more into those chamber necklaces of yours again." Sometimes he worried that they had somehow done something bad to Dawn's mind. Days like this, he wanted to find the cause and make sure it wasn't him.

She leaned over to kiss him. "Of course I have and I have one started for Philip. This is for the girls."

He took another sip of coffee, trying not to smile. His girls would be great with weapons because they would teach them to kick ass like their mothers. "We'll weed out some of ours for them. That way no one says anything about us buying our kids arms."

Natasha came out with a huff. "He will not get up." She sat down, looking at the magazine. "They are not that worthy of us buying one. Perhaps if they're given but not to buy."

"I was thinking about for the girls' future weapons needs," Dawn said.

"Apparently we gift the kids and the Stark kids with weapons," Clint told her. Dawn kicked him under the table. "I'm going to tell those reporters you're mean." Dawn just smiled sweetly and kicked him again. "Ow," he said, smirking at her. "PHILIP!" Mira woke up with a shout. "Sorry, dear, trying to get your brother up." Dawn sighed but went to get her cleaned up and dressed for the day. "We need to do another inventory of her necklaces. Plus any other storage areas she has."

"We do, I haven't seen Philip's weapons yet." They shared a look. She'd talk to Dawn about that later. She came out to hand her the girls and went to wake up Philip, who yelled but got up with a huff. "Did you put ice on him?" she asked dryly.

"Mean," Philip told her in a grumble, going to the bathroom.

"No, I unhid him since he was buried underneath his blanket again. Our son is not friends with the sun." She fixed the girls' morning cereal and Philip some toast with jelly. He pouted at her. "What did you want for breakfast? I can feed this to Daddy."

"You can eat half of it since you haven't eaten yet," Clint said before draining his coffee. He pulled his son over to cuddle. "Why are you wet?"

"Forgot to pull down undies," he pouted.

"Then go clean up and change them." Philip trudged to do that. He looked at Dawn, who made extra toast and jelly. He smiled. "Thanks."

"I have an appointment later."

"With?" Clint asked.

"I'm talking to someone about the bathing suit issue." She came out to hand him his toast, put down her toast, and make Philip some more. He pouted at her. "What else did you want with your jelly toast?"

"Nana?"

"No bananas in the fruit bowl. There's a melon, there's a cantaloupe, and a few peaches."

He pouted. "Mean."

She stared at him. "Want me to make you ant bait for breakfast?" He shook his head and nibbled on his toast. "What do you want besides toast with jelly, Philip?"

"Nana."

Clint smiled at him. If he scowled, the pouty mood would last longer. "Bananas tomorrow. I'll pick some up." His son had taught him a lot of patience. Because dealing with a pouty toddler was worse than waiting on a target on a hot rooftop in the middle of the desert. "What fruit did you want?" His son just shrugged. Dawn got something and put it on top of some dry cheerios, which earned her a funny look but Philip tried it and ate that instead of his toast. "What's that?" he asked Dawn.

"Rhubarb sauce. All kids seem to like sour things." She shrugged and sat down to nibble her toast. "So, do we think modern or antique weapons? Or a mix of both."

Natasha looked at her. "Should they not have their first birthday first?"

"I usually start them on their first birthday. This way I can order something nice for the storage area. Then they get one a year."

Natasha blinked. "You do?" Dawn smiled and nodded. "We have not seen this."

"Hmm. Tony demanded an inventory when he heard I was buying more weapons and since you guys were off doing spy things I had Gamble help me for a bit then I changed the lock combination." She ate another bite of toast.

"I have pretty guns," Philip cooed with a grin for his daddy.

"I bet you do. Your mom has great taste in guns and pretty things." Philip grinned and dug into his cheerios again. Clint handed over the spoon he had used to stir his coffee. His son took the hint, which was almost miraculous, and ate with it instead of his fingers. Clint took the uneaten toast, splitting it with Dawn. Natasha had already gotten up to have her protein shake. He looked at his younger wife, smirking a tiny bit. "We have to do the inventory."

"Sure. You know where the necklaces are."

"No external hiding areas?"

"Well, yeah. But I can move those later."

"We can do that," Clint promised. "At the spy shop?" Dawn nodded with a grin, chewing the newest bite of toast. "That's fine. Do they have their own necklaces?"

"The girls have one on order. They'll be in for their birthday. Then I usually put in two daggers, two short swords, and two guns, then it's one weapon a year."

Clint blinked. "Okay," he decided. "No bows?"

"That's their present when they show they can use one. For their third birthday I seem to buy a crossbow."

"That's handy," Natasha said, feeding the girls. She would not comment on her wife's strange habits. She really would not.

Loki appeared, smirking at them. "Good morning," he said smugly. It did so piss off the agents in the family. While he couldn't overtly harm them, or else he'd be destroyed by Dawn's wrath, if not his son's, he could annoy them grandly every chance he got.

Dawn smiled. "Are you here to piss me off before work?"

"Did you know people are wondering why you're buying weapons?"

"For their future weapons needs." She pointed at the kids with a smile. "Xander knows that. He helped me pick out Philip's first few."

Loki stared at her. "That's usually a present for warriors."

"Do you really think my children aren't going to be able to protect at least themselves?" she countered.

"No, I believe they probably will be." He shook his head, going to tell that to Ares. He had noted that someone was looking at Dawn's weapons buying habits.

Dawn grinned at Clint. "They're in the same storage area." He nodded, going to grab his jacket so he could pick them up.

"Daddy, daycare," Philip said.

"I'll be back in time for that." He went to move the weapons. The head of the spy shop smirked at him when he walked in. "Just heard someone was wondering why Dawn was buying weapons for the kids. I think it's time we do an inventory."

"The girls' and Philip's chambers are all in the storage area, Clint, and so is the stuff she saved for you guys. That's in a box."

"Cool. Easier to hide them." He got into the storage area, having to pick the lock. He even remembered she had poisoned a pin in the lock so he didn't get stabbed. He found two large boxes, three hanging necklaces, and one glowing spot. He looked at the glowing spot. "Hey, Gloria, is this a portal?"

She came and looked then shrugged. "Let me know. She's not supposed to be storing power generators, anything that creates energy, or nuclear anything in there, Clint." She got a bag from the back to hand over. "Her new blazer."

"Thanks." He tucked it into a box and took it out to their SUV. Then came back for the other things. He looked at the glowing spot again then picked it up. Warm ball of glow. "What are you?" It told him and he nodded. For some reason he was okay with mentally chatty inanimate objects. "Sure. You can go see the other Keys, though I'm not sure why you're a blue Key." He closed and relocked the area, carrying it out. "It's a blue Key."

"Huh. So that's.... Dawn?"

"Yeah, only she's got more than one and hers are green." He grinned. "We're visiting." He took it to the SUV and got in to go home. Not like everyone didn't know about the Key thing. He got there and carried stuff upstairs, with Benji's help since he was trying to wait patiently for the elevator. "Bad day?"

"Hunt brought home a floosy that I was going to shoot." They got on the elevator together and went up. "Dawn?"

She came out of the bedroom in a skirt and bra, putting on her earrings. "Morning, Benji. There's extra coffee." She kissed him on the cheek and took her new blazer, then the blue Key. "Aww!" She took it in to introduce to the girls.

"Please do not settle into Mira," Natasha said quietly to it. "She has enough stress right now. Her having magic might drive us a bit insane." The Key bobbed over to nuzzle her then cooed at Lexi. She settled inside Lexi. Dawn's set up a fit but they talked and that one was a good match for Lexi. Dawn's Keys pouted a bit but Dawn promised if they had more kids they could split off. Lexi already had one. They decided that was okay and settled down. Which meant Dawn quit glowing and could put on a shirt.

Natasha shook her head at her daughter. "Sometimes, things are weird in this life." Mira kicked her feet with a squeal. "Yes, you may go see Maeve." She got her dressed then moved to dress Lexi. That made her happier too since she had just pooped. Which made Natasha sigh because Mira was jealous and would do the same in a few minutes when she realized Lexi had done something she hadn't. Only Mira would do worse. "Clint?" He came in to help her. He saw what she was doing and looked at Mira, taking off the cute clothes before they needed to be washed. Sure enough, there was the fountain of poop.

Dawn came out to get some more coffee and pour Benji some hot water, earning a grin. She had tea and he liked tea in the mornings. She handed him the tea box, letting him pick out his own. "They wanted to do an inventory of the kids' weapons."

"Someone asked us why you were collecting weapons. I told them you had a lot of them. They worried a bit but then I told them how Philip and Callia had their own sets. Which made them worry more. They think you're nuts."

"Who was it this time?"

"Someone CIA we know." He sipped his tea once it was properly fixed, looking at the boxes. Dawn dug out the necklaces and put them onto the table. He still had the magical 'key' mark that allowed him to open them. He opened the first one and whistled. "Not the kids'."

She looked and pointed at the others. "That's mine." She put it on with a grin and went to do her makeup. Clint took it off her and got the others, shaking his head. They went into his pocket and the boxes got taken to the SUV. "Sure, if you want, you can pick out ones we already have for their beginning sets, Clint."

"I can do that." He grinned at his very strange wife. "Where's the Stark kids' sets?"

"Malibu's storage."

"Okay." He kissed her. Natasha kissed her. They took the kids to drop at daycare and Benji to help them do the inventory at SHIELD. That way if anything needed fixed they could have the SHIELD weapons people do that.

Dawn grinned and finished her morning routine, heading to work. It was a pretty decent day so far.

***

Four hours later, Dawn was spending her lunch at the FBI building. She stared at the local under director. "Director Mullins, what can I help you figure out?" she asked.

"Well, first, weapons? I know your spouses have a number."

"As do I. I also set up a birthday present tradition with my niece that I've carried through with my own children. Starting with their first birthday I give them a weapon that can hopefully protect them and their family in the future."

"Artillery?"

"No, that I win at kitten poker," she said with a slight smile. "I don't buy that."

"Oh. I see." He made that note and looked at her. "Why?"

"Do you really have to ask that after all the trouble my family has had over the years?"

"No, I guess that makes sense. Just guns?"

"Swords, daggers. Crossbow for their third birthday." She smiled. "I do the same for the Stark children."

"Huh." He stared at her. "That's really weird."

"They need them."

"Good point." He made that note. "I guess that's fine as long as they're all registered."

"They are. They're all registered through our house in North Dakota actually."

"I can understand that. They're the ones who found that out and mentioned it." He looked at her. "We have a more serious thing to talk about. It's said that you know where Director Nick Fury is."

"I do."

"And you know what happened to him."

"It was not me that helped him disappear. That was on the whim of the other people he pissed off."

"There's a presidential inquiry being opened."

"The president knows. He showed up the next morning to talk to Maria Hill and the two new heads of SHIELD. He knew then where Director Fury was. Someone associated with Ares told him."

Director Mullins stared at her. "Why would he know such things?"

"Well, part of it was because Fury's plans would've created hell on earth." She crossed her legs and summoned the ferret, texting Tara. She put him on the desk. "He has known. He told my mother that he couldn't really have an agency director that squeaked." She summoned some files from her mother's safe and handed them over. "That is partially why."

He read them. "So he planned on having you kidnaped and selling you to break you and your relationship up. Is that why he's a ferret?"

She changed Fury back once he was on the floor. "You can answer him."

"She didn't change me," Fury said quietly. The director was staring at him. "Coulson changed me."

"Senior Agent Coulson?" he asked. "We don't have him listed as a magic using agent."

"As in husband of Alexander," Dawn said quietly. She looked at him. "At least your three clones haven't sold me to someone in India to rape me repeatedly until I killed them."

"This question was raised because it was reported he was at the last tower assault of Stark Towers," the under director said.

Dawn nodded. "Those were his clones."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because this one is the original, and I used the anti-clone virus someone developed against the one that tried to kill me there," she said.

"Oh, I see. The other?"

"Burned to a crisp because he sat down in Pepper's chair and looked really smug about it."

"Oh." He made note of that and looked at Fury. "Do you want to charge her with kidnaping?"

"I didn't change him that time. One other time I did trip the spell. Then again he had myself and my boss in holding for protecting my spouse. That wasn't the first time he became a ferret. That one was just long term. The kids he's protecting are very good to him. They treat him very well. They even have little outfits for him. Including a tiny black trench coat." She smiled at Fury. "The kids are good to you, right?"

"They're mean little shits who put me in harem outfits."

"That GHS Xander had some spares for his ferrets." She smiled. "He has four ferrets."

Fury grumbled but looked at the under director. "I did try to break apart the Avengers in the most mean way I could. I figured it'd stop the bullshit around them. That was right when she was ill because someone sent her a biological weapon at her desk. We had just time flipped to save Joyce and Bruce Banner from a plane crash." The Under Director shuddered at that. "They decided I was too evil with my plans." Dawn nodded. "So I got changed into a ferret."

Dawn nodded. "Still wasn't me. I've made sure the kids he's protecting are good to him."

"I'm getting fat. Like their mother, they think food is a great thing."

"It is. She's a good cook and so are the kids." She looked up at him. "The last I knew the President said if you came back you could be a special agent again. That way you didn't ruin anything for the agency."

"Who's running it?" he demanded.

"Mom and Cap. They're joint heads over Maria."

He swallowed. "They'll never be able to handle the dirty parts of the job."

Dawn snickered. "My mother? Really? The same woman who showed up with a large laser cannon to open a stuck door for some agents that were being held hostage?"

"Crap," Fury muttered.

"Never underestimate a Summers woman," she said dryly, smirking at him. "You underestimated me and tried to have me killed. Those records go back to a few different attempts on my life. And the life of my children." She stared at him. "For all most of us care, you can stay a ferret." He lunged at her and she shrank him again. She put him back onto the desk with a smile at the director. "I can call the President's secretary if you wish."

"No, I don't wish. I don't want to deal with this."

Dawn shrugged. "You asked."

"I did. I don't know why." He looked over those files. "That's treason."

Dawn leaned up to look then leaned back. "That's probably middle of the road of what's in his files."

He kept looking, finding the other plots against his own response team. "Why did he hate you?"

"Because we were supposed to be SHIELD's response team. Not a private entity. Yet his actions forced us to be too often. We ended up breaking out of SHIELD's little mold because it didn't do anything but harm our effectiveness. He wanted us back."

"So you were the block in his plans."

"I was one of many blocks in his plans. He had some against Stark, who never would've done more than subcontract for SHIELD, as he does and I do. Captain America himself was a block because he found out how much shit Fury pulled out of his ass on occasion. How many plans and plots he had. By the time we had to split off it had gotten to the point where no one wanted to be there. We had fought him off in other ways, like me sending him poisoned papers that made his hands swell and ache for six months. But then again he had just signed an order to have me kidnaped while pregnant." The under director winced. "Half of that was because of him. I wasn't the only reason that he was changed but I think that kidnaping plot was the final straw."

"It would be for my people too." Someone knocked and came in. "Agent Hill."

"Sir, it was reported that Miss Summers lifted some confidential files out of our safe." She saw the ferret. "Who asked?" she asked Dawn.

"He said the President did but we know he knew."

"The Vice President didn't and he's been pushy so the President had to ask." She took the files back. "We were going to show him later." Dawn handed over the ferret with a smile. "Thank you. The children do take good care of him."

Dawn stopped her by putting a hand on her arm. "Melissa doesn't need to know how to dress like her Mom in her early years. We've taught her how to handle a skirt properly. She doesn't like skirts. They don't let her play. She hates to disappoint you however."

"I understand. I'll talk to her about it later."

"Talk to Tara before she has a fit?"

"I can do that too." She nodded at them and left.

Dawn looked at him, shrugging some. "It was keeping him safely protecting children he didn't want to come into being," she said quietly.

"I can see why." He looked at her. "You're a bit ....uneasing to the FBI, Miss Summers. Not the least of which is that we know your marriage is not legal and yet it's pretty well flaunted."

"We've never filed the certificates in the US. We checked with my tax professional after that to see how we should file our taxes. The IRS said to do married filing singly. Frankly, the US wouldn't recognize anything between myself and Natasha anyway. They'll never recognize a marriage certificate from the country that Nat and Clint got married in. They barely recognize mine. Mine with Natasha won't be recognized for years."

"We realize you're on the edge of the rules." He stared at her. "A lot of people complain about that."

"They complain more than I'm not officially a full time Avenger." He grimaced but nodded that was true. "Thankfully only the religious cranks hate us for being together and Natasha and I being together specifically." She crossed her legs in the other direction. "Frankly we don't care what they like and don't like. We're happy in our relationship most of the time. With the way we're bound even if we did have to dissolve the formal union we wouldn't break up."

"I get that," he said. "By all our measures, you read as a revolutionary spirit. Which is never good."

She smiled. "Only in standing up for some social change. I've never forced my marriage on anyone. We've blatantly stated we don't care who thinks what about our relationship."

"Which we all appreciate," he assured her. "But it's still a bit...open."

Dawn nodded. "I can't hide anything. Have you seen the reporters that follow them around?"

"I have."

"If we had hidden it, it would've looked worse."

"Yes it would have," he agreed. "We at the FBI would like it to calm down."

"Sure, please help us make it calm down."

He nodded. "If we could, we would."

She smiled. "I keep out of view most of the time."

"You do," he agreed. "So does your wife." She nodded. "Fine, I'll file that report about... the ferret." She stood up and shook his hand. "That place where you have storage?"

"It's run by a former spy." She smiled. "They help me a lot with tailoring issues so I can hide weapons, and some really great clothes. They're the ones I buy the weapons for the kid's birthday presents from."

"Huh. I need to be introduced."

"Not if you're going to bust them but show up." She shrugged and left, sending the recording on her phone to Tony's phone. He had ordered her to if it was something huge. When she got back with her take out lunch he was waiting. She smiled at him. "Maria has him."

"That's great. The VP is at SHIELD with the President." He looked at her. "Where's my kids' stashes?"

"Malibu. Where Callia's is." She sat down and logged into her computer and phone then smiled at him. "Where did you expect it to be?"

"Good point. I need to check that out."

"Chris has a working light saber another Xander got to tinker into being. Ours got him a copy of the plans and let someone at SHIELD build it for him." She opened her takeout box once her email was pulled up. "Hmm. Gloria at Vogue wants to talk." She considered it and sent a thought at Clint, who said to go for it. She was doing it with them too for their mandated interview. That and he was doing Esquire for some strange reason. She smiled and wrote back to her. "Clint's doing Esquire for his mandated interview from SHIELD."

"I'm doing one of the science magazines and so is Bruce," Tony said, walking off shaking his head. He called out there to see how big their caches were. They said it was tasteful and she had good taste in what she had chosen. So he'd look at it the next time they were out there. When he came back, Dawn was typing while chewing. He took the keyboard from her, letting her inhale the rest of her lunch while he smirked. Then he handed it back and let her get back to work. He walked into Pepper's office, finding her cooing at a cranky Maeve. He took her to look at. "What?" She fussed. "Quit. Daddy will be home soon." She pouted. "If you want him that much, become psychic, dear."

"Being telepathic sucks sometimes if you don't have shields," Dawn called. "You get all sorts of thoughts spread. Trust me."

Tony looked at her. "I don't need to know. I can pretty well figure out what yours were, Dawn."

She smirked at him. "Not mine. Natasha there for a bit." She went back to typing. "Linda, do you have the Percy...." It got handed over. "Thanks. Proofed?"

"Yup, all done, Dawn." She smiled and waved at the cranky baby. "Hi, Maeve." Maeve cooed at her and grinned. She winked. "You're a good girl. It's probably too hot in that sweater." She went back to her desk.

Tony looked at her. "Is that it? Are you having Mommy's hot flashes with her?" Pepper swatted him but he took the sweater off her. That helped and Maeve was less cranky. "Did your father dress you this morning?"

"Yes," Pepper said with a smile. "It was cute."

"It still is cute." He looked at her. "He's still stuck," he said quietly.

"I know. He's used to girls sprouting later."

"I get that but still."

"We're working on it."

"Callia's avoiding him."

"I saw." They nodded and Tony handed back the baby and the sweater. Maeve was less cranky and went back to the daycare to make Mira and Lexi less cranky too. Tony took off their sweaters. That made them all happier. That meant he could get back to work on his ideas for the expo that was only a few months away.

***

Clint looked up from his sorting, smiling at Joyce. "Hey. Doing an inventory."

She sighed. "Did my daughter buy all those?"

"No, some she won at kitten poker," Clint said with a grin. "Those are ours."

"Uh-huh. Tell her she has to quit playing again."

"She hasn't in nearly eight months, Joyce."

"Fine." She came in to look. "Are you doing more than an inventory?"

"She had a few kinda weird picks for the kids' future weapons cabinets."

"I thought she was doing that for Callia, not for all of them."

"No, she did one for each of the kids and each of the Stark kids." Joyce rolled her eyes as she walked off. "She has good taste."

Joyce smirked at him. "You taught her well."

"Yes we did." She laughed but left and came back with a higher up. "Sir," he said with a nod. "Dawn said she had to tell someone about the ferret earlier."

"I heard, Agent Barton." He looked at the weapons spread around the unused gym. "What are you doing?"

"A weapons inventory for our family." He looked up. "Dawn made sure that we could do one."

He nodded slowly. "She's a bit scary."

"Only when you try to hurt us," Clint said dryly, smirking at him. "Is this because of the guy that wanted to Due South us?"

"Huh?" Joyce asked.

"The guy who wanted to send me undercover and put Barney in my place."

"Yup," the President said, putting his hands in his pockets. "Sure is." Clint smirked a tiny bit. "That was my VP's idea."

"Figured," Clint muttered. He had little sense and no agent in the US trusted the guy as a world leader. He picked up a bow and tested it. "I'll bring that to teach Bob with this weekend. It's good for his skill range." He put it aside and finished repacking everything where it needed to go, kind of. None of the special necklaces were used so no one else knew about them.

The president frowned. "Who's Bob?"

"The Make A Wish kid I mentor? Him." He smiled. "He's a really neat little guy. Wants to do Olympic archery. So far he's pretty spot on and he's learning a lot."

"Huh. Great. We could use some good ones." He looked at Joyce, who smiled. "I know you and your daughter both mentor and help at a few of the cancer centers." Clint nodded, looking up at him. "So, now what, Agent Barton?"

"About what, sir?"

"Well, it seems like you're only on for specific missions."

"I'm a bit too well known for most undercover missions," he agreed. "Thankfully I've trained a few to take my place. So has Agent Romanoff. Then again, I'm nearly forty-five."

"Oh, I didn't realize." Clint smirked. "That makes more sense. So what'll you do when you retire?"

"So far, I'll probably end up helping home school the kids or I'll end up as Dawn's assistant at Stark. Or maybe in their security team. They could use someone there to kick asses."

The president blinked. "Her assistant?"

"Yeah. Benji liked it a lot when he was helping her during her first pregnancy and he had a torn up knee. Said it was pretty good, she didn't make him do tons of the contract stuff that she has to type up but he got to do a lot of the other jobs that she's taken on. Sounds kinda nice actually. A lot nicer than incident reports, mission reports, endless send-backs for typos and phrasing someone didn't like." He looked at Joyce. "Some day I'm going to send it in using one of those stupid online translators."

"Your last one looked like you did, dear."

He grinned. "Hill was annoying the crap out of me over a Brit spelling that she does."

"I've noticed that." She looked at the president again, who was shaking his head with a sigh. "It's a war she'll never fully win."

"I understand how that goes." He looked at the weapons then at Agent Barton. "Where does she store all these?"

"In magically hidden areas for the most part. Though half of them are in my storage area or hers or some other storage area in case we need them." He smiled and held one up. "She got this one for Philip's first gun."

"That's pretty, Agent Barton. Isn't he five?"

"Four, sir. Five in a little over a month."

"Does he need a gun?"

"Yes. Have you seen the people that want my kids?"

"I hadn't thought about it that way."

"Agent Romanoff and I made sure all the children in the family grouping know how to properly handle a weapon once they were of age. At Philip's age he knows not to touch certain parts. By the time they're seven they fully know how to shoot in case it becomes necessary. Which has saved them all a number of times."

"I can understand that need then. Have fun with your inventory." He and Joyce walked off.

Clint went back to sorting, making sure he put the stuff for the necklaces inside them inside one of the boxes so no one would see them. Coulson walked in with Natasha. "Watch that bow. I'm taking it to Bob's."

"I'm sure he'll enjoy that. He's in for scans this weekend," Natasha said. Clint grimaced but he could visit him there instead. He could go in when Dawn went in to visit the kids she visited and mentored. Natasha helped him load the necklaces, shaking her head at some. They were useful and pretty but a few were too shiny for their tastes. The kids would adore them though. "What is she plotting to start the girls' caches off?"

"Not sure yet. She said she starts off with a standard two sword, two dagger, two gun thing. Crossbows for their third birthdays." Phil shook his head with a slight moan. Clint smiled at him. "They're good so far."

"I did help train her," he said dryly. "Still." Clint shrugged and put the necklaces into his pockets and packed up everything else. He and Natasha shared a look then he tucked those boxes into a necklace too. Those went around his neck and they were nice. Dawn popped over and took them with a grin then went back to work. He sent a warm, fuzzy thought at her about helping Linda be her assistant if he left SHIELD. She giggled and said he'd be bored typing all day but she'd beg Pepper into a security position instead. He said that'd be good too. Nat could be her assistant. He, Coulson, and Natasha left, going to get something to drink then head up to snoop on the meetings.

The president was looking at Joyce and Steve. "There's a slight push to put SHIELD under Homeland Security."

Steve shook his head. "We can't do our covert work under them, sir."

"What about the CIA?"

"We'd destroy them for some of their covert work," Joyce said, handing him a folder. "We have recently had to remove some agents that were in the wrong place for the wrong reason."

He looked at that folder, wincing. "Ow." He looked at them. "It's thought you might have a media leak."

"We have a slight intentional leak for pressure release," Steve said. "That was my call, sir. We have a leak we cannot find somewhere on the hell carrier. We have been looking." A crossbow bolt hit his desk with a rolled up note. "I stand corrected. Agent Romanoff knows who it is and has turned them in to our internal affairs people." He handed that note over.

"Was that Barton?"

"Not with a crossbow," Joyce said with a smile. "It could have been Natasha. Or it could have been a few other agents. Maria, who had the crossbow?"

"Agent Simmons, who is presently on dirt cleaning detail, ma'am."

She came to the door. "Why did he do that?"

"Because he had to admit it whenever someone asks. So therefore he paused in his pursuit of picking up lint by hand along the rafters to send that to you as he cannot speak. His jaw is wired shut." Joyce smiled and went back to her desk. Maria got back to her own paperwork, tossing a folder down beside her. Joyce's assistant looked over. "Wrong forms."

"That seems to happen a lot."

"Only in one department and only with the new trainees. I am going to have to talk to the recruits." She put a few more down and then picked up the stack to hand back after a meeting. They really needed a meeting.

Joyce smiled. "The newest trainees that made it through the system can't type," she told the President. "They're good in other ways but not that."

"They keep using the wrong forms," Steve added. Joyce nodded. "The new class, which is taking the place of the one where everyone flunked, is looking much better."

"How did everyone fail?" the President asked.

Joyce leaned back and started a training center tape of an agent that complained when he hit the wall he had just looked at. Twice. She looked at the President. "Someone in HR thought that was appropriate whining so we're hiring for there too."

The President nodded. "What an idiot." He looked at Steve, who nodded he agreed. "So the temple's not busy?"

"No, he has some extra SGC people in, sir."

"Even better." He looked at them. "What do you want to do about the people who think you can be included?"

"Remind them we do a lot of covert work all over the world, including in places we may not have permission to be in." The President shuddered. "We cannot save the world under another agency, sir. Especially not the Avengers team."

"Most of them don't like your team," the President admitted, shifting his weight some. "They'd like to have the military do it."

"Go right ahead," Joyce said with a smile. "I'd like my daughter to never have another battle again. Or any of our agents. Please train them how to handle demons, magic, and other things, sir."

"I've pointed that out."

"They can help and see how big of a problem it is since I've heard that there's going to be an issue in Cleveland soon," Steve said with a smile. "Something for Yule I heard." The President winced. "We'd more than welcome them helping us."

"Great. I can tell them that." He walked off shaking his head. His guarding agents met him outside the office and took him down to his limo. He went to talk to those senators and generals. They had to have some sort of sense of reason. He hoped.

Joyce and Steve shook their heads, going to check on everyone. She looked up at Natasha, Clint, and Coulson. "Shouldn't someone be with the trainees?"

"I haven't had to shoot a single one in weeks," Clint said with a smile. "We'd all like them to handle it by the way."

"Us too," Steve said. He looked up at Clint. "I'm sorry I insulted her."

"She's forgiven you. She did as soon as she punched you into the wall, Captain." He gave him a look. "Watch some Jersey Shore sometime. Okay?" He grinned. "See what teenagers are like these days."

Joyce grimaced. "Eww. They're not exactly role models, dear."

"He was confused."

"Ah." She looked at her counterpart. "Thirteen is the same as sixteen when you were young and fifteen when I was younger. Ten is now thirteen in my day and probably about fourteen in yours." Steve shuddered. "That and girls wear less." She patted him on the arm. "We can talk if you want to. I'm going to get some tea." She pushed the button on the elevator and frowned, rubbing her temple. Clint sent a text to Bruce, who met her in the cafeteria to take her to the infirmary. "It's a sinus headache, Bruce."

"We're going to make sure," he said, patting her on the hand. "It'll only take a few minutes, Joyce."

"Fine." She kissed him on the cheek. "You're very protective of me."

"I am, yes." He smiled at the doctor that met them as they walked into the infirmary. "She's starting to have headaches again." The doctor looked clueless. This wasn't the same shift as the doctor who had done all the scar shots on everyone. "She's had two brain tumors removed in the last decade." They got her into the CT to make sure immediately. Bruce watched the scans, frowning. Scar tissue. He didn't like that but he knew it happened. Blood clot too. He marked it in the system for the doctor who would read the scans. Another one. And a third in her neck when he input that scanning parameter. "Joyce, you have clots again."

"Okay, we'll call my doctor," she said as she sat up. They helped her put back on her shirt and jewelry. She and Bruce looked over the scans. She pointed. "That's where I have the headaches."

"That's scar tissue," he said, giving her waist a squeeze. "We'll let him see. They're small clots but I worry." She smiled at him and he shrugged back. "You're important and I'd hate to Hulk out for good." She kissed him on the cheek. The on-staff radiologist looked at the scans and grimaced. "I marked three clots."

"I can see those and the scar tissue. Where are the headaches, Director?" She pointed. "That could be the scar tissue or it could be a sinus infection. They're a bit swollen."

"I took some cold medicine this morning."

"That's reasonable for most people but I'd be wary of drug interactions."

"I'm off most everything," Joyce said.

"I can talk to your personal physician." Joyce wrote down his name and number from her phone. "I'll get him copies of the scans as well." They nodded and went back to get her more tea and then hit the desk. He called him. "This is Dr. Ralinara. I'm a radiologist with SHIELD and I need to speak to Joyce Banner's physician please. We just took another CT." She put him on hold and told the nurse, who got the doctor within a few minutes. "She was having some headaches," he said at his question. "We found some scar tissue and a few minor blood clots that worried her husband.

"Could be sinuses," he said to answer that one. "Or it's in a location that has scar tissue. Of course. How would you like them sent? I can do so." He wrote down the email address. "Directly to you. She's back at her desk. She said she took some cold medicine this morning. I said I would consult you since I'm not certain of her treatment parameters. Thank you." He hung up and sent those scans over to him in an email. Then he went to get his coffee. He was doing a study on head injuries among SHIELD agents and their after-effects. He had plenty to choose from around here.

***

Clint found out what his wife's doctor's appointment was from Benji after she had rescheduled it for the second time. He was not pleased. He went to the office, smiling as he walked in. "You should not be here."

"I'm getting a bit saggy," she said.

Clint stared at her. "Doesn't matter to me."

"It does to me."

"It shouldn't." He stared at her. "C'mon. We'll get you more supportive bikinis, Dawn. You don't need tightened up yet."

"But...."

"C'mon. I'd miss them. You know they're one of my favorite things." She blushed but smiled. "Let's go. I need lunch and you could use a snack since I know that you had Chinese for lunch." He logged her out and took her hand, walking her out. "I thought we all agreed none of us were going to have surgery that way."

"I was only looking into getting the boobs tightened. They're starting to sag after the kids."

He stared at her. "Which makes me a happy, happy guy," he said firmly, staring at her. "You do not need tightened up yet. When you're my age maybe. Though I'll still have plenty of toys to play with." He kissed her. "C'mon, I even picked up the Lotus since it's just us." She swatted him but was smiling and blushing. He watched her walk. "Damn, I'm blessed," he muttered, which she heard. She looked back at him. "I am."

"I jiggle."

"You don't."

"That's shapewear."

"Bullshit." He smirked at her. "You look good. Don't argue. I'm your husband and I know all. We'll get you more supportive bikini tops." She gave him an odd look. "You don't have any reason to see a plastic surgeon. You really don't. You need to start seeing yourself like I see you."

"I saw myself in a bikini and I looked ten years older and like I've had two kids."

"You do not." He took her to the closest Victoria's Secret store. He smiled at the sales woman. "She needs a new bikini."

"Clint, they don't have my cup size here," Dawn said.

"Yes they do."

"No they don't. They don't carry hardly any D cups."

"We do carry up to 38D," the sales woman said with a smile.

Dawn nodded. "I'm about there or a 36DD depending on how they're made."

"Our cups can run a bit tiny," she admitted. "There's Sephora."

Clint grinned and took her there. They had bra and panty sets, which was about what a bikini was. Dawn put on her usual size and it was too tight. She had to go up a cup size with them. Clint made sure he wasn't drooling. He turned Dawn around so her butt was toward the triple mirror set up. "This does not jiggle," he said, patting it. Dawn squeaked and blushed. "Does it?" he asked the sales lady. "She said she jiggles."

"No, it doesn't jiggle. Clearly she does a lot of gym time." She was blushing too.

"I try but I'm still getting saggy," Dawn said.

"Which means I have more to play with," Clint said in her ear. He kissed her quickly as he turned her around. "All you need is a bit more support. Some of your bras have no support."

"They're comfortable."

"There's ways of using pads instead of wires," the sales woman said. "We don't specialize in it but I've seen them at some of the plus size catalogs." Dawn gave her an odd look. "They do sizes down to yours. You're about the bottom size."

"We'll see," Clint said. "Stark's still working on the under-uniform bras." He put his hands on Dawn's waist. "You've finally put back on five pounds, which I like."

"I'm not getting chubby."

"That's not what I said. I said you finally put back on the five pounds that I've been nagging about for the last six months." He kissed her ear. "You look good like this." She looked up at him oddly. "You do."

"I don't. I'm sticking out all over the place."

"You're not." He bought her that set and took her to a different lingerie store, one she liked to shop at. He walked her inside. "She's went up a cup size. She thinks she's jiggly."

The sales woman in there smiled at Dawn. "I've noticed that in a few pictures."

"I was going to talk to someone about getting them tightened up. He didn't like that idea."

"Some husbands don't like their toys to be taken from them." She took them to Dawn's usual styles. "Let's do a fitting first." She took her to a changing room to fit her. "Hmm. Nice DD cups now. Pretty standard sizing."

"I'd still like some without underwire," Dawn said quietly.

"We can do that." She found her a few styles that had pads for support or the bras themselves were created so the straps pulled you up. Clint didn't like the last one and Dawn said the pads felt like she was trying to compensate. The underwire ones didn't look that good on her. It didn't push her up the right way. The side wire ones did a better job but she still had some sag. They found one style that worked for Dawn's figure. That style also came in bikini styles. That helped and Clint grinned when Dawn put on a bikini instead. "That looks nice. You could use a bit of toning again but otherwise you look nice, Dawn."

"Thank you. I thought I needed some toning too."

"You do not," Clint complained. "I like you being curvy, Dawn."

"Not to take the curves, but to tone the thighs a bit," the sales woman said. "Just a change in her routine to work her outer thigh muscles a bit. You're a bit hippy for that string style." She got her another one but Dawn shuddered at the sight of it. "Well, you'll figure it out," she said with a smile. Dawn picked up a few things and Clint took her back to work to nag her some more. She shook her head. "He's going to have to learn to let her have her things sometimes. Even if he does like her a bit plush.

***

Pepper looked up as Dawn came back. "That was a short appointment," she joked. Dawn pointed at Clint. "Did you haul her out of there?"

"Yes. She doesn't need tightened." He looked at Dawn, kissing her until she moaned. He smirked. "My toys. Quit trying to take them."

"Fine. Even though I still think I need to tighten things up before I have to be seen in a bikini during our yearly vacation."

Clint shrugged. "Yay. If they nag you about being so comfy, then I'll nag them for being shallow. I like you this way." She blushed but smiled and got into her computer. He sat down to watch her.

Pepper shook her head. "Dawn, that marathon next week?"

"I've been increasing my running distance for the last month," she said.

"Are you going to make it?" Clint asked.

She smiled and nodded. "I am. Of course I am."

He nodded. "We can go with you."

"Sure, you talk Nat into running a marathon with me." He thought at Natasha, who refused. She didn't like to run. She did her treadmill work and ran when necessary on assignment. She did not run in public. "See," Dawn said.

"Fine, I'll run with you." He took another kiss and went to the gym. He'd get Dawn over that 'jiggly' feeling somehow. She was not allowed to have some surgeon reduce her breasts. They were his toys and they were not disappearing.

***

Joyce looked at the idiot paper pusher who was here with 'recommendations' from the board that gave them to various intelligence organizations. "Excuse me? You wanted us to do what?"

"We believe that having agents past their prime in the field is not very effective."

"I think that's called experience and all our agents, no matter what their age, have to pass yearly fitness tests," she said, staring at the woman. "We have very high standards and have flunked whole incoming classes."

"We think they may be set a bit high."

"We think they're set a bit low because we do more than the CIA," she said with a slight smile. She was going to rip this woman's head off and beat her with it. Now she knew why Dawn liked that angry response right before a battle. "Our agents don't get the cushy spots. And often we have to deal with other agents in our way because they think that some of their missions are more important. We do try to be gentle to them however."

"The board ....."

Joyce held up a hand. "No offense but I'm not taking anything like advice from people who have never been in the field. I'll take it from Steve, as he's commanded people in the field. I'll take it from Maria Hill, because again she's commanded in the field," Joyce said quietly and calmly. "I'm not going to take it from some paper pushers with grandiose ideas of everyone getting along. Frankly, most of those agents are working at purposes that may stabilize a region but not the world, and that's our only concern. Our agents have to be stronger, better, and faster. No matter their age or training level."

"We don't know why you outsource some of it."

"Because Alexander can give them the additional boost to training that they need," Joyce said simply. "We give them the first part, he builds them into efficient agents if they pass him, and then we show them how field work goes. That way they're not in shock if something happens and they have to run halfway across Cairo again, like one of our rookies did. Actually, we're considering reinstating the mandatory 10K a year run requirement for all agents."

The woman blinked. "You had a what?"

Dawn snorted from behind her. "Most agents run at least 5K a week, ma'am. The higher up they are on the mandatory fitness needs, the more they run. Most Avengers members run at least 10K a week. My spouses run it twice a week." She looked at her mother, holding up the memo. "Unacceptable according to Stark."

Joyce took it. "Who sent this? That's not Coulson's writing."

"No, and you know Tony's not going to work with anyone who's not met up to his criteria, Mom."

"I know. I'll talk to the agent who sent this and see what they were thinking." She looked at her daughter and smiled at the woman. "My daughter Dawn is Tony Stark's personal assistant."

"Is he an agent?" she asked with a smile for Dawn.

"No, he's Iron Man." The woman slumped. She looked behind her when she felt someone walking up behind her. "Hey," she said with a nod at the scientist. "Did they have a meeting? I can clear out."

"I wanted to talk to Captain America about the Avengers," she said.

She held out a hand. "Dawn Summers." The woman smirked and shook it. "Let me guess, since I've seen your picture. Your husband's learned his lesson?"

"A bit."

"Then let's talk. I can give you the most realistic view of what an Avenger does and goes through." She led her into the office to sit down. "Excuse us, ma'am, but Avengers business." The woman huffed off. Dawn smiled and waved at her back. "Dumbass," she muttered. "Sorry, people who think they have a clue. I'm sure he told you I threatened him."

"He did, and I can see why. What do you do on the team?"

"Beyond half the press stuff for the team and backing up my spouse?"

"Oh. Oh, you're her."

Dawn nodded with a grin. "Yup, I am. There's a few things that may not have hit yours or his attention. Including that there's a ton of little kids that look up to all the Avengers. No matter which one. There's girls that think Natasha's a role model. There's ones that think science is cool because of Bruce. We're not against you joining but one of the main sticking points of your husband joining was his little...habit. Which is why he got warned."

"I can understand that. He's not.... Not anymore."

"That's great." She smiled. "I made sure he knew if I heard of him doing it again I'd be ripping him apart at the molecules. There's kids in the group. My kids, Stark's kids. We consider the Avengers like a family. We may fight. A lot at times. Tony and Bruce have had huge shouting matches in the labs more than once and not always about science stuff." Joyce laughed but nodded. "She's Bruce's wife." She looked at her again. "You realize that being on the team, a visible team member, means that you suddenly have very little privacy? That going out to dinner is usually at least half talking to people you've never met before? That they're going to look at everything you've ever done? The press is worse than Congress trying to kick out nominated people. They will find *everything*. I'm not trying to discourage you but with some part-time members we've had in the past due to assignments it's something we realize that they didn't. One committed suicide to get away because they realized he had accidentally killed his girlfriend back in high school."

"Oh, dear."

"Yeah. We'd love to have you but you have to be aware that there's huge amounts of lack of free time suddenly. Bruce manages most days in the lab. Tony does too. But things happen at a moment's notice. We can be called to any country, anywhere, at any time because huge shit is happening. We won't usually be called to a few because they don't like the US," she admitted. "But we've been called to England and other places very quickly for things like demon riots and other planes trying to invade."

"I can understand that."

"You both know that you have to be in really good shape? Because battles last for hours sometimes. The lucky few we show up, we blast them back to bits, then we go home. That's not the normal battle. Most last at least an hour. We've all been drained and we're all in top shape."

"That's a reasonable point. We've both increased our stamina and our fighting skills."

Dawn grinned. "Cool. The whole team has a weekly sparring session and individual times in the gym vary. Usually we hit the gym as a team Wednesday after work hours."

"That we can show up for."

Dawn smiled and wrote down a note on her tablet. "Okay, we're in Stark Towers, the second one. Call me here," she said, taking out a card to hand to her. "I'll let you up. It's by pass only so we can get you one then if you still want to become one of us. We've had a few other agents who've tried to get in and decide it's really hard. We have them as backup members usually." Steve walked in looking flustered. "Did the paperwork wench find you?"

"Yes," he muttered. He paused and smiled. "Hi, Steve Rogers."

"Janet VanDyne." She shook his hand. "Dawn was telling me when team sparring was."

"That's great. She's got a good bit of things that she can share about being on the team since she's a backup member." Dawn smirked at him. "Can you make your vest a bit longer?"

"No. Why do I need to?"

"Your butt, Dawn."

"My butt looks nice, Steve. Even the press said I had the butt goddess visit after having Philip." He blushed. "Beyond that, the vest being longer would hinder my movements. And my suit's less clingy than yours."

"Fine," he said as he sat down.

"Forgive him, he's having a time warp back moment," Dawn sighed. "We've been squabbling like family for weeks."

Joyce snickered, nodding. "They have." She looked at Steve. "She can't."

"Fine. Guys are drooling on her."

"And they don't do it to Natasha? Whose suit is also tighter than mine," she pointed out. "You guys and your action suits are really tight."

"Crap," Steve muttered, getting to work.

Dawn looked at Janet again and shrugged. "It happens. You help, you work around it, you get back on track, just like any family."

"I've seen that happen," she assured her. "What do you do on the team?"

"I backup Hawkeye, and sometimes the wife even though he hates me to do it. I'm also on for magical backup and battles. We have a few witches we can call on for huge things but most of them are protection sorts. I'm one of the few that can do battle things."

"That makes sense," she decided. "Can we both come to sparring?"

"Sure. I will warn you again that they'll dig and you need to have something ready to tell them when they ask."

"I know. I can do that."

Dawn smiled. "Great. Bucky?" He leaned in. He was almost always within hearing distance of Cap. Their bromance had made some SHIELD agents write fanfic about them. She had found it and showed it to Tony, who had cackled so much Pepper had thought he was high. "This is Janet VanDyne. She and her husband are going to be joining us for team sparring this coming week."

"We pushed it back to tonight," he admitted. "You were busy with Pepper things. Steve was busy with paperwork that was going to eat him." He rolled his eyes. "Nice to meet you, Janet. I'm Bucky Barnes." He walked in to shake her hand. "Stevie?"

"He's right, sparring's tonight," he said.

"Okay." Dawn texted that at Clint and Natasha, who both complained. She smirked. "Mom, can you hellion sit?"

"I usually do with Pepper."

"Thanks." She wrote that back and they agreed it'd be fine. She got Tony and he said he knew. And to see where she was because he needed something typed up right now. She said she'd be right there. "Let me get back. Tony's got something he needs typed. I'll see you there, Janet. Just call." She smiled and shook her hand then teleported back. "Faster than a cab any day," she quipped at his odd look.

"Where were you?"

"SHIELD over that stupid memo. The VanDynes are coming tonight."

"Huh. Sure. Both of them?" She nodded with a grin. "You warn her about the press?"

"Yup." She took the forms to look over, handing him the completed copy. "Did them last week. Or are these a different set?"

He looked them over. "Same set, different source they're being sent to. This needs to go to about eight people." She settled in to pull up that file to amend it to include more names. She printed out the new letters and handed them over with envelopes and stamps. He smirked. "Smartass."

"Often." He walked off happier. This was for Liz's schooling next year.

Dawn got back to work, leaning over to look at Pepper, who was apparently napping on her desk. She sat back up and got back to work. She had things she had to get done for next week. Linda looked in there as she came back with some forms. Dawn gave her a few corrections and a few letters to work on. Including the intern things. "Update those for this year's interns. Letters of interest part can be taken out. Just pick up the package and send it to us with all that stuff. Add in two in biochem and one in shield design," she said quietly.

"I can do that." She took it back to her desk to work on that. The files for the intern applicants was a huge one. It was a ten page form to fill out, the letter, and the forms for writing letters of interest. She had no idea it was so huge. She thought a letter, an application form, and a few letters of recommendation, not your whole life history. She did find a few typos in the original. She had realized that Dawn went through to correct those each year and saved it down as the template for next year so they didn't have to find them again. Dawn never minded her doing that and it was handy.

"There's a few parts that weren't in that one," Dawn called. "Stuff we moved from the application."

"I saved it as a new template, Dawn."

"Okay." She finished up and collated some new reports then went to gather reports in the various labs.

Linda shook her head. How Dawn managed everything in those heels she wasn't sure. She'd never even consider doing all the floors of the labs in high heels.

***

Dawn went down to let the couple in. "Sorry, bit late talking to Pepper about new intern applications." She walked them up there. "Guys, this is Janet and Hank. They want to join the team."

Clint looked at Hank. "You have changed, right?"

"I have."

"Good." He looked at Dawn. "Sparring, Dawn."

"Going, dear. Had to talk to Pepper about the intern stuff." She waved a hand as she went to change. She came out in a pair of leggings and a long t-shirt. Clint stared at her. "What?"

"That is not your usual workout outfit."

"I'm still jiggly."

"You are not," Tony complained.

"Yes I am. And I don't fit into a bikini anymore. Even the new one." She pouted a bit. "I look fat."

"You do not," Tony repeated, looking at her. "Maybe next to the well clothed skeletons we both try to avoid, but you're not fat, Dawn."

"No, I'm cuddly, but plush," she said dryly. "I jiggle."

"You had that same feeling after Philip was born," Clint reminded her. "Didn't we prove you wrong then?"

"Yes but now I do jiggle. I watched myself running and I look like shit."

"You do not," Bucky complained. "I know this is some girly thing but stop it." She glared at him. "Spar for now then go workout."

"I have been working out. I've increased my workouts by an extra day a week for the marathon this weekend." Tony shuddered. "It's for charity."

"Good," he agreed. "You need a better sports bra."

"Hey, nudge the guys with the under-uniform ones," she said dryly. "I could use it." They got to work stretching and going over what they needed to work on this time. Cap was ignoring the whole girl talk thing going on. Dawn had a leg cramp during it but she fought through it until she could handle it. Then it was individual sparring. She took on Bucky. She was less used to his style and he wasn't used to all the things she could pull out of nowhere. Xander appeared and sighed, taking off shirt to get involved.

"I take it Yule's going to be great?" Dawn quipped.

"Not likely. The military can handle it I think. It looks like another refugee situation." He dove in with her and Bucky. She and Xander fought while Bucky stared, mouth slightly open. "This spring, Wolfram and Hart are back."

"New invasion?" she guessed. He nodded. "I can work up stuff to deal with it. Any particular sort of demon?"

"Not that I'm aware of." Phil appeared and took off his jacket and button-up shirt, coming in to spar with them. "Hi, dear."

"Xander. Dawn." She grinned and attacked him. That worked. A three-way fight that Bucky got pulled back into.

"I'm not playing with them," Tony told Clint. "I can't fight gods that way." Xander shot him a grin and tried to clock Dawn but she ducked and Phil's punch attempt, blocking Bucky's and using him to block Phil then attacking Xander again. He sighed. "We did too good on her training." Clint smiled at that complement. Dawn suddenly yelped and ducked down to hold her leg. "And that's a leg cramp. Dawn." She limped over to let them help her. "Heel down," he reminded her. She did and walked it off with a wince. Phil and Xander were still sparring and Tony shoved Steve up there to help Bucky. It helped him be worn out. Dawn finally got free of the cramp and limped back up there. "Dawn," Tony complained.

"Need the workout time anyway, boss."

"Uh-huh. Go use the machines." She sighed but went to do that instead. Which distracted Clint since she was using the thigh press machine. Tony glanced and shook his head. Clint could handle his own needs for his wife. He would prompt the guys with the Stark bra collection. They were nearly ready. He moved to talk to Janet and Hank. They were interesting and they could use new blood on the team. They both had skills they could use. They weren't up to Avengers standard yet but they were getting closer. Steve came over to talk to them about what being an Avenger meant, with some helpful input from Natasha and some not helpful input by Clint about the press following them.

***

Dawn got her number for the marathon, nodding at the actress she was competing against. "Hi." She shook her hand. "Good luck."

"You too. Are you okay?"

"I had a leg cramp again last night. It'll quit soon." The actress smiled. "See you at the finish line somehow." They parted and went to stretch and get ready. Dawn was more than ready. Clint couldn't run with her. He had twisted his knee again last night hopping up when Lexi started to vomit in the middle of the night. The toys really had to be picked up no matter what Natasha thought was okay. Dawn finished her stretching and smiled at the waiting reporter. "What?"

"How are you feeling, Dawn? I noticed a limp."

"I had a leg cramp last night." She shrugged. "They happen."

"So you think you'll make good time?"

"I hope so." She smiled. "It's not my first run."

"We noticed you finally changed sneaker brands."

She looked down then at her. "My last ones fell apart. These ones are the same sort of too wide that they were." She sighed. "It happens I guess." She lined up at their call. She tilted her neck side to side and started her mp3 player. She selected her playlist and took off in an easy lope with the rest of the pack. Once it started to break up she increased her speed. There was that damn calf cramp again. She got some water at a station and made herself move on. She needed to. She was proving a point to herself and others about healthy being different than skinny.

She made it to the halfway point at about the same time as the actress and got some more water then sped up again. She could outpace everyone but the olympic marathoners. She just had to save some energy for later on. She was doing okay though. She got another cup of water and choked since it had been syrupy sports drink. But sure, she could do that. She pushed herself, letting herself fall into the music.

She made it in a good time. Not a great one but a decent enough one. And about ten minutes before the actress. She was walking off the remains of the cramp and cooling down when she got there. "Hey, let's get you some water," she said, getting her some and helping her to one of the medics waiting. She was pale and shaky looking. Dawn got her a bottle of warm water, a cold one would cramp her up. "Here, water. Drink." She helped her drink. "You okay?"

She nodded. "I pushed myself."

Dawn smiled. "Me too." The woman stared at her. Dawn shrugged. "I run a few times a week. This was just a longer one." She helped her over to hand over their numbers. They got their little printed certificates. The reporter that had brokered the bet had their checks for the charity that had won. Dawn grinned. "Happy rest of the day. Have some ice cream?"

"I'm going to. I deserve it." She smirked at her. Dawn strolled off, finding Clint watching. "Awww." The reporters looked around and smiled, taking a few pictures of them kissing. "She's damn tough." They talked to her about how she had done. So maybe Dawn had a point. She had to admit she had done better than her.

Clint grinned at Dawn as she walked up to him. "You ready to have a shower?"

"Yup." She took a deep kiss. "And a leg rub?"

"Definitely. We need to find out why you're cramping." He walked her off to the car. "The kids are helping Grandma clean out her closet." She beamed at him. "Nat's starting a bath so by the time we get home you should be able to hose off and climb in."

"I love that you take care of me."

"I like taking care of you." He winked and got her into the car then walked around to drive. So what if the reporters saw that as a bit of a possessive gesture again. He was a bit possessive over Dawn because people kept trying to take her.

***

Dawn looked at Dr. Shivs the next morning. Her cramp had come back with a vengeance last night and she could not get it undone, even with Clint working on it. "I have no idea. I've had them for a few days."

"Sounds like a vitamin deficiency," he said. "Multivitamin?"

"Nope," Dawn admitted. "Not since I was pregnant." He did the test on her blood too just in case. "I'm not."

"No, you don't taste like it," Clint teased. He had been having fun when she had cramped up. She smiled but kissed him.

Shivs shook his head, looking at the results instead of them. "Let's up your potassium and iron levels, Dawn. You're looking a bit anemic." He looked at her. "Less time at the gym." She snorted, shaking her head. "You need it."

"I need more time. I jiggle. My thighs are like jell-o."

"They are not," Clint said impatiently.

"They are. Even the sales lady noticed it."

Shivs shook his head. "You're not overweight, Dawn. You're about five or six pounds above where you usually are." Dawn nodded she knew that. Clint scowled at him. "She had some muscle loss during her last pregnancy when she couldn't work out, Clint."

"Fine," he complained. "We'll help her take the cuddliness off." Dawn hugged him. "Just iron and potassium?"

"Try for less caffeine or more water. It might help that too." Dawn nodded at that, hopping off and limping. "Try for a massage?"

"I tried when the cramp hit and she nearly screamed," Clint told him.

"Okay, then let's do something to relax the muscles. Try the lamaze yoga stuff you learned, Dawn."

"I can do that." She patted the doctor on the arm and let Clint take her home. There was as usual a reporter outside. They liked to haunt the tower's shadows so they could pop out and nag them for information. "Leg cramp," she quipped.

"You've had a few of those. Is it a problem?"

"The doc says I'm a bit anemic," Dawn said with a shrug. "So vitamins, some yoga, who knows. I have pampering spouses who give the best massages when I have them." She grinned. "I'm a lucky girl." She walked off with Clint to catch a cab. She was not in shape to walk back. He helped her in and they went home. She went to their home gym to do some of the yoga stretches she had learned in lamaze. Clint went up to tell Natasha what Shivs had said.

They'd find out later that actress had went to the ER that night. She hadn't been in great shape and hadn't hydrated well enough after her run. Dawn sent flowers to her hoping she got better faster when she heard.

***

Dawn came in that Monday dragging. Pepper stared at her and she shrugged. "Tired. I was trying to uncramp my leg all day yesterday."

"Why didn't you take a muscle relaxer?"

"It didn't work."

"I've had a few of those." She patted Dawn on the back. "Congrats on the marathon."

"Thank you." She smiled. "I did okay." She settled in to get to work, flexing her leg back and forth to ward off a new cramp. Maybe it was the shoes. Who knew anymore with her body.

Tony walked past her reading an application. "Nice run, Dawn."

"Thanks, boss."

"Still cramping?"

"Yup."

"Want someone to work on it?"

"Clint tried. It hurt a lot." He nodded at that, going in to bug Pepper over the applications. Dawn got to work and it was nice. Linda was about five minutes late but she always made it up and she took a city bus so things like that happened at times. Dawn was in the middle of answering a call when the cramp came back. Pepper came out to get the phone for her while she worked on it. Linda called the infirmary for her, which was sweet of her. Pigalli came up to look at her. "Cramp," she moaned.

"Okay." She helped her up. Dawn wasn't going to be able to put weight on that leg. They took her to look at it. Nothing damaged. Nothing too stressed. She had eaten bananas and orange juice that morning for breakfast. Pigalli worked on it, pushing hard on one spot, making Dawn wince. It helped though and she was finally uncramped. Dawn panted, calming herself down. "Any idea?"

"Not unless it's the shoes."

"No, I don't think so." She checked. The muscle was still tight. "We'll figure it out."

"Her thyroid's okay," Shivs said from the desk. "I checked that." Dawn grinned at him. "She's concerned she's jiggly."

"I've increased my water and decreased my caffeine," Dawn said. "I've started taking the multivitamin we had in the house, which was the leftover pregnancy one."

Pigalli took another blood sample to run for toxicology. That came up with something. She held it up. "What would that do?"

Dawn looked and nodded. "Cause muscle cramps that would eventually lead to death." She got up with a moan. "Let me get the antidote out of my vest." She limped off to do that. She had a heating pad in her bottom desk drawer with the emergency kit for after battle care. She could use it today. Tony caught her taking the serum and shrugged. "Anti venom." He glared. "Not my doing."

"I knew that, Dawn. You're too good to poison yourself." She smiled slightly and went back to her desk. Tony looked at Natasha, who went to have herself checked. She showed it too. Clint didn't when he had himself checked at SHIELD's medical bay. So that was nice of someone who wanted Clint for themselves.

"We'll figure it out yet again," Bruce said.

"Like always," Tony agreed. "That's why we're geniuses."

***

Clint leaned into the office. "Sorry, ma'am. Joyce, someone poisoned Nat and Dawn lightly enough to cause all those leg cramps. I'm not showing it."

"Why are you limping?" she demanded.

"I tripped over Miss Whine's toys that Nat thought were okay to leave out. Lexi was puking her guts up and I tripped over her walker." Joyce smiled at him. "Just twisted my knee. So I'm pushing back my fitness review test for two weeks?"

"That's fine, Clint. Tripping over the baby's things is sometimes unavoidable. I tripped over Buffy plenty of times because she liked to follow me everywhere."

Clint smiled. "The girls love their walkers but Mira considers it an affront to her that we expect her to crawl sometimes." Joyce snickered, shaking her head. "Yeah, she's spoiled." He walked off. "Hill, I need two weeks on my fitness."

"I noticed the limp and they gave you dispensation," she said absently. "Mira will almost always crawl after Tsarina to pester her."

"We've noticed. That's why Tsarina's been hiding on her human." He shook his head, going down to the trainee areas. He smirked at the trainer. "I'm limping for two weeks."

"That's fine, Barton. You can encourage if you need to."

Clint looked over. "While there's idiots in advisory places that think we're too hard on you, we think you're slackers," he announced. "And if you expect to pass the next stage, you'd better be better than we expect. Xander doesn't put up with slacking and his course is difficult for full blown agents to do it in regulation time. Hell, Captain America can barely do it in regulation time." They all moaned and got back to work harder.

"I like that about Xander," the head trainer quipped with a grin. "Plus he gives us a rating of people who can probably pass it with a few extra weeks of work. Gives us a few more candidates now and then." She checked her watch. "Cool down. We have lessons in an hour." They moved to cool down and shower. Most of them wisely got something to drink and a small snack too. They were exhausted. "Their running is almost in line with our goals."

Clint nodded. "Great. Joyce and Steve are contemplating putting back in the mandatory 10K a year run."

"Oooh," she said with a wince and a hiss. "That's stamina instead of speed." He grinned and nodded. "How did Dawn do?"

"Decent time. Just twenty minutes over the olympic women." She smiled at that. "The actress got there ten minutes later but she had pushed herself all the way to dehydration and exhaustion. She ended up in the ER and Dawn ended up with leg cramps, partially from a poisoning."

"You guys lead wacky lives," she said. She followed the last trainee out. She needed to talk to them about why they were always tired and behind. They weren't going to make levels. She admitted she had some flu-like symptoms and got sent to the infirmary instead of the showers and a snack. She could snack on her way back. Which came with news. The head trainer looked at him. "I'm not sure," she admitted. "We can see if you can continue training."

"Nothing high impact," Clint said from where he was checking the machines over for times and distances for their records. He looked at her. "What did they say?"

"They weren't sure if I wouldn't have to try again."

"Okay, so let's get you with the OB SHIELD likes, or the one Dawn likes if he's not open. We'll see." He called them both. SHIELD's favorite one was closing his practice. The other one had an open space and could take her in tomorrow. Clint let her have the phone so she could make the appointment and told the trainer that. She nodded she could be excused. Clint looked at her afterward. "If you can pass the next four months of training," he said. "You'll be about in time to go on maternity leave.

"I can tell you from experience that you have nine weeks after the birth to do minimal standards, which are yours right now, and then within six months have to meet agent standards again," he told the pregnant trainee. She nodded at that. "You need to check with him about training at all. If not, we can bring you back after that. The nine weeks thing would be doable for a lot of people but not everyone. You can apply again within a year without having to go back through the application process if you left due to medical conditions. I can also tell you Xander's probably not going to be happy because you'd be sparring there daily."

She nodded. "I'll talk about it with him, Agent Barton."

"Okay. If you need help and you stay, there's been a few pregnant agents. Agent Hill is a bit prickly but Agent Romanoff was pregnant. There's been a few others. We have a parent's support group," he said with a grin. "After the battle in Sunnydale, there were ninety-three kids born from the staff of the hell carrier." She shuddered. "HR has their schedule if you need it." She nodded. "So, for now, go to class. Eat lunch. It's very important that you eat. We've all noticed you're not eating." She nodded at that. "Good. Go." She left. He made notes in her file and that he had told her she could come back due to medical conditions interfering with training routines. The head trainer would agree. He spotted the paper pusher. "I temp in down here between missions."

"She's just pregnant."

"Ma'am, in here she's got physical training, which is not good for her pregnancy," Clint said bluntly. "She's got to make it to the level of standards to pass on to the next stage, which is physical fight training, which can make her miscarry, stamina training, which can make her fall or miscarry, and lessons in things like emergency sword work, field camping, and other practical skills. It's possibly not going to be healthy for her pregnancy so we do have a rule in place that allows her to come back within a year to restart her training without going through all the board allowing her.

"We've had agents who have had to drop out due to injury who have done the same thing. They usually take the opportunity to do some extra training before they come back to make sure they make it to at least the second stage. And we've had one that had to drop there due to another injury from a fall and then came back to that stage. He's looking like a pretty good field guy at the moment." He stared at her. "We're all practical people around here. The job's hard on you but that's why we train really hard every day." He walked off. "Speaking of, I'm taking my weightlifting review so I don't have to do as much when my knee's better."

Coulson walked past him with a folder. "That good?"

"Pregnant one."

"It happens to the best of us. Thankfully not to me," Phil said blandly. He walked into the classroom. "We are going to sidestep the usual lessons," he announced. "There appears to be an upcoming possible refugee moment around the holidays in Cleveland." They groaned. "We were told it was refugees incoming, not an invasion. So therefore we're going to go over emergency protocols for each situation." He smiled slightly at the trainer. "With your leave?"

"We were just going over the code of conduct because we had some ass swatting, Agent Coulson."

He nodded, looking at them. "Grow up. You're adults and they have the right to punch you if you swat them." The few people who had done it ducked down, including one female. "Good. Let's start with the upcoming problem. By then you should be in field training situations if you pass. And if you don't, it can only help you wherever you end up." He went over what you did when you landed in the middle of a mass of people that needed help. Including how and what to call in to which group. Because you told 911 that there was a refugee situation that needed ambulances and maybe ICE. You told the ambulances why they were running, about anything like radiation, and how many there were roughly that were seriously injured then let them sort it out. After a decent lunch, though a few did pig out on snack food, which got them glared at by the head trainer, he went over what you did when it wasn't refugees running and the people or demons were going to kill you and others. That was not a happy talk but necessary.

***

Dawn looked at her bikini choices and sighed in displeasure. She and Pepper were going on their pre-expo vacation. "Maybe a one piece," she muttered, looking at them. She hadn't been able to get rid of the jiggly thigh problem she had. Though she was more toned from all the working out. Her thighs were still large and trying to take charge of her life. The sales woman was giving her an odd look. "I have to go on vacation with my boss."

"Is she going to let you wear something that skimpy?"

Dawn nodded. "We're going to the Bahamas. I usually do. I don't think I'll look as good this year."

Pepper breezed in with a bag and Callia and Liz following her. "Why can't you make a decision?" she asked Dawn.

"My thighs."

"Try them on, Dawn," she said impatiently. Dawn gave her a look but did that. "It's clear that Clint's been helping you shop again." She looked at Dawn when she came out. "What happened?"

"Auntie, didn't you used to have curves?" Callia asked.

"I do have curves." She looked at herself. "This suit makes me look bad." She went to try on something else. That showed her curves. And her thighs.

Callia stared. "Okay, now I see why Daddy likes girls. So I did inherit the bi-ness." Dawn gave her a dirty look. "Damn."

"I know, my thighs," Dawn complained, patting them. She tightened them.

"Huh," Pepper said. "You're worrying over jack shit, Dawn." Dawn gave her another look. "Really. Hell, we need an independent opinion." She paged through her phone book. "There you are," she said, hitting send. She put it against her ear. "Brian, Pepper Potts. Where are you?" She smiled. "I know that but Dawn needs an independent male opinion and you're close enough to the one she's used to." She smiled at Dawn. "Sure, I can do that. Give me ten minutes to get Stark." She called him. "Tony, me. Pick up Brian please. Send him to me. No, not a huge problem." She hung up and looked at Dawn. "I agree, you used to have a better waist but that one looks nice."

Dawn shook her head, going in to try on something else. She came out to find Brian Gamble grumbling but Liz was smiling at him. "Sorry, they think I'm being a bit picky."

He stared at her. He wasn't used to Dawn being anything but ball-busting and mouthy. "You used to look more curvy." Dawn sighed, going to change back into that one suit. He stared, making sure he wasn't drooling. "What would Clint say? I know he's a bit possessive."

"That my thighs are huge," Dawn said.

"No he wouldn't," Pepper sighed. "You lost ten when you only needed to lose five pounds, Dawn." She picked out her a few things with Callia's help.

"Wrong size," Dawn complained. "Went up a cup size."

"Ooh," Pepper winced. "That's bad." She got her a different style of bikini top. A few halters, a few with underwire. One that had undewire but it was one of the little triangle tops. Then a few new string bikini bottoms to go with them. Dawn looked best in that style instead of the bikini, full sided style she was trying on. "You're trying on mom bikinis."

"I am a mom." She went to try those on. She blushed when she noticed her nieces staring. "That bad?" She looked in the mirror. Still with the thighs. "I have this pad of fat right there," she said with a poke at it.

"That's called muscle," Brian said. "Damn, my half-brother's a lucky bastard." Dawn blushed brighter and went to change. Callia stole that bikini to put onto the buy pile for her. Liz drooled at the next one. Brian had to look away. "Some day you'll have those," he told Liz. "Your sister's getting there."

"Eww," Callia complained, covering her breasts. "I hate boobs."

"Yay," Pepper said with a smile. "All women have something there. And some guys." She looked at Dawn. "You're getting that one." She huffed but tried on the other styles and most got approval. Brian was sweating at a few of them so at least it was an honest opinion. Dawn still fussed about her thighs but yay. The press might try something about it but it was all muscle. She let Dawn check out and buy a few new bras too. She needed them. Pepper took her to her bra people, who made special ones for those who had tiny things. They might be able to handle an epic set that Dawn carried around.

They had ideas and it was good. Pepper even gave Brian a good beer fund for the night for helping Dawn and them shop. Though Callia asked his opinion on something and got a funny look but told it'd make her look way too old and ready to date. So that went onto the rack again. Pepper got it for her anyway. Then they went home to pack. Liz was coming with them this year. So was Callia. She got Brian sent home for a cold shower and a lot of beers. Pepper smiled at Tony when she walked past him. "Dawn overworked her thighs and they're almost bulging. Thank you."

"Uh-huh," he said, watching her and the girls. "Liz, what sort of bathing suits did you get?"

"I stuck with one-pieces for her and Callia's got something mostly tasteful," Pepper said with a grin as she came out to model one of her new ones for Tony. Who tipped his head to the side and let his mouth come open. She smiled. "You like?"

"Yup, a bit too much with the kids awake." Pepper smirked and went to change back into regular after hours clothes. She helped the girls pack for their trip and finished up the arrangements for the plane. They were taking a private one. Airlines were picky about Callia's wheelchair. She didn't want to deal with the stress.

***

Clint looked up from sharpening his thigh knife, smiling when Dawn came off the elevator with bags. "We do okay?"

"She called out Brian." She kissed him. "I still say I have chunky thighs."

He pulled her into his lap, moving her skirt to look at her thigh. "Dawn, this is muscle," he reminded her, pushing on it. "Not fat. You have Hulk thighs because it's all muscle." He kissed her with a smile. "And you lost too much weight. I'm about to pout at you for it."

She took another kiss. "I'll put back on the five pounds." He smiled at her for that. She took a good kiss then got up to pick out which ones she was bringing. Plus her other outfits. Her beach shorts were too small. Which sucked. She got some more of those ordered in the right size. And a few t-shirts. She came out to look at him. "Are you following us?"

"Yup, we both are." He smiled. "Just in case with the kids."

"Who's watching our kids?"

"Oooh, didn't consider that. Maybe Stark...."

"He'd be driven nuts."

"Good point. We'll talk about it later. We have sparring tonight." Dawn went to change into one of her bodysuits and shorts. Clint followed to hand her one of her usual unitards and a long t-shirt. She put it on for him and he stared. "You lost some of the ass. I'm mad about that." She swatted him but went to have a snack. He smiled. Dawn was picky about some things, especially how she looked. She'd put back on those few pounds by the time they went in two days. She usually did after a huge magic binge that made her lose weight. "Maybe we'll get Benji to babysit."

She looked at him. "You think he's up to following Philip around?"

"Maybe not," he admitted. "Philip is having an active time." He shrugged. "We'll figure it out." He kissed her again, taking her to the tower so they could go back to working out.

Tony looked at Dawn's outfit, shaking his head. "How many people saw you like that?"

"Most of the people in the tower when we came up, but we said it was sparring time," Clint said with a grin.

"Huh." Dawn pulled off the t-shirt and he stared. "Dawn, shaving?"

"Oops, forgot." She put back on the t-shirt.

"It happens to all women. Most of the world's women don't shave their armpits," Bruce said.

"I'm going to have a full wax and sugaring treatment tomorrow after work," Dawn said. They all sighed but nodded, glancing at Clint.

"What? I'll enjoy rubbing lotion into her smooth, soft skin," he quipped. Their new members came up with Steve. Tony handed them the cards for this level and explained where they worked. It didn't get them into the Stark part of the towers but would get them up here.

"And you can put a few bucks on it for after workout teas," Dawn quipped. "I do." She finished her stretching and stood up. "What's up tonight?"

Steve looked at her. "Are we going to have to see more tabloid pictures of you and Pepper in bikinis?"

She smiled at him. "The last I knew you weren't my spouse, Cap." He glared. She stared at him. "My attire is none of your business as long as Pepper and Tony don't care."

"Pepper and Tony both think you dress nicely," Tony said, backing her up. "And they always wear bikinis, Steve. Get over it. The girls have nice swimsuits that Pepper picked out. Dawn and Pepper picked out hers."

"Clint's going to do his usual hanging out in a hotel room to watch over them," Clint said. "We have no idea who's going to watch the kids."

"Beya," Tony said. "With mine." He smiled. "I'll help. That way Romanoff can get some beach time too." Clint grinned at him for that present. "She'll bring them over the night before. We've already talked about it."

"We are?" Steve asked. "I haven't heard a thing...."

Tony stared at him. "Yes, I am." Steve slumped. He looked at Dawn. "Sugaring?"

"Hurts a lot less than waxing."

"Good point." He nodded and they got down to sparring practice. They were including the new ones more and the two agents that were their backup who had shown up after a long mission overseas. That worked a lot better and Clint sparred with the agents. They were doing good tonight.

Dawn heard something and looked up. "What the fuck?" She heard a whine as alarms started to go off. "JARVIS, maximum shielding around the entire building complex," she snapped, heading up there at a teleport. Stark and the others were racing for weapons and their uniforms. She knocked the ship off center with a blast of magic then called a weapon to handle it. By then Tony was in the suit. Bucky had weapons. Steve had weapons. Clint had a few explosive arrows. Hulk had leaped from the building over to the ship to smash it. That poor plane. It crashed down and Tony flew down to check for pilots and who had created it. She looked over at Clint and Bucky. "Want us to stay up here?"

Clint nodded. "We can watch for more," he said, calling that in. He scanned around them, each taking a different viewpoint to watch. Dawn spotted a plane but it was a helicopter when Clint checked. Though it had weapons and was flying around the Gold Exchange building. He called that in to 911, who said they were trying to handle it. Tony took off flying to get them down and out while the others handled the ship there.

"Jesus," Bucky complained.

"Barnes!" Captain America snapped. "Language!"

"What? You don't yell at Dawn for calling out for her Goddess."

"Yes I do."

"And I ignore it," Dawn quipped. "This is a good time to pray for mercy for them." She spotted something and turned Clint. "There," she said with a point. He used his binoculars, frowning. "Another one?"

"Over the water. Captain, new incoming ship. West, thirty degrees." They watched and waited. It came their way and then zoomed off when it saw its mate was down. Tony fired on it and it came down in the water. That helped and the Coast Guard was waiting for that contingency since Stark had said he'd take it down over the water. Clint, Dawn, and Bucky checked for more. Nothing more. Once it was all cleaned up they met in the gym to go over what had happened and why.

Tony threw down ID's. "Air Force. Both sets." He took a drink from his water bottle. "Dawn, nice."

"Thank you." She crossed her legs, looking at the ID's. "Not SGC by the tags on them."

"No, they're from one of the DoD contractors," Tony said. "I ran them on the way back. We'll have a general here soon."

Dawn nodded. "Let me get presentable, boss." She went to change. She came out in her favorite business suit she kept in there, going down to release the protections on the building. The people were looking scared. "People," she announced and they stared at her. "There was an Air Force experimental craft that was having an engine malfunction above us. It crashed about a block behind us," she announced. "That is why we put the shields up, because we did not know what it was doing when it appeared." They calmed down. "The emergency is done with and I'm going to release the shields over the building. Please be orderly and not stampede outside." She walked over to tap in the release code, letting them out. She had to release the stores and movie theater separately. That made everyone relax and Dawn getting a cup of coffee did too. She waited, spotting the general that was huffing her way. "General, Mr. Stark would like to talk to you upstairs in the Avengers gym."

"You fired on our craft," he sneered.

"Your craft had weapons pointed on a building that had over a thousand people in it, including my nieces." She stared at him. "Of course I did and next time I'll blow it up first. That way no one else has to clean up the mess when it crashed." She pointed. "Shall we?" He sneered. "I can carry you up there," she offered, sipping her coffee. "Mr. Stark said you were incredibly rude and he wants to know why." She waved a hand.

She walked off. He huffed but had to follow because there was no way Stark was going to come down to him and Pepper would probably deck him. He had been punched by her before over something stupid. He didn't want it again. She got them up there and let into the gym. "Mr. Stark, General Hayworth." She walked over to help with the injury Cap had. "Here." She let him hold her coffee while she checked the wound and put butterflies on it. Then a bandage. "With the way you heal it should be fine later tonight." He looked at her. She stared back. "What?" She took her coffee back, looking over her niece and husband. Then her wife. They were fine.

Tony looked at the general. "What were you planning on doing? Beyond proving that the Air Force can kill a building full of people?"

"We don't like your sort working for us, Stark."

"Then it's a great thing that I don't. I don't do weapons manufacturing for the Air Force or any other part of the military any longer, General Hayworth. I probably never will." He stared at him. The general didn't want to back down. "I don't know what you were trying to prove since we haven't made weapons for eight years now. Beyond the fact that you had a lot of disdain for this city's inhabitants. Did you even consider the loss of life you'd cause?"

"They're civilians and they could've gotten out of the way if you hadn't dropped those shields."

"The shields would've kept even your supposedly advanced weapons from hurting this building or them. Your ship might've hit a few other buildings however. Which were probably also full of people." He finished his water and threw it out.

"Boss, goo clone him," Dawn said. The general glared at her.

"Tell me a lie, General," Tony demanded.

"You're good at what you do." He went to goo after a pause.

"Huh. Nice catch, Dawn."

"He had that almost garlic smell," she said. "JARVIS, did you tape that?"

"I did, Dawn."

"Please call the Joint Chiefs, JARVIS," Steve ordered. "I'd like to talk to them."

"On the screen, sirs," the AI said.

"JARVIS, please run that footage and from the ships," Tony said. He did for them to see. The head Marine let out a swear. Tony pointed at the pile of goo. "So, now that we know we have a new goo clone, we have two ships that I've had to down here in New York, and four pilots," he said, holding up their ID's to the cameras. "What are we going to do about this attempted loss of life in this city?"

The head of the Army looked at the others then at him. "Any idea where he is, Stark?"

"Haven't really looked," he admitted.

Steve hung up. "Agent Hill says she thinks he went missing on his trip to Malaysia," he told them. He stood up. "She thinks it has something to with a group over there that has dabbled in world threats in the past. She's sending me their dossiers now."

"We'll come pick up the wreckage."

"I told the civilians it was a tester and it was having an engine malfunction," Dawn said quietly. "That way they wouldn't panic about the Air Force trying to kill them."

"That's a good excuse. We can go with that," the head of the Marines, and the head Joint Chief, agreed. "Thank you, Dawn." She nodded. "We'll test the rest of our staffs and find him ourselves, Captain. It's our job since he's one of ours." He nodded at that. "Let us know what you hear please."

"I can do that. I have to be in DC tomorrow because of the suggestion board being disgusted that we're not the FBI."

"Have fun with them. They make stupid suggestions all the time," the head of the Marines said dryly. "Wanted us to have sensitivity training about handicapped soldiers. I pointed out if they were soldiers, they're still soldiers, and if they're now disabled they'd find a way to make it back to the best they could be once they had gotten over the trauma. That's the Marine way. She got offended and tried to have me brought up on charges." Dawn snickered. "You?"

"Not yet. Thankfully. So far it's been the standards are too high and older agents should be pulled from the field."

"Lord help us all," he muttered, crossing himself. "We all need it from their sort." He looked at Stark. "I did not know and if I had I would've beaten someone to death."

"That's why I'm calling."

"Who?" the head of the Army asked.

"The local Coast Guard got the sank one. The NYPD is cleaning up the other one."

"I've got people up there. I'll have them pick it up," the head of the Army said, tapping out an order to his staff. "Thank you, Mr. Stark."

"Welcome, Generals." He hung up and looked at Clint. "Are you under that?"

"Yup, and I fully expect to use Dawn's puppy eyes to beg a job as either her assistant or to train your security teams so they're not slackers."

"Done," Tony said with a snort. "No need to make your wife beg me prettily, Barton. She'd get Pepper into it and I'd never get sex again until I gave in. So I'm saving myself the trouble." Clint grinned at him. "Dawn, how bikini are you going?"

"Pepper had someone bring Brian Gamble out to help tell me I didn't look fat, even though I think my thighs look huge." Clint stared at her, then shook his head. "I do!"

"It's muscle, Dawn. Let's get you a cinnamon roll to cover some of that muscle with the cuddly stuff again." He walked her off. "Later, guys." He took her home to feed her and then prove to her that she was just as skinny as before, but she had more muscle mass.

Tony shook his head. "Why Gamble?"

"He's like Clint light," Natasha said dryly. "Or so I'd guess." She followed her spouses. She liked Dawn being a bit heavier than she presently was. It made her better to nap on top of.

"I'll talk with them tomorrow to see if they need any help tracking him down in Malaysia," Steve said, going back to the office.

Bucky shook his head. "Dames are dames, even in this day and age," he muttered. "Always worried about how they look."

"Because Dawn looking bad would look bad on Pepper," Tony told him. "Which Dawn hates to do. It'd probably also look bad on her spouses. When you have a sexy goddess like Natasha on your arm and you don't meet up to the expectations she sets then you look dumpy and not worthy."

Bucky shook his head. "I don't understand all that. Give me a woman with curves and a real body any day." He walked off to go get a drink. Tony got the others settled and went over how they could help in those sort of situations. Pepper had the kids for now. He'd have plenty of time with the kids in a few days.

***

Tony looked at the reporter in the other tower's coffee shop early the next day. He was making a special trip. "Need a slight favor," he said, sitting down with his coffee.

She looked up. "What sort of favor? You don't usually like us."

"Callia's going with the ladies and Liz on vacation." The reporter smiled and nodded she knew that. "Callia's just starting into puberty and she's very self conscious. There for a while she had an illusion on so we wouldn't know she needed a bra," he said quietly.

"I remember those years unfondly."

"Due to her being injured, she can't put on a ...substantial suit. It's hard for her to get one on. So she's having to wear something skimpier than she wants to and we really don't want her in a bikini yet either. But the string bottoms are easier for her to get into."

"I can understand that. Sure, we can go easy on her. I'll pass that around and remind them of when they were twelve and thirteen." She smiled. "Is she going to be able to handle the beach?"

"Yeah. She's good at all that. She's in our pool all the time to work out in it."

"That's wonderful. Any good news on her progress?"

"She's had one leg that's moved itself a few times and she's regaining the strength. They said it'd be about a year and it's only been a few months so she's on track with it. She's not sure if her PT is pushing her hard enough but she comes home and does more exercises here."

"That's probably pretty usual. She was an active kid before."

"She still is. She was looking up the paraolympics." He sipped his coffee with a smile. "Thanks."

"Welcome. Most of us were teenage girls too." He smiled and left her to pass that along. She called all the numbers in her book. "Tony Stark asked for a small favor," she said in greeting once they were on the same conference call. That got a few snorts. "Callia's hitting that puberty stuff. She's *very* self conscious." She waited while they talked. "Exactly and with the injury she can't get into anything he said was substantial. So she's in a bikini even though they'd like her in more.

"So he wanted us to please go easy on her because of that combination. Can we agree not to embarrass the poor girl over her new breasts?" She smiled. "Thanks, ladies, and Craig." She hung up and emailed the others that she hadn't reached. They'd do the same thing. Callia was an adorably mouthy, smartassed child they had seen grow up. They were all sure she was the equal of her father's brilliance. They could leave the new breasts alone for a year or so.

***

Callia rolled out to the beach setup their first morning in the Bahamas. The resort had a private beach. She stretched up then parked her wheelchair next to where her aunt was already laying out. "Thanks for letting me sleep in."

"Welcome," Dawn quipped with a smile. "Need help?"

"Nope, I practiced." She carefully slid down and out of her chair onto her towel, arranging herself. "There." She sighed in pleasure. Her aunt handed her the bottle of sunscreen. "I've already got some on."

"Okay." She handed her a book, getting a grin and they settled in to bake and read.

Pepper and Liz came down together, Liz bouncing along happily with her mom. "Hey, Mom, hey, Liz."

"Wow," Liz said, staring at her. "You look hot."

Callia blushed. "Thanks. Is that a Stark opinion or just yours?" she quipped back.

"Stark," she said happily. She laid out her towel and promptly flopped down to get a tan. "This is nice. I can see why you go each year, Mom."

Pepper smiled at her. "It is nice." She heard a comment and looked over the edge of her sunglasses at the wench.

Dawn looked back at her. "Excuse you, Miss Noisy? I'm worth more than you. Can you shut up about my niece now please?" She blushed and stomped off. "Thanks." She smiled and waved. She went back to her book. "Sometimes people need a clue."

Callia giggled. "Sometimes, yes." She got comfortable. One of the beach guards came over to move her chair. "Don't you dare. I need it there in case I need to get up," she said quietly.

"It's blocking the beach, Miss. We can bring it back down to you."

Dawn looked over at him. "Touch it again, watch me complain." He backed off and went to get the manager. "That's it, I need to buy another house," Dawn complained.

"No, you don't," Pepper sighed. "This resort was supposed to be so good. And handicapped friendly."

Callia looked at the man huffing their way. "Do you know who I am?"

"No," he said, apparently he got that line a lot.

"Callia Stark." The man winced. "My wheelchair stays with me. I need it here."

"We have a fully accessible pool area, Miss Stark. It even has a lift so you can get in and out of the pool easier."

"I can do that pretty well," she admitted. "I wanted the beach. I'm sorry some cow who thinks she's important didn't like me being in the chair but I don't really care. I have a huge coming out at the expo in less than ten days. I'm starting school not three days after that in a regular one instead of being home schooled. This is my aunt and my mother's only corporate vacation this year. We thought your resort was a bit nicer than some of them." She stared at him. "I don't want to be snotty but the first thing I heard this morning was a hissing hippo."

"Callia," Dawn warned.

"She was."

"Yay."

"Fine." She looked at him. "Is there some sort of regulation that my wheelchair can't be with me on the beach?"

"No, there's not. If you want, we can bring out chairs. That would help you get in and out a bit easier."

She smiled. "I can flop around a bit. I'm working my way out of it. I don't mean to be snotty but we don't need this stress."

"I can understand that. We'll do what we can to ease that, Miss Stark. And Miss Potts and Miss Summers." Dawn grinned at him. "I'm sorry our other residents were bothering you."

"We pretty well made her embarrassed for making snotty remarks about her being in the chair," Dawn admitted. "Such prejudice is really out of this time zone."

"It is," he agreed, relaxing. "I'll have chairs brought out?"

Pepper smiled. "We don't need them really. It's okay."

"Is her wheelchair rated for the water?"

"My brother and I went over it to make sure it wouldn't short out or leak with the few systems we built into it," Callia said with a smile. "We're very environmentally conscious." He grinned and patted her on the hand then left them to bask in private. The other lady had complained that the chair was blocking her view and he pointed out she could see the great view from the other side of the beach if she wanted, and even closer, plus there was more shade for her delicate skin. They got her set up and it was nicely solved. The beach was first come, first served and most of the group was reasonable. That one was reacting due to the stress and the stupidity of the comments the other woman had made.

"Auntie, let's go play in the water," Liz said finally. Dawn stood up and made sure her bikini was adjusted well enough then took Liz out to splash around.

Pepper looked at Callia. "I'll go out after lunch." Pepper patted her and handed her the sunscreen bottle, helping where she couldn't reach.

***

That night at dinner, they weren't pleasantly surprised. The handicapped accessible table was about kid height. They picked a regular table with chairs instead. The waiter moved the extra chair and that worked. Callia's chair was adaptive and the lift worked nicely. Even if dinner didn't meet up to their last visit. It was food and that was good enough. The girls went back to the room to be put down. Pepper and Dawn sat out on the porch to enjoy the night air. Clint wasn't here to watch over her but that was about normal with assignments. He'd be there in two days. Natasha was stuck watching the kids. Dawn called to read them a bedtime story and they were all happy with that. Even if the person on the next balcony huffed.

Dawn looked at Pepper. "Next year, we'll try a new location."

"Hmm. I liked the one in Barbados."

"It was nice and even if Callia's on a walker, it didn't have stairs."

"True. What's our schedule when we get back?"

"We get back Friday, Sunday we're teleconferencing Brazil. The next week is the Expo and school starts for Callia. She'll be out that Friday for the show off portions." Pepper nodded. "The headmistress said she hoped it was a huge success. We have that dinner Thursday. She can wear the navy with silver dress to that." Pepper smiled and nodded. "Clint wanted me to pull out the dress of pure evil moving up me, the one from that one city event where we danced? He wanted me to pull that out. I told him it probably wasn't done but he shrugged and said who'd really care at that sort of event. It wasn't like it was a high society one. I'm considering."

"Do it," Pepper said with a smile. "You looked great in it."

"Thank you, Pep." She grinned at her. "Clint really liked me in it too. And hey, this time no broken ribs."

"You hope," Pepper teased with a grin.

"I'll kick whoever ruins my vacation. It's been a long year." She settled herself on the chair, sipping her coke and rum. She heard a noise and nodded Callia out. "Excited?"

"Spider." Pepper went in to kill it for her. She hugged her aunt. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Sticking up for me. People like that suck."

"They do and they should know better. Especially around kids." She smiled. "People like that suck because they don't realize that there's others who are just as important as they are." Callia smiled. "Go back to bed, kiddo. Tomorrow's the snorkeling trip and you can do most of it." She nodded, rolling back to bed. Pepper came back. "Huge spider?"

"Yes. I had to get the hotel guy to come get it. It was on the ceiling and *huge*."

"Huh." Dawn sipped her drink and got comfy. "Tomorrow's snorkeling."

"Liz and I are going to do the beach shops for a bit while you two snorkel." They shared a grin and got comfy. It was a pretty night out.

***

Steve may be in Malaysia but they got gossip news from the US too. He saw the small report on the kids and Pepper. He nearly choked to death. Bucky, who was helping him, patted him on the back. "She's wearing what?" he demanded. "Hell no!"

"They didn't cover her too much, Stevie. Calm down," Bucky said impatiently. They were in a bar, it was drawing attention. He smiled at the girl he was flirting with. "His stepdaughter's on a beach. She's wearing a bikini."

"Most girls do." She teased his arm. "He'll get over it. Most parents do."

"He's a bit old fashioned." He winked and smiled. She led him off to get a drink at her table with her friends, who were also involved in the people they were here to stop. Steve was seething at the bar. He could do that. Bucky had an in with the ladies of his destruction.

***

Tony stared at the news that was coming in. Dawn looked great. She had put back on a few pounds but her legs looked like they were all muscle. A few mistook it for fat but the rest knew it was muscle when she moved. Callia was being covered peripherally but not totally. They didn't remark on her bathing suit choices beyond it made her burgeoning body look nice. Which it did. One reporter asked why she was in that sort of mixed message suit but Tony's response to her story told her that it was easier for her to get into and out of due to her present infirmity. She let it go after that. Even the sleazy journalists knew not to taunt a father over his little girl.

Dawn got a lot of coverage because she looked hot. Pepper looked really good too but looked a bit skinny next to Dawn. Liz was hanging on her aunt in a few of the shots, and she was helping Callia with some snorkeling lessons in another one. They caught one of all of them in the water frolicking and Tony saved that one down. He was ignoring Steve's complaining text messages about Callia's bathing suits. He'd almost wonder if he was getting anything done but this was Steve Rogers and not even his eldest daughter going out in something skimpy would keep him from his duty. He loved Steve, but now and then he could not stand the guy and some of his attitudes he pulled about the kids.

***

Clint finally got in. He went to the resort to crash for a few hours. It was late at night so he could get up to greet the sun and Dawn's bathing suit of torment of the day. He needed a nap. He called the kids to make sure they knew he was okay and he was 'protecting mommy'. That made them happier and Philip told him to be good and to kiss Mommy a whole lot, she needed it. She looked lonely according to the press people on tv. He fell into the sinfully soft bed with the soft smelling sheets. Lavender he noticed but he could put up with a few more days of lavender to watch Dawn frolic.

When he got up the next morning, he got room service and settled out on his porch to watch the ladies. He had a crap view but he could see enough. He sent a thought at Dawn about his view and they moved to that side of the beach today. That was nice. He had a great view of Dawn's butt since she was laying on her stomach. Callia came out to flop down next to her. She did it gracefully but it was still a flop. Pepper and Liz came out looking nice. Liz was bouncy and giggly in her bathing suit and ran right for the water, which Dawn called her back from. She pouted but stayed in the shallow surf. Pepper spread out on Callia's other side with Liz. That let Liz rest in a mostly shaded area.

The ladies were watching Liz and reading when a huge wave came in. Clint yelled and Dawn hopped up to go get her. Liz was choking and coughing. She had hit the undertow for a minute. They got her calmed down and the beach guard came over to make sure she was okay. Dawn shot back at his 'she should've had an adult' as Liz was playing in water that only came up to her ankle and she was a good swimmer. They settled in again and Liz pouted at the water. Callia looked over at her and said something quietly, which got Pepper begged. They went out into the water together. This time hip deep and she was holding Liz. The waves were still brutal and nearly washed Pepper off her feet if it wasn't for Dawn. So they went to the pool, which Clint didn't have a view of. Though he did leer because Dawn's butt was mostly uncovered. She fixed her suit on the walk. Clint finished his breakfast and went down to join them.

Pepper smiled at him. "Thanks, Clint."

"You know I like to stalk my wife so I can watch her be hot but not have to brush off guys." He settled in the chair next to Callia. "So, how's it going?"

"Snorkeling was great. I liked it a lot." She smiled. "The water in the ocean smells funny."

"It can, yeah." He handed her the sunscreen bottle, helping her do her back. She smiled and they relaxed for a bit. Liz was swimming in the shallow end while Pepper read from the side of the pool. The lifeguard was watching her since she was the only kid in the pool.

Dawn smiled. "I'm so glad you kids all got advanced swimming lessons," she said.

"Me too," Callia said. "Though, diving I didn't like."

"Some people do and some don't," Dawn said.

"Can I try that?" Liz asked.

"When we get home," Pepper said with a smile. "That's the next level of swimming classes, Liz."

"Okay. Thanks, Mommy." She kept swimming. She was really good at it. She was tops in her class and there were no nasty waves here to knock her down. She finally got tired and they came back to sit on the lounge chairs and relax.

The lifeguard came down, smiling at Pepper. "She's really good."

"Thank you. All our kids started swimming classes at four." She smiled at him. "She's finished the advanced classes and is thinking about trying diving."

"That's great. I haven't seen too many kids that put their face in the water."

Dawn smiled. "Maybe she'll do that for her sport."

Liz looked over. "Like on the 'lympics?" Dawn smiled and nodded. "Huh. I might. I'm not that fast."

"You work up to fast." She smiled at the lifeguard. "Callia's had advanced swimming and is in the pool all the time as well."

"I'll keep an eye on them," he assured them with a smile for Callia, who grinned back a flirty grin. He left them to sunbathe. He wouldn't worry about them as much. Even when the parents weren't paying attention one of them was. And the young, busty one's daughter in the wheelchair was adorable.

***

Tony finally answered Steve back and said that was his final word, she was his daughter, and he had said it was okay. That stopped the complaining going on. He looked at the day's news coverage of the vacation with Philip and Chris. Maeve and the girls were napping in the playpen on the other side of the couch. The boys had decided to forgo the whole huge sectional couch and lounge on his lap. Which he guessed was fine. The entertainment 'reporter' was covering Dawn's bathing suit of the day, which made Tony blink. "Damn," he said finally.

"Ditto," Chris said, eyes wide. "Wow, Auntie Dawn.... Was I breastfed, Daddy?"

"You sure were, son. You and Philip both."

Philip grinned at him. "Used to be my boobs." Tony patted him on the back with a grin. Chris hugged him for that accomplishment. He took Tony's phone from the table to send a message to his father. Tony helped him with it but that was about usual. Then the boys crawled off Tony to play with the billion legos on the couch.

Tony sent his own text about Philip's bragging. That was so cute of his godson.

***

Clint looked at his phone and sent it to Dawn's. Sometimes his son was so weird. It was raining hard so they were upstairs. Clint was watching the weather because it felt wrong. He decided to go up there. The guy who ran the elevator gave him a dirty look. "My wife's up there."

"If you're sure, sir. We're not supposed to let people onto that floor that aren't staying there."

"I can call the wife if you want." He pointed since she was in the other elevator. "There she went." They went down and he met up with Dawn and Callia. "The weather's looking weird."

"That's what we came down to check." She walked them over to the desk and talked to the manager on duty, who had the weather reports pulled up according to the check-in girl. He agreed that they were looking at a rather large storm system. So they decided to check out and Dawn called the plane. Before the weather got too bad. Clint headed up to pack his room. Dawn and Pepper got the kids. They went to the house in Guatemala. It was barely raining there and they were too far inland for that storm to really hit them even if it turned into a hurricane. And hey, no waves. One gator or crocodile, Dawn wasn't sure which because she spotted it and shot it, but otherwise the pond was clean, the houses had guards on staff to protect it, and they treated the kids nicely. Dawn and Clint got some alone time. Pepper finally remembered to tell Tony where they were when he panicked about the storm. It'd be okay.

***

Dawn walked into the Expo's formal meet, greet, and bragging event on Clint's arm. He was in a suit. She was in that same dress that was red embroidery at the bottom and slowly tapered up to gold up top over cream silk. The corset dress made her look very sexy and a few people moaned when they saw them. Callia zipped over to them, smiling in her strapless silver and blue gown. She was happy and it showed. She had found a geek for her think tank. They were in college right now and Tony liked them too. So that was great. They went to talk to him. He was sucking up to Tony for an internship. Dawn gave him the web address where they were and he smiled shyly at her. They went to talk to others.

Rhodey walked in and paused. He stared at Dawn and Callia. "Damn," he muttered. He walked down there. "Short Stuff, Super Short Stuff." Callia swatted him so he grinned. "Yet again you proved you are the glamorous offspring of a Summers woman and a Stark."

"Thank you, Uncle Rhodey." She was trying not to blush. "I'm hoping I'm not too showy."

"You're not. Whoever says you are is an idiot." He stared at her. "Did someone nag you?"

"Stepmom thinks I show too much."

"Clearly, he needs to look at fashion magazines." He walked off with her talking about what they were putting out tomorrow at the formal Stark event. Which was great and splendid thanks to Tony. They had a whole pavilion for their stuff this year. Tony had shields up around the event because it was raining out there. In here, it was pretty darn nice. The few places where they had artistically let in rain were over fountains to make them prettier and over some of the trimmed bushes on display.

Dawn talked to a few businesses she invested in. They were very happy with her investment money and would love more. Dawn teased one that she had met during the last expo. He had a lot of happy things to show off and she helped him prepare for it. Dawn also made sure the expo food carts had real scientist food instead of just tourist food. They had learned from the last time. They had a lot of decent coffee.

***

Tony let the expo tape play for their tinkering board's introduction.

"We have to make a tape to introduce our tinkering board," Tony on the tape announced. Everyone was looking at the stuff highlighted on the table. The crowd couldn't see what it was.

"Why don't we just show up and be ourselves?" Chris asked.

"Because they expect Starks to have some sort of show," Tony and Callia said.

"Oh, that reason. Sometimes Starks can be subtle and sneaky."

"True, I snuck up on your mom for years," Tony said with a smile for his son. Callia snorted, shaking her head. "I did."

"You did. I don't think the tinkering board needs something flashy like your usual one, Dad. It's not like Justin Hammer's going to be there to try to prove he has a bigger dick than you, which he doesn't."

"Callia!" Bruce complained. The crowd was laughing a bit.

"How do you know that?" Rodney asked her.

"When he showed up to tell me that no scientist in a wheelchair was listened to he had on tight designer pants. Clearly, not worthy of a Stark by what I've seen when Dad's in swim trunks out in the pool." Tony swatted her. "Hey, I've got the Stark gene and I've just discovered boys. Of course I look! It's normal!"

"It is," Tony agreed. "Stare at someone else."

"I creeped myself out by making a mental comparison anyway," she complained. The crowd giggled at that too. "Beyond that, not like the tinkering board needs to prove we're bigger than someone like Hammer. We have some of the greatest brains in the US in it. And Chris."

"Hey!" he complained, swatting his sister.

"Some day you'll prove what sort of brains you have," she said with a mean smirk. "Then you won't have to drain your college trust for Red Bull."

He snorted. "You do." She rolled her eyes on the screen. "Dad, why do we have to put up an introduction tape?"

"Because they expect it of a Stark," he said. "It's our expo and we're always the first there with the flash and the best toys."

"Can we put up toys this year?"

"The whole toy division is in the tent, son."

"Cool!" He grinned at his uncles. "Grandpa, are you putting in your toy?"

"No, not really. It's a sample collection minibot, not a toy, Chris."

"It is so. It likes to go pluck samples from Liz all the time."

"I wondered where it had went to," Bruce said, shooting Chris a tolerant look and a slight smirk. "Quit picking on your sisters."

"They're Starks, they can handle it."

"Uh-huh," Callia said. "Remember, we're Starks so we can build something bigger and better to pick back for us," she said with a sweet smile.

"Good point but that means I get to build even bigger and better to defend me and pick back at you," Chris crowed with a grin.

"No using robots to retaliate at each other," Tony said dryly. "I've already seen those and I was not amused when they spilled the scotch on the rug." The kids huffed but got back to work. "Seriously, guys, how are we going to introduce ourselves?"

"We'll use this tape," Callia said with a shrug and a smile, looking at the camera. "Hi, Expo." Chris smiled and waved too.

Tony walked out as the tape stopped. "My tinkering buddies," he said with a grin. "Slightly like family, slightly insane.... and then there's the kids." The crowd laughed. "We have a lot of things to show you today." He clapped his hands. He was in jeans and a Metallica t-shirt. For the regular Stark one he had been in a crisply pressed designer suit and tie. His hair was all fixed. For this, he was just Tony Stark, genius.

"Let me introduce you to my tinkering friends. This is Dr. Bruce Banner, Dr. Rodney McKay, myself, of course, my daughter Callia, my son Chris, who has just this year started to join in. These are Andrew and Jonathan, who are my original proteges." He smirked at the crowd. "I used them to figure out how to teach my spawn." The crowd laughed. "And the newest member of our tinkering board, Dr. Charles Epps. We needed someone who loved math since we all need it sometimes." They ranged out in their assigned spots. "So, let's get started." He clapped his hands. "Bruce?"

"Let's start with something simple. We all have seen the rover on Mars." He held up his and the cameras zoomed in on it for the screens since it was barely visible. "This is a micro collection unit. Useful in hazardous situations. It's fireproof, bomb proof up to a certain level, has three methods of collection, and six separate containment storage areas. I can send this into a disaster zone, I can send this into a bomb blast area. I can send this into a nuclear waste facility that's leaking or like the generator in Japan that kept leaking until they could shut it down. It can give you live-time updates on radiation, temperature, humidity, and has an air and water cannon if you want to put on the attachment in case you need it." He put it onto the table and let it roll around.

"And the cannon can blow bubbles," Chris said. "That's how we tested it." He grinned. The crowd smiled at him.

"We can even use the enhanced bubble solution to put up durable bubbles around a sample," Callia agreed. Bruce smiled at her. "It's not strong enough for more than a few minutes but it'll give the bot there a bit of time to work on digging for a sample if it has to." The crowd clapped.

Tony went over a few of his then it was Rodney and Charlie's turn. They stepped up and Charles smiled. "Forgive me if I ramble a bit. I'm only used to teaching lectures, not showing off." He pulled up a virtual screen, which was on the cameras. "This... Is a really pretty formula Callia came up with. She came up with the idea to bridge energy sources."

"For our use, the SGC is using it to provide a different type of gateway using the Stargate," Rodney said. That got some talking. Charlie went over the math while Rodney got the physics of it. That was getting a lot of talking.

Tony smiled. "That's why we brought in Dr. Epps. Callia's only learning that level of math. Rodney was busy drooling on it, and I was busy hugging my daughter for thinking it up." The crowd clapped. "Now, for the kids. Chris? Did you have something?"

He stepped forward and bowed. "Hi, I'm Chris Stark." He grinned and waved. "Right now I'm working on the goat powered engine. Way back when Sean was a little kid about Maeve's age or so, his mom had twin sisters so we brought Sean up with us. Sean's Sissy's brother by her mom." They smiled at him for that. "Sean was a bit upset so Dad and Callia taught him about engines one day. Sean, whose Daddy was from Asgard like Uncle Thor, decided it should be goat powered like Uncle Thor's chariot. We love his goats of war." He smirked as the antique car was rolled out. "Way back when, when my dad was less than my age, Grandpa Stark put up a flying car. It didn't work real well," he said dryly. "So I thought that'd be a neat thing to do. I fixed it. It works much better now."

He let the cameras see inside at the odometer. "When I put one of our goat powered engines on it, Dad was testing the engines using a Ford on the race track by Malibu. I snuck a spare out and put it on here. Back then it had about fifty miles. Fifty-three if I read my notes right. Notice that it's got over two hundred now, all from floating." He got in and turned it on, then flipped the switch. The car floated and he got out with a grin. "I'm not going to make the tires turn for aerodynamic purposes. If it had to land suddenly that'd hurt it. I have it set so it'll only float ten inches above the ground. That's a nice safe distance, no need for air traffic controllers to panic like they did the day I got it up to about five hundred feet off the ground." A few laughed at that. He showed the testing video. "Our tester engines in the Ford can go 180 miles an hour for four hours that we've tested. We haven't wanted to push it."

"Our last test was an endurance test and it went 92 hours before it needed a recharge," Tony said, putting that up. That got a lot of applause. He smiled. "I tested the Ford against Dawn's Tesla as a comparison. I like theirs, it's cute." He grinned.

"Dad!" Chris complained, giving him a light shove on the hip. "My turn." He grinned. "On mine, I wanted to see if I could go faster. I got it up to 94 and then I got scared because old cars like this one weren't built for flying speed. I need to put wings on it but I haven't been able to recently. I know that my flying car goes just as long and as hard as Dad's tester does. So we're announcing in a year or so we're putting out the new goat powered engine for use in regular cars and if you want to talk about the flying cars, we can do that too." They clapped and a few whistled. Chris bowed. "Sissy, your turn."

Callia rolled out. "Hey." She smiled and waved. "My first time up here and I'm going to do something stupid." That got a few smiles. "I started the work that got Dr. Epps and Uncle Rodney so happy because of my injury. To be honest there have been a few days when we weren't sure I'd make it out of this chair and I didn't want that. There's too much I can't do it in it. Including work on cars with Dad and Chris." A few smiled at her. "So I was looking at a method of hopefully bridging smaller energy connections. The tinkering group went in both directions. Grandpa Bruce and I looked at micro applications while the others looked at macro ones. And I really do love the baby Rainbow Bridge/Stargate thing that they created."

She smiled. "It's cute and it's bright blue with purple flecks here and there on the pathway. It also tickles you as you walk across it." She rolled back to a table. "While I was working, I took in the family practice of tinkering with stuff." Everyone was staring at her. She held the small box in her hand. "This is a prototype. As in I finally built it last week after staring at the plans for over a month. I've tested it once." She waved and her neurologist came out. She handed it to him. "It goes on the spots on my back. I tested it last night," she said, lifting up the back of her shirt to show she had on a body suit underneath.

"Are you sure?"

"I am." He nodded and swabbed the area. "Last night, well, let's go back farther. At this time, I can almost sometimes move a leg. We all know why I'm in the chair, hopefully temporarily, but I can move this far," she said, moving one of her legs. She tried to move the others and it almost twitched, which got a few 'awws' from the crowd. "With this new prototype....." She hissed as it connected. "Switch on the side please," she said quietly. He flipped it on and she yelped and stiffened then breathed through it. She gripped the chair arms and stood up, taking a few shaky steps away from the chair. Her doctor was staring, mouth open, hands limp like they wanted to catch her.

She caught her breath once she was a few feet away from the chair. "I can do this." They burst out in loud applause. Tony moved closer. "I'm okay, Dad. For now." She looked at them. "I won't lie and say it's a perfect prototype. It enhances all nerve signals, including pain. Last night, the first time I tried it, I managed five minutes before my legs gave out. I'm hoping that by the end of the month I'll be up to half an hour in case of emergencies that require me to, say, get out of the car if we're forced off the road by the press again." She looked around. "It's not perfect. I'm also announcing that my doctor." She smiled and waved at him, then squealed as her legs gave out. Her father caught her. "Thanks, Dad."

"Always happy to help." He cuddled her and flipped the thing off. "Let me get the chair."

"I got it," Chris said and whistled. The chair rolled over.

Tony looked at him. "When did you put that on?"

"Sometimes she's not near it and needs it, like when she's on the lab stool working on something. That way she doesn't have to roll back to get it. She can just whistle." He grinned. "I also put in a lift kit because a lot of tables are too high and Sissy put in a stair climber just in case we have to go down them during a fire or something."

"That's really handy," the neurologist said, coming over to help. "That was foolish," he said.

"It was necessary. I have to build up an immunity," she said, cracking some of the audience up. She got settled and used a cloth Rodney handed her to wipe her face off. "Sorry about that. Thought I had a bit longer." She looked at them. "My doctor is going to have the prototype. It is on the way to being patented. I submitted the paperwork with the Stark patent guy this morning. I'm really careful about that after someone hacked me a while back. But, I am allowing him and others to have plans to build from so they can research and one of us, whoever he works with or myself or someone, can build something better.

"Something that doesn't cause the same level of pain. Or that you don't have to build such a tolerance up to. I know I'm not the only one who's going to helped by it and I'm not keeping this one to myself." She looked at Rodney and he shrugged. She summoned out the cube. "Or this." She smiled as she held it up. "I have no idea why my little power cube rotates like I'm in the southern hemisphere but it does. It's a smaller test power cube. Right now it'll power a kitchen for about a year." She smiled at them. "I have a lot of wacky ideas. It's what makes me a Stark."

Someone in the audience hopped up. It wasn't usually allowed but no one stopped him. "You're letting people have the plans for that nerve bridge?"

"Yes, I am. I heartily encourage other researchers to look at it, improve on my design, because I know I still have stuff to learn, especially about human bodies. Hell, I'm still learning about my human body." She smiled. "So yes, I'll let legitimate researchers look it over to see if they can improve on it. I don't want to keep something that can help others in a closet somewhere. We Starks aren't like that from what I was taught." She smiled. "So my neurologist, who is a fantastic guy and great with my injury when it happened, he can hand it to researchers he trusts.

"I don't want anyone to be stuck in a chair. I don't want anyone like that guy who played Superman and one of my new classmates stuck in a chair because they broke their necks. We Starks don't hold stuff back that could help people. That's why when I'm older I'll be starting a think tank to take all my weird ideas and turn them into things to benefit more people. That way things like my little glowing, tornado in a cube here can benefit others. That nerve bridge could bring a ton of benefit to people. I don't need the money from it. I have money. I've already sold a few inventions so I'm independent from Dad. That way I'm a Stark, not the Stark heir like he was when he was our age." She grinned. "They'll take it and do good things. Though I do hope no one takes it to make the Terminator. I hated that movie." She looked at her father, tossing him the cube.

He put it onto the table near Bruce's robot, which tried to take samples from it. It got burned for it too but it kept digging into the cube until Tony moved the cube away. Bruce turned his robot off. "I agree. If we make something that has implications for great benefit to humanity, then we're all for having people look at it, evolve it with us, all that. They can patent any huge changes they create." The crowd gave them a standing ovation. He looked at his daughter. "You deserve ice cream."

"I deserve eclairs, Dad." That got a few laughs. "And maybe a Red Bull?"

"They're still banned and I stole all of Chris's stash to hide."

"Shoot." She looked at her doctor. "Tell me how it goes?"

"Gladly." He hugged her. "You need to clean those spots."

"I will."

"That was really dumb."

"I know. Sometimes science demands though. That's why we're Starks. Science is our goddess and she's a picky, finicky bitch sometimes who demands total slavery of our lives." The crowd laughed and she rolled off with him. He did clean the spike connecting areas for her with some alcohol pads but she hugged him. "Let me know."

"I will. Thank you, Callia."

"It causes a lot of pain," she warned.

"We can work on that." He left to call together some of his people so they could go over the tape of the demonstration and the device. Inside the box were plans.

Tony smiled. "I'll close this down on that triumph. Let me go get the kids treats." He walked off and the others followed. They let the closing music play and the curtains came down. He hugged Chris. "I want to try the flying car," he said and realized his microphone was still on. He turned it off and handed it to Bruce, hugging Callia. "Damn, you are my spawn." She laughed and hugged him back. "I'm super proud and you're still being spanked for trying that on yourself." She shrugged and cuddled. "C'mon, I saw the Dippin' Dots cart."

"Can we have real ice cream, Dad?" Chris asked. "Please?"

"Sure, sundaes it is. Your mom won't mind. Much." They laughed and the whole group went to have sundaes, which Dawn set out ingredients for in the Stark pavilion. After hearty, gooey, decadent sundaes, they settled in the back area to talk about things and how it had went. Pepper came rushing in and hugged Callia hard enough to pick her up. Tony grinned. Chris climbed Pepper to get his own and she hugged him between them. "They were good, Pepper."

She pulled back to look at Callia. "Don't ever test stuff on yourself again!" Callia just cuddled some more. Chris hopped down and climbed into Rodney's lap to talk to him about flying stuff. He pulled out his phone so he could talk to John Sheppard.

Pepper put Callia back down, wiping off her cheeks then her daughter's. "I'm damn impressed with both of you." Chris grinned and waved. "Chris, no flying the car without adult supervision please. Daughter, no more testing on yourself." She went out to help with the expo details going on.

Dawn slid in to hug Chris and hand him a gift bag. He cooed at what was inside. She winked at Tony and handed Callia hers. "For your first expo experience. Though you've got an extra one for that from Natasha. She said she hated the Terminator movies too so she'd make sure they didn't create one." She strolled off to get their geeks lunch and coffee. Including the head geek and his kids.

Chris looked in his. "Wow, a how to fly book." He hung up on John laughing to flip through it. "Dad, do we have a simulator?"

"Somewhere. Or we'll borrow the SGC's version and make our own."

"Great." He showed him the book but kept the three really excellent candy bars to himself.

Callia looked in hers. One had a giftwrapped tiny box. There were five excellent candy bars in hers and a book of 3D diagrams she liked. She settled in to look at them then got curious and unwrapped the present. "Aww, Auntie Natasha got me a pendant." She held it up. It was a blood ruby and diamond pendant on a platinum chain. "Wow." She carefully put it on and smiled. "Cool." She went back to her book.

Tony grinned at Bruce, who smirked back. The kids had done great things. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that they were Starks. True Starks, all Stark, heirs to the great throne of Starks. Hell, even Howard wouldn't be able to doubt that.

63: Confessing Old Ones

Clint's really horrible dream vision leads to him going to a bar to hang out with the actor who played him in the movies.

Clint woke up with a gasp, looking around the bedroom. Dawn and Natasha were starting to wake up so he calmed his mind and his breathing. That had been a horrible nightmare. Damn that was something he'd never do, even if prompted, but it was evil and maybe some had stuck to him from the bad guy of the week. Or possibly Liz Stark because now and then she did go evil. But it had to come from somewhere because he wasn't like that. He wouldn't do that to his women. Not ever. He slid out of bed, glancing in at the kids. They were all sleeping for a change.

Though Mira must've heard him, she started to crap herself and she seemed to reserve that honor for him. He snuck in to change her before Lexi got the same thought. He was so good at it, Mira barely woke up and went right back to sleep. He cleaned his hands on his way to the kitchen and their small bar. That dream was lingering. It was disquieting him and it was driving him nuts. He'd never do that.

He poured a drink and went up to the roof to look around. It was cold, but he wasn't feeling much of it. His mind was still stuck in that horrible vision. He felt the shivering that had nothing to do with the wind and drowned it in the liquor. That helped some. He looked around, ignoring the press people camped on the other roofs. The spell to hide the house hid most of it but the roof looked ghostly and the top five inches of the living room windows had that same almost seen quality. It was how someone had gotten a few shots of the kids playing with Dawn.

Speaking of, he felt a warm arm go around his waist as his jacket was put over his shoulders. "Bad dream?" Dawn asked quietly. He nodded, finishing the drink in one gulp. "Wanna share?"

He looked at her. "I'd never do that."

She kissed him with a grin. "I know you'd never hurt us, Clint."

"No...." He pulled her into his little command blind she had set up for him. It was his mancave away from the kids. His safety and security. She settled in his lap. He kissed her. "The dream was really horrible. Somehow we had someone who looked like Jean Gray from the movie showing up. She was pretending to be a reporter while messing with my head, verbally and not. She was helping with a plan Hera or someone had to punish you for stepping in where you didn't belong. They thought you were getting uppity basically." She cuddled him. "They had me do something really mean and it...it sucked, Dawn. I'd never do that. I'd never intentionally wear you down that way and I'd never intentionally play you that way."

"I know," she said quietly. "So do you."

He gave her a squeeze. "I can't shake this."

"So we'll act against the horrible vision," she said quietly. He looked down at her. "What started it off?"

"You were helping someone that Lady Mnemosyne refused to help."

"There's been a few of those and I think personally someone clouded her."

"They did not," the Goddess of memories said as she appeared. "I think you overstep yourself, Key."

Dawn looked at her. "And yet, you were letting a woman suffer, a true healer no less, suffer because she lost her daughter to an accident. She was drowning so hard that she begged you to take that single memory from her so it would not make her join her daughter."

"We have...."

Dawn got up and laid a hand on her arm, canceling the spells on her. "Now look at her." The goddess huffed but looked and started to sniffle. "I'd never let anyone suffer that way. It was one memory, and not the one of the funeral, just watching her daughter die in that car crash. Before she followed."

She nodded. "I would not deny that," she said quietly. "What have they done?" She went to look at the other cases that Dawn had stepped into.

Clint got up to kiss her. "Thank you." She grinned. He kissed her again. "I...."

"Go get a bit drunk. I'll fill in for you today if there's something huge," she promised. He smiled and left. "Take someone with you to watch over you, Clint. Just in case?"

"I can find someone to have some beers with as long as you can stop that problem." They both looked up at the goddess screaming. That hadn't been Mnemosyne. That had been Gaia. "Let me know?"

She smiled. "I'll come find you later, when you're okay and you've shaken it." He nodded, going down to the sidewalk to get a cab. He knew not to drive like this. Dawn went back inside, looking at the huffy goddess standing in her living room.

"Huffy am I?" Hera demanded.

"Yeah. You're steaming up the windows." She stared at her. "So you really wanted some of those people to die? The ones who actually still believe in your powers and pray to you?" Hera flinched. "I may have to help now and then, even as a mortal, because I'd never let anyone suffer that way." She stared at her. "Nor will I ever let anyone suffer that way."

"I doubt you know what suffering is," she sneered. She flicked a hand. Dawn's spells protected the kids. She glared. "It won't last forever."

"Nat, move the girls," she called.

"You'll find she's not able to help."

Xander appeared and grabbed her by the hair while Phil got the kids, Natasha, and Dawn to the temple. "Let's go talk about this plot because you're whiny you're not the top goddess around any longer," he said in her ear. "I've had enough." He took her to the judicial tribunal, which Gaia had called. He slung her forward. He put up the memories Dawn had shown him when things started to go wrong and no one knew why. The tribunal all sighed and nodded. "Just tried to hurt Dawn's kids to get back at her for protecting others."

"She is a bit pushy," one of the trial judges said.

"Yeah, she's a lot like me," Xander agreed with a smile. "I adore that about my near-little sister."

Dawn appeared and went for Hera with her nails. Gaia tried to stop her but one touch of Dawn's skin showed her what was going on. She got out of the way. Suddenly, Dawn was The Key, not Dawn, not a semi-immortal being, but The Key. A glowing, pissed off assassin who knew why her daughter was presently having a brain swelling moment to kill her. Hera shrieked as Dawn attacked but it wasn't going to be stopped. She couldn't fight Dawn. Ares wouldn't come to help her. Neither would her husband or other children. Dawn snorted. "Clearly I'm the better mother too." She looked at Xander. "Permission."

"Go for it." He sent her back in time himself. Clint still had that nightmare, unfortunately, but Dawn had made sure the girls couldn't be harmed by moving them right before he woke up. Then she had come to tell one of the other senior gods and Xander what had happened so the rest could replay. Which changed only the future of the children. Xander looked at the judges. "I'm so glad I taught her tactical thought."

They considered things as they laid, then looked at Hera. "Her green eyed curse has rebounded on her."

Xander nodded. "There is that pesky rule of Karma." He stared at Hera. Then at the judges. "So what do we do about this? Because I won't have her hurting people for no reason. She's made others not do their jobs and it's creating pain and misery among those who have done nothing to deserve it." He put up the other interactions that had been happening. They decided Dawn had done the right things when the gods were out of their minds. The few that she had others handle for her were generally good ideas. One wasn't but they saw why and it was a better idea after all. They sighed and stared at Hera. She had been the top goddess in all the pantheons, one of the strongest left. Now... she was a bitter old woman who hated her job, her family, and her duties. "I don't know either," Xander said. "Unless we're sending her to therapy."

"If that would work," one agreed. "I doubt it will though." He checked, Gaia had freed the other gods from Hera's insidious little curse and they were righting their own areas. "Demeter?" one asked.

"That's not her doing," Gaia said. "That's mortal caused, not us. I would fix that if I could. Demeter as well." She looked at Hera and sighed. "Is that therapy idea any good?"

"Possibly but it'd take years," Xander said. "It's to help you work out your own shit through talking and things." He smiled at her.

"Can you send Odin there?" she asked dryly.

"Yes, I can." He smiled at the tribunal, which shuddered. "I think it'd help the All Father to talk about his feelings, don't you?"

Loki appeared, staring at him. "He'll smite you and me for that idea, son." Xander smiled. "Even if you rend him powerless for a few weeks and that therapist would be long gone by then." He looked at Hera, shaking his head. "You are truly a woman of many twisted feelings. Perhaps you should be allowed to be a teenager again? That way you can redo bad decisions that were forced onto you?" She glared at him. "I do happen to have some deaging serum," he said smugly. He held up the tiny crystal vial. "That would let you be a strong mortal teenager and let you make your own choices about spouses and children for the span of a mortal lifetime."

Xander touched it and frowned. "It's curdled. That would probably start her on the same curse I had, which I'd never wish on anyone," he told his father. "Remember the hell I went through?" he said quietly.

"I do. I would not wish that on most people. Though a few...." He smiled.

Xander snorted and smirked a bit. "There's a few I'd like to give it to too. But I won't because I'm supposedly on the side of good."

"When does that curse wear out?"

Xander shrugged and smiled. "No clue. I said at least a year." He grinned at his father. "I know Strife's out from under it. Coyote."

"Damn you," Loki sneered.

Xander grinned. "Being on the side of good has gotten you legitimate worshipers like Janus has. It's gotten you status. It's gotten you power. Even if you and Ares do have to juggle some things to make it more...interesting." He smirked. "We like you on this side, Dad. Isn't it so much nicer than people swearing about you?"

"Sometimes. Not always."

"Hmm, yet people on the light do have to sometimes help others on the light lighten up."

Loki shivered. "That's nearly a thought worthy of Discord."

"I think she's still stuck too."

Loki could suddenly see the bigger picture about why his son had done that. "You little bastard," he said fondly.

Xander smiled. "Well, you never did marry Mom."

"I'm not sure why anyone would have," Loki muttered, then shook his head. "Most of your chaos outbursts have worked to help people in the long run. Though a few, like the disco balls that floated after you and the butterflies, had no known good reason."

"Actually, they created good feelings when people needed them. They were planned that way." He smiled. "It just happens to have worked out. Janus did bless me to be a force of probability upon my birth." Gaia whimpered and shook her head. He grinned at his father. "You know, I really should've had one of those every Asgardian decade, not every mortal decade or so. You never even noticed that the last one wasn't a full decade."

Loki blinked. "I hadn't thought of that." Xander smiled. "Damn you."

"Sometimes, but mostly thanks to Mom and Phil's wearing that out of me."

"Good!" He stared at his son for a moment. "I thought I was sneaky, and Ares had plans."

"Well, I'm your son," he said dryly. "And Mom had plans too. Just not good ones. Then again, I did get trained by some of the best at making plans. The Dwarves were very handy at that."

"Good point." He was suddenly respecting his son's skills. "You are one of the best things I ever did."

"Have a few daughters to take the evil side of your powers. We could use a Discord-like goddess and maybe one'll be the Goddess of therapy since so many need it. Or that could be the same goddess I guess."

"Not a chance this decade."

Xander smiled. "Someone has to. Do you want that sort of power going into one of Aphrodite's triplets?"

Loki considered them then shook his head quickly. "No, I'd rather that not happen."

"Then maybe it's not such a bad idea, huh?"

"Perhaps. I'll talk with my spouse later." Xander grinned. "Little shit," he said fondly.

"I am what you guys made me be."

"Good point. You'd be more normal if it wasn't for Odin's picking on us." He patted him on the arm. "I'm proud, son." He disappeared, going to talk to Ares, who had heard it all. He was looking impressed about his son. "I'd take credit but I truly can't."

"Me either but he's good at it." They saluted Xander with mugs of ale and got to work on those other plans. Xander had a few necessary ideas. Including that the Goddess of Therapy should come from a chaos parent. Strife and Cupid could have a kid. They'd like that. Strife adored children.

Xander grinned at the judges again. "So, what am I doing?"

"Give her the same vacation that Cupid got given," one decided. "Let her find happiness and work on it that way."

"I can do that. Without the blocks beyond on her powers outside of emergencies." Xander looked at Hera. "We'd all like you to be happy." She started to open her mouth but he slapped the blocks on her and sent her to Earth as a child. D'Hoffryn helped him place her in a great family that would help her regrow into a happy young woman who might find love out there. Then he went to do the same to Zeus. Because they were mated. Maybe Zeus would figure his shit out and make Hera happy finally. Or maybe he'd figure out why he was such a bastard when Hera found some nice guy. He came back with a smile. They all shook their heads but agreed it was a good idea. Plus it would give Ares something more to do for a few years. That would keep him busy.

Gaia went back to her house and giggled herself sick with Hestia. They adored the creative punishments Xander came up with.

***

Clint found his target already at a bar and walked in. A few people looked at him then at the actor then at him. He shrugged and got a beer, handing it to his friend. "I need to talk."

"Sure. Huge problems with the new story line?"

"No, huge problems in my life. I'd talk to Nat but she'd kill me for thinking too hard." He walked him into the back room, settling down to drink and talk. He wanted to talk. He needed to talk. He couldn't figure out what to say but he really did need to talk.

"You look like hell. Bad battle?" the actor who looked like Clint and played him in the Avengers movies asked. They had spent some time getting to know each other so the actor could handle his part the best possible way.

Clint sighed. "Not exactly. Bad things from on high prompted a vision nightmare that had me turning on Dawn to put her down and things. It's freaky and it hurts that they think I'd do that. Which I'd never do."

"So, how did you and Dawn meet?"

Clint grinned. "At SHIELD. After the New York battle. She might've been in New Mexico with us but Coulson kept her and Tara apart from where I was with everyone else. Thor has said he saw them sometimes. They taught him how to play rummy for M&M's. Dawn said each time he made a bad remark about women one would take something off the wall and hit him on the head with it. Apparently Tara was feeling a bit more aggressive. Back then, she'd stutter and not even look at you in the face." He sipped his beer. "Nat and Coulson did a lot of helping Dawn back then. They were training her to handle it the next time she got snatched."

"So, you two met on the hell carrier?"

"HQ. After the battle of New York. She was doing assistant things and I kept hearing rumors so I looked. Then we met and I realized Coulson's a really picky big brother about her. Still is most of the time, even though he's stepped back some and it's making her pouty." He took another sip and leaned his elbows on the table to lean on them. "Nat explained Dawn to me before we went to the training camp Xander had set up for the first run through it. It was a good warning but I upset Xander thanks to something Fury wanted me to pass on.

"So she knocked me out, magically tied me to my bunk, went through all my stuff, then was sitting on my stomach when I woke up. It was the weirdest interrogation ever. She gave me more facts that Fury had withheld. It made me look at Xander and Dawn a lot differently. Then our Loki showed up to taunt her and she showed she was scary too. By then Nat was there and she didn't know that Dawn could be scary either. Dawn learned to hide stuff from everyone from Xander. She's really good at it sometimes."

"Can she still do that with whatever bond you guys have?" he asked.

Clint nodded. "Yeah, she can. Even with a very tight telepathic bond between us." The actor looked a bit confused. "As we found out later, her showing me something that Fury hadn't to help me understand Xander better led to a slight connection. During the time in Romania, we were using that to keep ourselves from being taken over. She'd call and ask me for music to take her mind off things. We'd make escape plans and find out we were in a VR training simulation system.

"Nat barely had a bond with her then and that came later, when we got free. That was to help Dawn because she got flashes from that. They tried to screw her up hard to make her break and be only theirs. Lady Mnemosyne and Loki both worked on that shitpile they installed in her head. Neat things like we broke up because it'd put her in danger but I'd still attack her some day to make her my bitch." The actor shuddered. "And that was probably the nicest. They were going to make her kill me for training. She still gets flashes now and then but we worked how to get around it with sparring practice and things."

"You do spend a lot of time in the gym."

"I did before the Avengers thing got started. Being in SHIELD means you have a higher standard of badass to live up to. Plus there were a few times when Nat and I had something similar done to us. Sparring wears out those urges to handle things the easy way." He finished his beer and got them another round, paying for it. He put some money on the tab. "I need it. It's been one nightmare of a week." The waitress nodded, taking the extra money back to do that for him. Clint looked at him. "I don't mean to unload on you."

"No, I'm good. I can listen and I know that half the stuff you do most people would freak out at." He grinned. "I probably won't use it beyond playing you better."

Clint grinned. "For all I care, turn the non-classified things into a mushy love story sort of things. Dawn would coo about that."

"She does seem like the mushy sort."

"Yeah but she won't watch girl movies with Natasha unless there's guns or car chases." The actor laughed and nodded, sipping his new beer. "We were so screwed up back in those days."

"You three or you and Natasha?"

"Kinda both. Coulson and I helped Natasha heal from all that shit in her history, and helped her smooth out her remaining rough edges. She could pretend but couldn't handle it in her own life. She could totally sex people up for intel and then not understand why her date of the night wanted to make out. It took nearly five years for her to get to the point of 'I'm okay' in her own mind."

"It sounds like she fought it hard."

"Very hard." He sipped his beer. "Nat's a fighter but Dawn's ... Well, she's a pick up a bat and turn you into goo sort most of the time but now and then she'll subtly pick at a point until it unravels. She learned that from Xander too." He took another drink and put the beer down. "I adore the ladies of my future destruction."

"They are?"

"Yup. Some day, Nat'll kill me. She's promised if I'm ever that injured she'll come kill me nicely so I don't suffer. Dawn won't let her but she'd probably be able to get around Dawn. Maybe. Dawn's a lot sneaker than we think."

"How deep does the bond go?"

"Nat's got history with mental programming so they taught her how to shield her mind. Dawn told me there's lessons for that during her vacation in Miami. She and I had talked a few times around the office, which was after the whole training camp time, but she was basically Coulson's part time assistant until that vacation."

"The bikinis were hot," he agreed.

"Yeah but not just because of then. Thanos, the big purple guy, had a cult that was working on summoning him. They needed a virgin sacrifice with power."

"And she was," he said.

"Yeah. It wasn't just that she was way too busy for two normal teenagers. Nat and Coulson both said she was doing good in school, working full time with Stark and Pepper, then helping her mom each night. Coulson said there were plenty of nights he carried her up from the car to tuck her into her couch. Of course, he had no idea that Dawn had handled a few demons and others trying to take her back then but she did apparently." The actor winced. "People like that seem to be attracted to Dawn. That mostly ended after the battle in Sunnydale, though there were a few notable takings after that. Including the guy that started her on that sexy picture habit." He took another drink, shaking his head. "That was while we were in Brazil, after Romania and our time in North Dakota for healing. And Guatemala hiding from everyone."

"So you guys finally got yourselves free and then you went to North Dakota?" the actor asked. "Why?" he asked when Clint grinned and nodded.

"Cheap to live there, still within the US if something happened and the team needed us. Dawn could heal there. We could all heal there. The day we got free, I was thirty pounds under my usual weight. Nat was about twenty under. They had kept me and Dawn sedated through most of it and between the battle and that, Dawn was about ninety pounds soaking wet with rocks in her pockets. We told them she had PTSD due to something on the college campus we supposedly all came from. She went to work at a gym. Natasha helped the guy who ran the local motel with his billing and things. I worked at a hardware store.

"It was uncomplicated and defragging for us. Dawn got through most of the healing she needed to do and it strengthened our bond. We helped her get rid of most of those training memories. Loki showed up to help with Lethe water while Xander was still incorporeal. He didn't want Xander to get mad." He smirked. "He's always had a slight soft spot for Dawn. We finally figured out why thanks to Dawn and an apocalypse I had to go back and stop." He gulped that beer and got given another one. The waitress stared at him.

"I am not driving. At all. Even tomorrow." She smiled and made sure he'd be fine. He looked at his buddy again. "Back then, we all needed the uncomplicated defragging time," he said. "Dawn needed to learn how to push those back. She had a slight slip in there and went after the guy who had orchestrated it on the Romanian side. That's when we realized that Dawn had been pushing down awfully hard on those things. That's when we taught her how to spar and work through those urges."

"How did you three start all this? I can see you and Dawn. I can see her and Natasha at times, though she seems a bit...unwanting at times."

"Nat and I had been together for a bit before all that stuff at SHIELD. That's one reason why I recruited her instead of shooting her when ordered to. She didn't know who I was. They had messed in her memories again."

"So they got that right."

"The writers had copies of classified personnel files, dude. Someone who used to work for Stark hacked them." The actor winced, taking a sip of his beer. "But that cult to Thanos that wanted Dawn? We found out they wanted Dawn when Xander told us about Thanos, a few days before the end of her vacation. She showed up in a bikini that was highly indecent and they told her she had to fix that. She angsted for over a week with everyone putting in a lot of pressure. Including Fury's problems at the time. We got together when she picked me to fix that problem for her. I was about the only good choice since she couldn't do it impersonally and she couldn't do it in the clubs in Miami when she tried."

"Being a girl can be a bit frustrating," he agreed.

"Fury found that out when Dawn turned him into one and he had to break that same barrier to get switched back. He realized why it took a week." He grinned. "He had Dawn given rophies at an event Stark made her go to. We talked after that and the next night we decided was a good time since I had gotten us time off. It went well. Dawn was a little hellcat even back then. She told me she was taking stripper pole dancing lessons as a PE for her gym in high school. Had the pole." That got a grin and a new sip of beer. "She's not bad but she still can't do the spins and stuff. She has the upper arm strength but can't climb ropes either.

"She did okay and I taught her a lot over that day and a half. Then she got dosed with a renewal potion." The actor moaned and shuddered. "Oh, yeah. That made her eligible again. Things were going really bad. We had way too many problems with Thanos. Dawn was trying not to think about having to die during the battle. She was stressed. We were stressed. She was great stress relief but I ended up fixing that problem eight or nine times before it finally got taken from her." He finished that beer and took his next one to put beside him with a grin for the waitress. She left them alone again. "Then that attack in Amsterdam happened."

"The one with the giant robot?"

"Yeah. Led back to the same douchebags that had put a price on her head through the Russian mob to capture her before that battle. The council over the slayers were not decent humans by any means. They figured they'd get Dawn from the Russian mob after they made her *docile*." That got another shudder. "We saved her and she saved herself a few times before we ended most of that threat for good. Though they were sending her offers to work in their higher up places for a few more years. We found that out about when the church in Georgia started to happen."

He shuddered, looking at his near twin. "I so wanted to go destroy them for her. But... way back when, after that attack in Amsterdam, Xander took her to Asgard for a few days up there to work on her magical focus so she could access it better." That got a nod and the actor sipped his beer. "Dawn had a migraine from the magic she used during the battle. She had clenched her jaw so shut it wouldn't open at all. They got all that healed and they came back with dinner from Valhalla's kitchen. Mead, boar, veggies. They interrupted me curing Natasha's dosing with that potion...."

"Ow. Really?"

"They thought it might distract me so I'd be unhelping Dawn," he said dryly. "Anyway, she and Xander showed up with dinner. So the three of us, Tara, and Coulson piled into my room at HQ to have a quiet, calming down dinner. Loki had given Dawn a book that gave witches who asked answers. That's why Tara decided it was the right night to get pregnant. Apparently she was under some sort of vow that she'd never touch a man willingly but that got around that. She and Coulson were very delicate and barely got undressed as I remember on the floor at the foot of the bed. Coulson sent Dawn over to distract us so we wouldn't notice. Nat's always had an...interest in that direction and we were all tipsy so I suggested it to Nat, who pounced.

"It meant Dawn got used to other things. Nat likes things a bit rougher than Dawn does and hates to be teased. Well, she loves to be teased but she'll swear at you for it." He grinned. "We worked out well and it was casual until we got free. Then we spent five months in North Dakota healing and getting on each other's nerves. Dawn found out Nat's picky about cleaning things. The bedroom at the farmhouse was so cold Dawn preferred the couch and I took the little nook on the ceiling beams I set up. Nat usually joined me but now and then she got some Dawn time. We finally worked it out as we're together and it was good."

"Then you got busted at that one battle with the wannabe storm troopers," the actor said.

"Yup. Stark took us from work and brought us there."

"How?"

"The SGC has a beaming satellite. Stark took the plans for it, upgraded it so it was better, and instituted it for certain Stark personnel and emergencies." He grinned. "It's real handy at times. We like it a lot to get between the two labs."

"So you guys got home..."

"Found out it had been all over the news. We moved to Guatemala. Dawn found a rental house on a pretty lake that was probably meant to go to a drug lord. Nice house, huge house. Built in gym and things. Way to big for my tastes but the girls liked the pond so I put up with cutting back the jungle now and then. It meant Dawn could pull back out the bikinis. And did often, especially after I ended the drug dealer that lived on the other side of the lake. Who had been the father of a guy Dawn dated but he had tried to kidnap her so she went clubbing instead.

"Which was when we found out HYDRA had an interest in her. Right before we busted him in Miami on her vacation." He smiled. "Dawn's always been a flirty tease. Even back before all that in Miami she was a flirty tease. A perceptive one too. She said some really wise things about internal scars and some people may look like a creature but they weren't and things like that. That's when I found out there's shielding exercises." He smiled. "Dawn's one hell of a young woman back then. Hyper too." He gulped some of his beer.

"We were in Guatemala and Dawn was doing things we didn't know. She went to visit some of the nearby ruins and found an ancient portal that led to some lost tribes. Found it by accidentally tripping into it and they didn't kill her for it because they were scared of the magic stuff. We found that one out a few years later. We found out a few months after she had to deal with a few other thugs that thought she was pretty enough to force her to marry one of the top people in their cartel.

"They kidnaped her from the local market and had a priest on hand. Apparently she enforced her no with their weapons. So the priest was needed for different reasons. We had no idea about that at all. Even with us being in such contact that she'd accidentally broadcast through us if she was sick, we never found out a few things. Though I still like the guy in Brazil who had her kidnaped from right next to where we were sitting to force her to do sexy photographs. Dawn said he met his eventual wife the same way. We *really* needed a leash set for Dawn back then."

"I take it there were a number of those?"

"Oh yes. Way too many for my tastes. Used to drive Nat nuts enough that she actually nagged instead of chided subtly. That guy in Saudi from that family. A few drug lords and a few weapons dealers. Bad guys love Dawn."

"I guess you're dangerous enough for her?" he teased with a grin.

"Barely," he quipped back with a smile. "I make up for it in other ways. Including that I put up with her shopping habits."

"She's very fashionable."

"She is." He took a sip of his beer. "When we first got back to New York, we had an apartment building that she had talked to Stark about starting on her own but he had taken over the idea. Her bedroom had a wall of closets. And a tiny vanity area. We had normal closets in the rest of the building but hers was an entire wall. She had a clubbing clothes closet, a formal gown closet for all the stuff Pepper made her go to with them. She had a work suit closet. She had off-duty clothes closet. When we ended up merging the apartments, I kept most of mine upstairs and a few normal wear things down there in a closet Dawn cleared for me. Natasha didn't even try to fight and kept all hers downstairs in her own closets."

"I've heard a few people claim that Dawn has an outfit for any occasion."

"Yup, still. And she's teaching the girls and Philip that habit. Though I'm glad Philip's getting out of his kilt phase. I'm hoping Callia's recent attempt to drive her father to drink himself to death, with Liz's help, isn't going to spread. She taught Liz and Chris about Bollywood, since she had liked it a lot. Liz loves saris." He grinned. "Liz is the one who told Chris that boys needed to look pretty to be a Stark and them having a pretty dress was a *great* thing. Which spread to Philip when Sean took him to meet some goth kids he hung out with at college."

"So Chris used to wear Liz's dresses?"

"Whenever she suggested it. That made him pretty and girl like. He's the only guy in that family outside the adults. When Pepper's hormones started to bother her, he asked her to please give him a brother to even the odds out."

"I can see that need."

"Liz started on her 'Chris needs to be pretty' back when he was barely crawling. She'd go shopping with Mommy Pepper and sneak in a lace dress for Chris. Which then Steve found and tried to deal with but she always found it and helped him put it on. Stark went 'eeh, it's a phase' and dealt with it when it got noted. Steve flipped his wig." His buddy smiled and nodded he might too. "Steve's been slowly sliding back to 'why can't the girls dress like women did in my day' recently. Not sure why but it's gotten to the point where Dawn slugged him because he told her she was too flirty and turning Callia flirty. Apparently he didn't realize the whole point of bras was cleavage. And now that Callia has cleavage he's really upset that girls show those things a tiny bit. Tried to complain about all her clothes so Callia took them to Old Navy to show him what modern kids really wore and how slutty it could be. He had a fit about that and he's still complaining about things like showing her shape and her being more comfortable in a bikini bottom at the moment."

"I saw some of that in the news."

"Stark about kicked his ass over it."

"Huh." He sipped his beer. "So how deep does that bond go?"

"We've pulled Dawn out of coma-like states. We've held a number of relationship talks in there too. Because now and then Dawn will panic that we actually are humoring her or something and try to hide even more stuff. Which we hate. We handle it though." He took a sip of his beer. "Dawn's great about hiding stuff to this day, even with it. She hid that we were upsetting her horribly when she was pregnant with Lexi.

"We had no idea that she was seething at a few things until she basically snapped at us. Then my idiot brother's clone tried to get the kids so she decided we'd be breaking up by her going to New Zealand. That's how we found out about Dawn's emergency ID and her owning a few farms. And that her sexy photo habit had kept going." He took another sip. "She didn't say a word but Pepper snapped at us for it. I wasn't around for most of when she was carrying Philip so Nat and I were doing the first time parent stuff and cutting her out. I was a dumb fuck."

"Is there some favoritism still?"

"Some. Nat and I have history, and we have a bipolar sort of relationship. Nat's ... Nat likes to be on the outside more due to a lot of things. She likes to guard herself. Dawn likes to clamp on and ride it for all it's worth. I'm more inclined toward Dawn's style of relationship but my history with Nat makes me try to bring her in, which means a lot more attention to her. And Dawn never complained until it got to the point where she was being totally ignored. But we worked on that. We're back on better footing."

"So, Natasha likes to watch you two have your thing," he said with a smile. "While she's protecting herself."

"Not always. She treats Dawn like she's a very fattening treat anymore. She was raised in a time when women didn't like other women. It was something that got you locked up in a pretty hospital with the extra long jackets. They taught her it was only okay for the job when they took her in. So, she's comfy at home most of the time but she and Dawn don't interact as much because that's slightly come back out. Nat's a lot more happy to treat Dawn as a seriously fattening and deadly treat she sneaks. Then again, due to the *job* we're in the limelight and that's what started that off."

"Because that would get that old prejudice noted," he said.

Clint nodded. "Yup. Which is why she likes to watch us flirt in public but at home she'll curl up with Dawn. Not that they don't argue. Those two fight like bitches in heat at times. I'm usually stuck in the middle trying to calm it down. It gets really bad when the hormones get involved. During the pregnancy, Natasha was seriously down on Dawn reading 'frivolous' things like fantasy novels. I found some of them a bit meatier than some of the classic lit stuff Nat reads. I read mysteries mostly," he said with a shrug. "She learned to like mine but all that was pushing on her mood swings to push Dawn away. We worked that out after New Zealand too." He paused. "She said Lavelle had a farm there. She didn't really inherit much on what he did with the legit side of his business and she said that Lavelle had told her about it but they didn't really have time to talk during that convention she went to so she could talk to the potion making Xander." He considered it then smirked. "She lied about that to protect that other identity."

"Is that in case she wanted to leave? Or just for protection?"

"Probably a bit of both. There's plenty of times Dawn's like a mini Xander. He's real self-protective too because he's been hurt a lot over the centuries. Dawn's seen some of that. That and I think it was to help us disappear if we ever had to. We had no idea she had bought that house in Guatemala until over a year later. Or that she had a hidden apartment in Rio. Not until the nanite thing. New Zealand is her second one since we unmade her first one when things got rough in our real lives."

"Nanites?"

"Oh, so bad," Clint moaned, shaking his head. "Warren and a few others dosed Stark Tower with nanites to make them turn on Dawn and attack her for fussing over them. Some of them got into Dawn too. Stark went into a deep, dark well. So did Andrew and Jonathan, and McKay since he was there. We had to help her protect herself, and I listened the whole time while she was getting away from everyone. Then because she was infected, she flipped out when I came in to cure the guys. She left for Singapore and we had to track her down to help her. Which fragmented her mind a lot and nearly killed her. That's after we found out about the life-like robots and she was working against them at that time. Then someone made a wish and I got infected instead of everyone else so it was better that way."

"How many times has that been the answer to a problem?"

"Three I think. Maybe four. The nanites, the thing that was going to kill Dawn and us while she was pregnant with twins that turned into just Philip, the plane crash with Joyce and Bruce...."

"There was?"

Clint gulped some beer and nodded. "There were other situations going on at the same time. That was a happy coincidence we could solve at the same time. That's when she got stuff sent to her desk that sent her to the infirmary for weeks on end." He finished that beer in a few more swallows and got another one. The waitress gave him a pointed look. "I have a huge tolerance, dear. I always have. Raised in the circus does that to you." She snorted but handed one over. He put the mug down in reach then shrugged. "Dawn has almost no tolerance. She gets more flirty though."

"Huh." He sipped his own beer. "You guys have a weird yet really difficult relationship."

"It's not all problems or the girls nagging each other about the laundry and things." He got a pointed look. "Nat's...particular about the laundry and how you clean the house so we let her tell the housekeeper how to clean the house when we got one." He smiled. "Dawn and I aren't nearly as picky and Dawn will let the house turn into a wreck before she cleans it. Or did before the kids. No one's been able to let the house get that dirty since then."

"Kids do change things."

"Yeah, they do. I remember having long flirty nights with Dawn at the club. We don't get to do that as often anymore. The girls get kinda cranky when we go out for the night. No more sex on the couch. Or the kitchen table." He shook his head but was smiling. "It's usually great. It's special and it's hot and we adore it but now and then we do argue just like everyone else. We just argue over things like the people who steal Dawn or who want to steal the kids. Or over someone's past making them unable to deal with human beings for a while."

"I guess that makes it more normal. You hear things, ya know?"

"Oh, yes, we do know and throw a lot of fits if it isn't something we've let out."

"There's rumors that Dawn's had herself fixed so there's no more kids ever."

"Don't know. She did get the little clips put in to make sure it wouldn't happen soon but she might or might not. I'm leaving that totally up to her. Then again, we might adopt from the overcrowded system. Save a kid like me and Nat were." His buddy grinned at him for that. "We haven't even talked about it yet. We'd like to get the girls out of diapers and into school before we do talk about it. Or maybe not. Not sure what Dawn wants. Philip's a little Natasha half the time but flirty like his mother. Lexi's more like me and Mira's more like me if I was an academic like the ladies. Don't know how that happened though." His friend laughed and nodded. "Maybe the next one can be all like Dawn or Nat. Even if it's a boy. Just...not anytime soon. Diapers are hell."

"I'm sure I'll find that out."

"I heard. Congrats."

"It's...complicated."

Clint nodded. "Even normal things are complicated sometimes. Dawn has a real gift for making simple things complex but yet somehow better, usually."

"I guess she didn't have too much experience dating before you two, huh?"

"No, just a few here and there. And one we ran into who was trying to shoot Steve on a beach." That got a wince and a head shake and some beer drunk. "I don't know. The ladies are mine and I love them. Though there's days I'd like to spank them both. Nat would break my arm in multiple places and Dawn will tie me down and leave me there if I try it though."

"Dawn was quoted as saying she was the dangerous wife."

Clint nodded quickly. "Nat's dangerous. She's deadly. Dawn's...creative and just as deadly. She might just stab you. She might turn you into a tiny white mouse and let you live out a few years that way. Nat torturing you hurts, Dawn's ruins your mind."

"I heard something about white mice."

"I made her turn them into hedgehogs instead of white mice after they found the eighteen she had put into a storage room at Stark Tower and forgotten about."

"What were they doing?"

"Trying to take her. That was before she got pregnant."

"Oh, those people."

"Yup. Lots and lots of those people. The Stark guards at the time asked her to please keep it under a group meant to pull a carriage for Callia." His friend burst out laughing, shaking his head. "Yeah, that's why I made her change to hedgehogs."

"Damn."

"Some days." He grinned. "But if we are, most of the time it's a pleasurable damning."

"I saw that article where she said you were her personal sex god," he said with a grin.

Clint grinned a goofy grin. "It was pretty spectacular. Just there on the couch, cuddling, and then I started to explore and just gently used my fingertips over most of her body. We got higher and then she talked me into going a bit primal, then we went back to normal stuff to finish wearing ourselves out. I love that Dawn lets me be the possessive guy I am at times."

"We heard you dragged her out of a doctor's office."

"She thinks she's getting sagging breasts from breast feeding Philip and carrying both kids. No more than normal but she's a bit ...with the way the reporters stalk her and nag about her figure sometimes she's a bit not wanting to hear them nag about that at her age. She was going to get them tightened and I reminded her that we had put up an agreement between all three of us that we did not need plastic surgery for any reason. I told her she was trying to take my toys away and got her better bikini tops. She still fussed for weeks."

"She's nicely proportioned."

"She is." He smiled. "I love that she's not all muscles and flat lines. She's got curves and a bit of softness. It makes her more womanly. Nat's got some of that but she's a lot more angular and I don't want to put that down but it's easier to cuddle Dawn than Nat, even if Nat didn't hate to cuddle."

"A womanly woman is a great thing. A lot of women today aren't."

"No, and I don't think I'd mind. Dawn sometimes turns into this warrior bitch and that's okay with me. As long as we're not in the middle of an argument when she pulls it out. Natasha hates it. Claims it's not subtle and it draws too much attention to us. Then again, Dawn's subtle enough that we didn't realize she had to keep rescuing herself. Nat discounts a lot of that."

"Sounds like Natasha is maybe jealous?"

Clint nodded quickly. "A lot. Dawn has all that emotional stuff that Nat had to learn to repress and she lets it out. She encourages Nat to loosen up and let her hair down. Which isn't Nat's strong suit. Nat likes to have something to push at. Dawn will let you push at her until she reaches her line of 'I'll be damned' and then it's a fight. Nat pushes at me and I push back so she relaxes when that boundary's reaffirmed. Dawn doesn't really do that. Then again, Joyce was pretty normal and we weren't raised that way."

"Joyce and Dawn seem a lot alike."

"They are," Clint agreed. "Very alike. Grandma will bust someone's ass at work if she has to. Dawn has a few times with the geeks at Stark. Then she babies them, just like Joyce does."

"Grandma?"

"She said we could call her Mom but that felt a bit weird so when she became a grandmother with Philip, we decided that was okay. She enjoys it. Bruce sometimes enjoys being Grandpa instead of Bruce. He adores explaining things to the kids." He grinned. "He got to explain boys to Philip recently when he realized that circumcised kids look different. Philip found that out and locked himself in a closet in daycare to look at himself better. Called it quiet time." His buddy choked, shaking his head. "When Mommy Dawn caught him, she was not pleased. He wanted Grandpa so he got to explain it to him. Then I got the 'why do girls look different' question."

"Wow," he said, sipping his beer. "The kids are really smart."

"They're little smartasses. Philip still likes to moon people he's picking on. He mooned Mommy Nat the other day and got swatted for it. Dawn swatted her back for the spanking and stuck Philip in the corner. Then she reminded him he's only supposed to show that part of his body to others if he's in Playgirl or something."

"She did?"

"Philip has had a nudity problem in the past," Clint admitted. "Including laying with the cats naked. He used to meow at us too." That got a grin. "So Dawn started to tell him how he had to keep his clothes on unless he was doing something to get paid for it. It finally got through his head. Though, he didn't seem to mind when Chris told him how you didn't wear big boy undies under kilts. He told us later he thought that might be a bit nasty but Mommy had taught him how to clean himself up really well so it might be okay." His buddy choked again, moaning slightly. "Philip's kinda unique sometimes. And he hates to share. He is so much like Mommy Natasha at times." He sipped his beer.

"She doesn't like to share?"

"Nope."

"At all, like not even her shampoo?"

"Nope and you don't find too many assassins who would. It's a risk that someone could poison us using our shampoo or body wash. We all keep our own and Nat tends to lock hers up. Though that could be because her former trainers kinda subliminally programmed her and Dawn to dose each other with fertility meds that way, not real sure. Even before then she told Dawn how bad it was to share that stuff and how dangerous it was."

"So assassins don't share anything?"

"No. We don't let people hand us food usually, unless it's someone like the waitress and we're pretty well known to the bar. I wouldn't be letting the waitress bring the beer but I took a general antidote before I came out just in case. Dawn makes them taste a lot better than they should."

"I've heard rumors that she could poison people." Clint smiled and nodded. "She's very dangerous." Clint nodded again, even happier with that, then drank some more of his beer. He was finally starting to feel calmed down. He looked at his phone since it beeped. He answered Natasha back and put his phone back in his pocket. "Which wife?" the actor joked.

"Nat. She's wanting to fuss at the kids. Phil's a little diva when you first get him up. Natasha taught him Russian fairy tales so he calls her a mean evil queen most mornings. Dawn just gets yelled at until she glares back. Then he gets pouty. The girls are hating being woken up this morning too. I pointed out she could take the day off to play with the kids. She could use a day off. She'll probably send back that's not her idea of a fun day off."

"I figured you guys had some help."

"Beya. She's one of the ladies that used to run Valhalla's kitchen and is presently in Xander's temple kitchen. She went to Stark for Callia when his last one killed one of her pet mice. She's a great lady and she has a *lot* of patience. A lot more patience than I do. She'll stare down Philip until he gives in. I can't usually last more than five minutes."

"He's stubborn?"

"He's *so* stubborn. He's got all three of ours stubbornness combined at times." His phone rang. He looked at it and answered it. "Morning, son." He listened. "That's a good thing. Why are you up this early?" He smiled at his buddy, putting it on speaker. The kid was complaining loudly in Russian at his mother. "No, that's her job, Philip, and you'd hate to miss playing with Chris today, right?" That got a very loud huff and a snort. "Have Mommy Natasha put you in something that makes you feel nice."

"No, pretty!" Phil complained. "She wants me to be ugly, Daddy."

"You're never ugly even if you're wearing something hideous," he and Dawn said together.

"Is! Is icky and scratchy and yuck!"

Dawn sighed. "Philip, pick a shirt," she ordered. "Mommy Natasha can match the shirt with something. Not that one. It's too small again." That got another huff. "Here, try it." He did and whined when apparently it ripped. "See, told you it was too small. I was going to give that to Lexi and Mira."

"They do not need hand-me-downs."

"It was pretty and girls need pretty!" Philip said firmly. "Mommy, fix it?" he whined.

"I can do that. It's only a small hole. One of them can wear it for the next pictures." Philip cheered and bounced around by the noise since it sounded like he tripped. "That's why you need to put up most of your toys at night," Dawn said dryly. "Now, pick out a shirt. You have two minutes or you only get toast for breakfast and we don't have time for jelly on it."

"Ewww!" Clint and his friend both laughed. "Daddy!"

"You're the slow one this morning, kiddo. Hurry up and you can have jelly toast."

"Fine. Blue one?"

"I love your sense of style," Dawn said. She blew a kiss. "Tell Daddy to have a good day."

"Be good boy, Daddy. Not make Uncle Tony laughies at you. I kiss sissies for you." He hung up with a blown kiss.

Clint put his phone back up. "I love the kids. I didn't think I was going to but I adore them most of the time. At least until it's a pooping olympic medal run." He sipped more of his beer. "Crap, that means we have to clean out everyone's closets and go shopping. Dawn'll probably want to do hers too so I'll have to help."

"You help?"

"Yes! Otherwise she gets some really flirty stuff that drives me fucking nuts." He huffed. "Nothing too showy but by the time the tailor fixes it she's usually in the running for queen of dick teases. I need pictures and I don't have them."

"I saw her in that one sheet dress."

"So down on the scale. That was sexy and sultry, playful Dawn." He texted Stark, who was probably up by now in the lab. He got sent back a few pictures and the file from her modeling. "That's Dawn's past things. Stark said to wear the pink one and the black one was because her closet got slimed by a neighbor." He let him see.

The actor stared then shook his head quickly. "Wow. How old was she?"

"That's right before the battle in Sunnydale so eighteen."

"Wow." He saw the other file downloading. "Looks like you're getting work files."

"No, I'm getting Dawn's way of making herself feel sensual. That's her modeling stuff."

"I saw that museum exhibit. Damn!"

"We didn't know about that until then. She totally hid it from us. That's how she made herself feel sexy." He let him go over it, shaking his head at a few moans. "Go ahead, we all did." He grinned a mean little grin. "I so made Gamble swear about those. I only sent him and Benji a few but they *so* swore at me for it."

"Wow." He handed the phone back so Clint could put it back into his pocket, sipping his beer. "You're lucky."

"I am. I'm a lucky little bastard most of the time. Even when Natasha does yell at the kids." He looked up with a grimace, yelling at her. Dawn was yelling at her too. Natasha huffed but let it drop for now. "Nat really needs a spa day," he said, finding that and setting up her appointment for in the morning. He sent her that information. "There, that should help her bad mood." He put his phone back with a head shake and draining that glass of beer. The waitress gave him an odd look. He smiled. "American beer is really weak beer. You should taste the ales on Asgard, which are about twenty-five or so proof for the weak ones they feed the kids." She let him put more money on the tab and got him another beer, walking off shaking her head. "Thanks," he said more quietly.

"It's what was needed and I'm learning a lot." He smiled. "Some day maybe I'll find a girl like Dawn to drive me nuts."

Clint looked at him. "It's worth it, no matter how many times you have to kidnap her back or rescue her." That got a laugh. "Seriously! I've rescued Dawn a lot with Natasha and without her. Dawn does good at rescuing herself but she's always very happy for the help. Even when someone's just engaged her temper in a way that makes her glow and growl. Then she'll try to fuss over us for some reason instead of letting us fuss over her." He took a sip of his beer and smiled. "She switched me to nicer German beer. Thanks!" he called with a smile and a wave.

The actor shook his head with a grin. "That was nice of her." He smiled. "Dawn going to work?"

"Yup. Nat's going to spar with the trainees today. She'll be frustrated all day so we'll spar tonight in our gym with the kids cheering us on. We made them a little padded bench behind a see-through plexiglass shield so they could be safe and we'd hear them if they needed something huge while we sparred. Unless Beya wants them for a few hours."

"Do all the houses have gyms?"

"No. Not really. We spar in the backyard when we're in LA or North Dakota. The last one in LA someone had to tell the officers that we weren't having a fight, we were sparring. They were not amused at Gamble doing it, but he was staring in awe at us." Clint grinned. "Because we're great at it."

"I'm sure you are. How long do you spend in the gym?"

"Two hours on the weights and machines a day when I'm home, a pretty fast 5K run twice a week, then sparring three days a week against Nat or someone, plus two hours of team level sparring once a week."

"Wow."

Clint smiled. "It's being called being in Avengers shape. Dawn manages it and manages to still keep some curves and plushness, which we do like on her. Nat's all muscular and a bit feminine but Dawn's cuddly and feminine. Or as Natasha put it, Dawn's the real wife of the family." His buddy laughed, shaking his head. "She's good at it and doesn't mind." He felt someone brush across his neck and looked back. "Like I didn't hear you coming," he teased.

Dawn smiled and kissed him. "I figured you did. I can sneak up on Nat but not on you." She kissed him better with a smirk. "Pepper fell in the shower. Tony's declared the whole building has the day off so nothing takes time from his spoiling her for it. Everyone but the daycare and the infirmary."

"She hurt herself badly?" he asked, finishing that beer.

"Nope. Twisted her ankle a bit. Slipped on some conditioner that spit out." She grinned. "So I conveniently have the whole day off and an announcement." Clint blinked at her. "Tony *really* hates New York."

"Figured that."

"Tony's building the new New York head office for Stark upstate." Clint moaned. She nodded with a smile. "We're going to be in Ithaca."

"That's going to suck for our commute to work."

"Mom's moved all Avengers to either Avengers tower or the LA office. Including Stark and you and Nat." She slid onto his lap, perching on his knee. "So...... The team's taking a vote."

"LA," he said with a smile. "I love the LA house, even if I didn't buy it for you." She kissed him, nibbling on his lip. "Dawn," he moaned.

"That's what Tony wanted too. He missed his house."

"What about the reno he just did?"

"Chris is going to take over this tower. Callia's going to renovate the old mansion some year soon. So Chris'll have the penthouse, maybe with Liz or Maeve."

"That's going to be great. They have a plan to get easy dating areas."

Dawn smirked. "Tony's already laid down the law about Chris's future dating, which cracked Callia up, and Steve's sulking."

"Again?"

"Still."

"Bikinis?"

"More than. Came up again. Tony said he might want to stay here for a few weeks."

"Shit," Clint muttered. "Moody Stark then."

"Pepper mediated but yeah. So we're all going back to LA?"

"I guess we are. The house here?"

She considered it. "Want me to sell it?"

He shrugged but kissed her. "You bought it. Our name's not even on the deeds, Dawn."

She snuggled into his chest and kissed him. "Yours is." He stared at her. "They wouldn't allow me to put more than one name on it unless we're part of an ownership corporation. Hers is on the house in North Dakota."

"Sell it," he said. "If we need to come back here long term we can rent for a few months." She smiled and kissed him hard and fast, making him moan and grab her hips. "Damn," he said with an evil smirk. She winked. "That means more bikini time."

"It does, but also more dressed up time."

"Less protests and we can go out to dinner out there easier." She smiled. He spanked her, getting swatted back. "Go get pretty for me?" She leaned in to say something in his ear then nibbled. His moan was a bit loud and deep but if everyone else blushed he was good with that. "Let's get you back to the hotel."

"I can cab. This is only my second beer," he said with a smile. "You guys go have fun."

Dawn grinned. "The fangirls are outside. NYPD is not amused at them staring in awe at the bar." He smiled but shook his head. "C'mon, I'm driving." She got up. Clint looked at what she was wearing, then up at her with a grin. She smirked. "What?"

"You evil dick tease."

She leaned down to kiss him. "I always cure whatever problems I create for you, Clint." He growled. She smirked. "That's a sound I love. C'mon." She helped him up and smiled at the actor. "You're mostly on the way." He laughed but let her take him out to the SUV. He smiled and waved at the fangirls, who all squealed at him and Clint, who smiled and waved too. They got in and he grinned. Dawn smirked back. "They're previewing major clips of the newest movie at the next Avengers convention."

"I heard. We're having a panel."

Dawn smiled. "I know. I've already arranged Tony's part." She drove them off, dropping him off at his hotel so he could clean up and go to work later that day. She and Clint made it to the red light at the end of the block before Clint leaned over to kiss her hard and too long so they missed the green light and got a lot of honking.

The actor smiled, shaking his head as he walked inside. The people he was working with stared at him. "Dawn and Clint." That got a nod. More honking. He looked. Clint apparently needed to pounce Dawn a lot. "It's only six blocks to their house." He went to shower and get breakfast. He came down to tell them that news because they were working on one of the Avengers centric outside stories. He sat down at the table with his sandwich and tea. "Stark is moving the New York office to Ithaca. The towers will end up being Chris's headquarters."

The guy who played Stark smiled. "Why?"

"Probably got tired of all the shit. Dawn said he misses his house in Malibu." That got a smile. "Callia's going to take over their old mansion for her think tank."

"Awww." They looked at each other. Then at him. "Any other news?"

"I found out how Dawn and Clint actually met." He grinned and ate a bite.

"What happened?"

"Clint had a mind-ripping dream vision and it unsettled him that much."

"I guess it happens," they decided. "So they're moving the Avengers to LA?"

"Full time. Though there's some non-marital stress going on with the other trio." That got a shiver. "Apparently he's a bit mad that girls today are flirty."

"Yeah, that'd probably bother someone from his generation," the director said with a grin. "Their backup team?"

"Taking over out here probably." He shrugged and ate another bite. "Clint said Dawn's often stolen." They smiled and nodded at that. "And he likes to rescue her. Apparently they have fantastic sex. Oh, and Dawn has modeled more than that show in the museum. Clint said it's how she makes herself feel sexy. The portfolio? Damn!" The actors all smiled at that. His phone beeped and he looked at it. That same file was downloading but it was from Natasha's phone. It had her name listed. He smiled. "Why did you send me that, Natasha?" he muttered, accepting it. And the link. He had to blush. "Clint is the man." He let them see that file while the live link was in the background. Dawn and Clint in the parking garage. Dawn was loud. Clint was apparently into nibbling on Dawn's chest and throat. The actors all stared. He shrugged. "It said it came from Natasha's phone."

"Must be the On-Star camera," the director said. "Wow." He looked at the pictures and shivered. "Damn was right." Finally Clint's phone rang and he turned off the camera in the overhead light. It cut the feed as Dawn bit Clint on the throat. They all smiled at the phone. "Wow."

"I guess that's how they play and roll," the actor said with a grin. "Clint's clearly The Man of the Avengers." They all nodded and settled in to talk about the upcoming shooting schedule instead. Clint and Dawn were fascinating but they had other things they had to think about today. Even if Tony Stark had just flown past in his Iron Man suit to handle something. Or maybe he was making a run for Pepper. Who knew with the Avengers at times.

The End. End of Series.

64: Another Dawn, Another Xander, Another Clint

Someone nicely *gifts* the Barton family line with a blessing from another realm's Xander's family. So they have to talk about how to handle and ease it. Also, Dawn has smutty ideas for Clint's birthday. NC-17, m/f/f, f/f/f, gender switching.

"We have to talk to another Xander," Dawn said as she climbed into bed.

"Why?" Clint mumbled into Natasha's shoulder. They had went to bed an hour earlier while Dawn was looking something up for Stark. They were back in New York for a few days for Dawn's job.

"Tony heard that someone gave the kids a blessing to be like a happy Xander. The ones that appeared look like it's going to mimic his family curse." Clint sat up and stared at her. So did Natasha. "The family curse isn't *bad* but it's to make sure you have a true mate." Clint nodded slowly and Natasha sighed, shaking her head. "By gifting and tempting them for four years after they finally decide on a real mate. If they're not strong enough it'll break them up. For the girls, and it did hit Mira as well as Lexi because they were generous, their spouses tend to die after a year if they're not strong enough to handle them."

Clint blinked a few times. "Okay," he said after thinking for a second. "How bad is it?"

"Xander had to hold semi annual auctions at Christies for all the stuff. I know he said a few of them died and left him things. A few tried to kidnap him to own him. One gave him a horse. One left him an estate in Dubai after killing himself in police custody."

Clint blinked, looking at Natasha, who was shaking her head. She hadn't heard of such things on this plane. Then at Dawn. "Who nicely *blessed* our kids?"

"He heard rumors that it's from a chaos mage we have here, one that was involved in that dragon problem in that other realm that I warned you guys about."

"Ah," Clint said. "Chaos mages."

"Stark heard because Ares showed up to warn him that Loki was now comatose and so was Janus from the backlash of the blessing. He wanted us warned because it was the perfect time for a battle for the Avengers and no one was going to be able to help them."

"Is it really a hidden curse?" Natasha asked.

Dawn slowly shook her head then finished faster. "No, not if they have good taste. He's with a CSI named Horatio down there. He's a bit older. It starts on consummation and vows from what I've seen of it. Their line here died out a few generations back."

"So.... he finds a mate, they get married...."

"Vows don't require marriage. They require a 'you're mine, of course I'm yours' statement during a mushy moment," Dawn said with a grin. "My first set of vows to you was back in Guatemala during your birthday. They don't have to be blood vows or anything, just spoken, and there has to be sex to activate it."

Clint sighed, laying back down. He pulled both his girls down to cuddle them. "Why did they do this?"

"That I'm not totally sure about. I think it was meant to bless the line so they stay strong. I'm not sure why he'd think that we'd have weaker witches without us." Clint stared at her. "I have no idea. He swears to Janus and Janus is still comatose from the power."

"Great," Natasha said. "Why include Mira? She doesn't have magic."

"Because she's my might-as-well-be daughter," Dawn said. "I'm pretty sure if we have more kids, it'll hit them too. I can't be certain until they're born."

Clint grimaced. "Do we want more kids?"

"I was thinking maybe of adopting a kid?" Dawn suggested. "Taking in a foster kid." He pulled her closer to kiss her. She grinned back. "Other than that, not really sure. Not for years."

"I don't want to ask someone for a favor."

Dawn grinned. "He is his godfather so that chaos thread that used to drive you nuts won't be hanging out there for him."

"So he'll only be kidnaped half as often?" Natasha asked dryly.

Dawn pinched her. "No!" She looked at Clint. "We can ask when they wake up."

He nodded. "Should we go see him?"

"I'd like a factual account of what happened during his."

"Good point."

"Also, he has a designer friend that makes him specialty clothes and that's your birthday present, dear." She grinned and snuggled into his shoulder, one arm going over his chest. "He has a son and a daughter. They still have their Willow, she got stopped earlier. They have kids too."

"Huh." He pulled Natasha down, cuddling her too. "We'll figure it out." Dawn yawned and put one leg over his. He smirked. "I'm not the mattress, Dawn."

"No, you're snuggly."

"Yes I am." He looked at Natasha, who smirked slightly but curled up on his other shoulder. "Sure, I'm the favored sleeping spot."

"Yup, you sure are," Dawn quipped quietly, getting a poke from Natasha for it. She couldn't wait to see Clint in Xander-tight clothes.

***

Dawn smiled, letting their Xander open the portal to the Xander convention realm, where she found a pouty Xander. She hugged him. "We're going to see a Xander in another Miami because someone gifted my kids with the same blessing his family has."

He blinked at her. "Which one?"

"The one with Horatio."

"That's not real definitive," he said.

"The one with the family money making blessing," Clint said. "Because that's what it sounds like."

"Oh, him. The one that's a dom who's with Horatio and Greg or just with Horatio?"

"I think he pulled it off the one that just has Horatio. They mentioned a family in Dubai."

"Both of them had that problem family. The one with both him and Greg had seven," he said smugly.

"I was going to go to the other one anyway because I was going to ask his baby mama to make Clint pretty stuff for his birthday." She grinned.

"Oooh, Xander tight clothes," he said, then smirked. "I could like that but we can't freak out his Horatio snuggly." She shrugged and they went through once he had opened the portal. He smiled at Natasha. "Alexander Dumass, my lady," he said with a courtly bow. "One of the world's best cursebreakers."

"Can you undo this blessing on the kids?" Clint asked.

"Probably not. Depends on how it was done and why." He pointed at the stroller Dawn was pushing. "They're adorable. Kids give me hives but they're adorable. Especially in the kilt."

"He claims it's a special occasion," Clint said dryly. Dawn grinned and took them to that Xander's house. Which was a very nice house in a very nice neighborhood. They landed on his back porch. He leaned out and held up a finger then came out with a messy faced baby. "Hey," Clint said with a nod.

"Wow, comic book characters. What's up, Dawn?" He put Eric down. "Those are Dawn's babies. She's from another realm and will give Daddy Horatio a headache."

"This is Philip, Lexi, and Mira, Eric," she said with a smile. "You guys can play if you want." He beamed so she put the kids down together. Dumass sat farther away from them. She handed Xander the scroll and sat down. "These are my mates Clint and Natasha."

"Oh, I've seen the comic books," Xander sighed, staring at them. "If you were real here, I'd have pounced and gotten forgiven by Horatio. Probably." He read it over then looked at her. "Why?"

"I don't know why the chaos mage did it," she said with a smile. "And I was going to get Clint a pretty birthday present from your baby mama while we could see if we can remove it."

"I can ask. Diana's being bored and likes doing private wardrobes. She's expensive." Dawn put down three diamonds and he grinned. "Universal currency." He called her and came back out. "She'll be here in a few to pick him up." He looked at the scroll again. "Any idea which chaos mage?"

"Yeah. He wanted you but he realized he couldn't compete against the heavy nature of some of them and left your realm for ours. In the one Xander with all the kids realm, he helped with the dragon spell in New York."

"Great," he muttered. He looked at Dumass.

"We'd laugh our asses off if America suddenly got hit with that curse," he said with a grin. "I was on the convention realm hiding from Draco being pouty."

"You're with Draco?" Clint asked. "I could've seen Neville but Draco?"

Dumass grinned. "His daddy gave him to me so I'd quit ruining him. He was reparation and decided he didn't mind that idea once he was of age." He grinned. "I'm training the Dawn in my realm as my protege curse breaker. She's with Ron. They're *very* gropey. My grandson, Harry, is with a nice lady named Abby from DC."

"I know the Abby here, she works with Gibbs," Xander quipped, grinning at him. "And I saw your son too. Tony's looking okay."

"That's good." Clint whimpered, shaking his head. "It's like that at times." He smiled at Natasha. "I have some lovely cursed necklaces that would look charming on you once I remove the fertility and other curses on them. Draco said we have to sell them or get rid of them somehow because he's not a girl."

She nodded. "If you wish but please don't make Dawn uncurse me. She might forget one of them."

"Only if it'd make you hot and want me more," Dawn quipped with an evil smirk for her wife. "If it made you want me like a succuba, I might consider that."

Clint kissed her. "No more dirty thoughts, Dawn. You keep making Coulson and our Xander blush with them." She chuckled, a warm, throaty, dirty sound. Clint moaned. "You're so being tied down later so you don't wear us out."

Both Xanders grinned at her. "You lucky girl you," Xander teased. Dawn smirked and nodded. He picked up Mira since she was pouting at her. "You're ...."

"Mira. She's technically Nat's with Clint but she got hit too because she's still my little girl."

They nodded, testing the spells on her. "Someone was over achieving," Dumass said dryly.

"That's probably why our Janus and our Loki are comatose?" Clint guessed. They nodded.

"I should ask my Loki," Dumass admitted. "He's over cursebreakers," he said at the funny look, grinning at them.

"I named him a godparent of my kids so the chaos thread that gets me taken has a place to park and be calmed down," Dawn quipped back. "Now that he's nicely married to Ares in a squealing, made-Discord-run-from-the-noise sort of honeymoon way." Dumass moaned, staring at her. "Xander's idea. Though both had this nasty habit of doing things to get my attention so I'd have to beat them. They were thinking I was the next best thing and I'm too fantastic for that." Dumass hugged her. "Thanks, dear." She kissed him on the cheek. "Some day I'm going to come steal parts of your library."

He grinned. "You can do that." He winked and they went back to looking over the spells on Mira. Someone outside honked, letting Xander bring Clint out to introduce them and hand Eric's mom the diamonds.

She looked Clint over, nodding in appreciation. "How hot does she want him?"

"He's got two wives to appreciate it," Xander said with a smirk. "One's a very flirty one herself and the other's dangerous, deadly, and beautiful. Clint's a sniper and archer."

"Hmm. I can do a lot to that body to make it too damn hot. Get in." He got in and she smirked at Xander. "Thanks, needed the inspiration."

"Their son got blessed with my family's honeymoon curse."

"Ow. Poor kids," she told Clint, driving off. "How do you feel about leather?"

Xander went back inside with a grin. "Di needed some new inspiration." He settled in, smiling at the others. He sat down with them to read to them. They all enjoyed that and Philip helped by reading some and showing Eric his letters. "That's a very good job," he praised with a smile for them. The boys both grinned. Lexi babbled happily and patted them both, getting them both to hug her.

Mira pouted at the Xander holding her. He cuddled her. "If I had a book I'd read to you too." She huffed. He let her go play with the others and looked at Lexi for now. That made Mira happier. "What....."

"Someone decided they wanted to recreate the Captain in my daughter," Dawn said quietly. "She got one of the shots."

"Wow, were they dumbasses. And two Keys. Cool."

"One was blue," Dawn said with a smile.

"Awww." He looked Lexi over, making her babble at him and the pretty colors he was looking at. She touched a few, squealing when they lit up for her. "You've got a tiny magical gift but not much, sweetheart." He let her kiss him, smiling at her. "You guys still scare me but dangerous women all love me." He winked and she cackled, patting him.

"I made sure the lands over both of the Dumass properties in my world were safely out of public hands," Dawn told him quietly. "Just in case." He smiled and hugged her around the baby. They went back to looking at it.

The native Xander got a few things to hand to Natasha. "This is the file on all the people that gave me things and all the stuff I received." She looked at the three thick binders. "It's in timeline order." She stared at him. He grinned back. "Four years, yeah."

"Oh, dear." She settled down to go over them, sharing with Clint. Diana chided him for being telepathic and not having smutty thoughts. He looked down at her and brought up one. It made her *very* happy with his body. "She needs him hard?"

"You flex and stand differently when you're horny," Xander quipped with a grin. Someone came out through the house. "Hey, Dad."

"Xander...... I saw that comic," he told Natasha after a second's hesitation.

She smiled. "We're real in our world." He moaned, shaking his head.

"I'm getting Clint some Xander tight clothes for his birthday and someone blessed our kids to have Xander's family curse," Dawn quipped with a grin.

"I was moping and hiding from Draco," Dumass said. "This is Lexi, Dawn's daughter with Clint."

"Clint.... Hawkeye?" Speed asked. Dawn smirked and nodded. "Damn." He shook his head.

Natasha smirked slightly at him. "Yes, he is that good to us." Speed walked off shivering.

"Dad needed dirty thoughts too and his girlfriend's off work today," Xander quipped happily. "Thanks. Though.... yeah, probably very hot and I should share that thought with Horatio." He went back to the other kids.

"I can't remove it," Dumass decided. "I can subdue it somewhat. I can possibly make it not as strong." Xander looked over. "Someone very far back blessed your whole bloodline, dear."

"Is it a curse or a blessing?" Natasha asked quietly.

"It's a blessing to their chaos god," Dumass said. "It'll only seem like a curse when you're in the middle of it."

"Zombies taking us hostage to watch us have sex," Xander muttered then shook his head. "Hummers with body parts to impress us."

Natasha looked at him then at Dawn. "Perhaps they'll find faith?"

"I doubt it. Even then, they might vow to chaos gods, Nat."

"True," she sighed, going back to the records. "I want to drink."

Xander grinned at her. "So did I sometimes. The whole point is to make sure that your spouse is strong enough to stand up to us being stubborn and to help us through anything, even the most trying things. That's why if I was a girl and my mate hadn't been strong enough he would've died right after I got pregnant or right after our first year of marriage."

Natasha looked at him then nodded. "We can make sure the girls are picky on such things."

"It takes vows and sex," Dawn reminded her. "Can it activate more than once if she picks wrong?"

"Yup. There's been a few of those by the family journals. The other one like me, the one who's a dom, knew Father Benis and got to see all the family journals, and there's one that was raised by him."

"Yeah but he's doing a lot of stuff and I'm not sure he'd have magic."

"Barely. All of us have a tiny bit of magic," Xander said with a smirk. "You just wanted Di's services."

"That too." She grinned. "Tonight, or whenever we get back, we're going clubbing so I can be a flirty tease."

Natasha looked at her. "I'll make sure we all eat a very good dinner." She went back to reading them over, sharing some with Clint and telling him about Dawn's plans to be an evil tease tonight.

Dawn leaned over to kiss her. "I have something for you to wear." She sat up and grinned at the guys. "Nothing we can do to ease it?"

Dumass shook his head. "Not really. Not unless my version of Loki can help. Or we can ask Hormoned Xander to see if the ones he's an anchor for could help."

"We might need both if Janus and Loki in her world are comatose," Xander said.

Dawn shrugged. "I'm bringing this to the experts on this blessing and other things like that. I thought I might have to call Dumass later."

Xander nodded. "I would've. Or Lavelle." Lavelle leaned out with a grin, coming out to play with the kids. "Did we bark too loudly?"

"Hormoned Xander wrote me about his gods getting worried about something to do with your family line so I came to see."

"Someone blessed our kids with his family's bloodline blessing," Dawn said with a grin. "We've got an unconscious Loki and Janus in my world."

Lavelle stared at her then at the Xander. "The present giving society one?" He nodded. "Damn!" Dawn laughed. "Oh, wow. No wonder."

"And I'm getting Clint some Xander-tight clothes," Dawn bragged with a smirk.

Lavelle wiped the drool off. "See if she'll make him some of the stretch cord pants." She thought that at him and he promised she had already thought about that. He asked what she was putting Nat in that night and she told him came from the same guy who had done the water dress. She was wearing the fire one. Nat was wearing the 'eternal flame' version, and he was going to be hot enough to make them wonder if he was godly. She looked at the guys again. "Giving Clint smutty thoughts."

"What does this dress look like?" Natasha asked.

"You'll see tonight," Dawn quipped.

Natasha sighed. "We really must cure your smutty mind, Dawn."

"I'm sure you will later, dear."

She looked at her. "Is one of our dresses more inflammatory than the sheet dress?"

"Yes." She smiled sweetly and innocently. "They are. Which is why he needs something hot next to us." Natasha shivered and kissed her then Philip when he pouted at her for not getting one. Which led to Lexi, Mira, and then Eric begging for one and getting one. They all got happy and went back to playing with the many Uncle Xanders while the silly adults talked about things.

Natasha went back to looking things over. "What was wrong with that bronze dildo?" she asked.

"We'll, beyond the fact that inside of it was someone's former flesh one; they had used someone's to cast from," Xander said. She stared at him. "It was also unsanded. It had a lot of sharp edges along the seams. She apparently didn't realize that even if the guy liked pain, he wouldn't like *that* pain. The rest of the statue was prettier, but we still had to break it to get the remains out."

"So much worse than carbonite," Lavelle muttered, shaking his head.

"And took more time," Xander agreed. "Han's only took seconds. Her second one, she put him inside a form and poured the silicon for the mold over him then pried out the body and put the bronze in. It was much better when we had to check it."

Natasha shuddered. "Do we know who that was?"

He got up to look at the files, pointing. "Her."

She looked then sighed in pleasure. "We've already arrested her for stalking Dawn." Dawn rolled her eyes and shook her head a bit.

Xander got them something to drink and came back out. "It's always a nice thing."

Lavelle hugged him. "At least they'll be prepared since you weren't."

"No, it confused and upset me for a long time until I found out why it was happening, but it did make Horatio and I stronger."

"I should make photocopies and promise to do that to Arsene if she has kids." Lavelle gave him an evil grin. Xander hugged him to calm him down. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. Her kids will be horrible but how would they get it to her when she's always on the run?"

"That might be a point but it'd prove how good they are. Maybe one would be worthy of her since I doubt she'd settle down and she doesn't have a fixation like her dad had with Fujiko." Dawn leaned down to hug him too. Which meant Lexi hugged him because her Mommy knew when someone needed a hug. Philip did too. Mira huffed but piled on with Eric.

"Aww," Dumass said, taking a picture of that mushy moment. Philip looked up and grinned, waving at him. He took one of that too.

"I should send you copies of my modeling portfolio for when I'm feeling not sexy," Dawn said. Natasha nearly whimpered. They all heard a tiny little sound from her that almost sounded like one. "That way he can share with the me in his world that has seven kids and is married to Zenigata." She smiled. "She gave up being an art thief to raise Buffy's boys and married him to start pumping out future cops."

"And a musician. One's really liking music," Lavelle said.

Natasha looked at her wife. "Your other self might be horrified, Dawn."

"She misses her teasing days," Lavelle said. "She's fifty-two this year." Natasha gaped, looking at her wife. "Still pretty hot, even with a bit of hip spread and sagging." Dawn smirked. "You, however, seem to have gotten an ass and breast infusion from having the kids."

"Yes, I did," Dawn quipped. "Clint likes them a lot. I was going to tighten up the post-baby sagging but he refused to let me." The three Xanders all went 'aww' at that.

Philip looked at his mother. "Bikinis?"

"Sometime soon, Philip. We're going to Guatemala next week for the holiday weekend. We can wear bikinis then."

He beamed. "Me?"

"No, you only need bottoms. You have some of those."

"Shoot. Pretty ones?"

"I'm not sure. We'll have to check." He beamed and nodded.

"Our son is too young for a speedo," Natasha said firmly. "No matter how much he likes kilts and the Stark children's kimonos."

Dawn grinned at Lavelle. "I got my niece into Bollywood and she got her siblings into that and anime."

"You're so cool as a corrupting auntie," he said with a grin. She smirked back. They got back to helping the kids while those who could do the magic considered how to undo the bloodline gift.

It was probably a long shot but Clint needed more time to get pretty for Dawn's dirty mind.

***

Xander in Miami looked up as the convention penpal box dinged, getting up to get the message. He frowned. "Wow, how did they do that? Hey, Cupid? Or Ares?" They both appeared. "You saw that Dawn that's married to an Avenger, right?"

"Does this have a point?" Ares demanded dryly.

"Someone cursed her kids to have that one family curse upon bonding."

"The one that got them gifted?" Cupid asked, considering it.

Xander nodded. "Lavelle said that Dawn said her Janus and Loki were both comatose from that blessing on her kids. All three kids even though one's only a stepkid."

Ares blinked. "Interesting. Why call me?"

"Well, you're very good at removing curses and the you in Dawn's realm is married to Loki. Apparently when you and Aphrodite broke up she went looking and noted you were true mates, so that Xander there that's Loki's son hitched you two together." He got that letter to let him see it with a grin. "Dawn said that Discord ran from the noise of the honeymoon."

Cupid looking up then nodded. "Strife's getting high again, Xander."

Xander grinned. "There's some really weirdly nice things in her realm. She's married to Avengers."

Ares suddenly shivered. "I can see my ex doing that," he muttered, handing the letter back. "We can go look at those kids."

Strife appeared, nodding. "We can and maybe see if we can cut off the chaos from the two gods so they're okay again. They probably need to handle stuff." They went there with Xander doing the portal. They landed and blinked. "Oops, wrong Xander?"

"Yup," that one said. "Though he asked for family records for the newly blessed ones." He handed them over. "I haven't gotten to send them yet."

"Cool, thanks," Xander said, giving him a hug. They went to the other blessed Xander and settled in to go over the records and let the three gods look at the kids.

Philip looked at Cupid. "You're shiny."

He grinned. "I am, yes."

Dawn smiled. "The you in our realm doesn't often hang with our Xander. There's a semi-family wide vendetta against Love Gods thanks to Freya and your mom. Oh, and when you went 'fuck it, humanity can die' I helped you find a mortal vacation life."

Cupid blinked, reaching over to read her memories. He snorted, starting to laugh. "I'd be against Mom and Freya for that too. I can't imagine what our Xander would do if the love gods had married him off against his will. Or announced it during a godly banquet. We haven't had one of those in years."

Ares nodded. "That's because they piss us all off." He looked at Mira, who was staring at him and grinning shyly. "Hi, princess."

"That's Mira and the other girl is Lexi," Dawn said. "Mira is Natasha's and Lexi's mine."

"That works since the blessing went onto your husband's line," Strife said. "They have a godly godparent?"

Dawn nodded. "It keeps down the chaos that kept coming for me. And he was annoying me so it went well with Xander's chaos kid outburst that made all the chaos gods work for the light for at least a year." She smirked at him.

Strife shivered. "Oh, damn, that's an idea. We don't have chaos kid outbursts either."

"They tried it for a few years and Zeus was not amused when he ended up singing around a maypole with some Celtic maidens he couldn't touch," Ares said dryly. "That's why we ended those."

"Xander's have been slightly amusing," Dawn said. "He was making a dildo pool for Atlantis and because of the Mexican food giving him gas farts, he made it plus dildo tentacle monsters." All the Xanders burst out laughing.

"They had to get the Valkyries and Artemis to help," Natasha said dryly. "Because they could not fire on them." She let Strife touch her head to see that one, then watched as he fell down giggling his ass off. "Exactly."

Cupid got it from Strife, then looked at his father. "If they happen it's not my fault."

"I think that's why he has a godparent," Ares said, glaring lightly at Dawn, who grinned back.

"I need to use that on some of the gang kids," Hormoned Xander said quietly. "That's better than the cannibal flying monkeys or my goats." Dawn grinned at him. "Thanks, Dawn."

"You're welcome," she chirped.

"You are being tied down later," Natasha noted calmly, going back to reading over that information. "Before we go out and you infect others." Dawn leaned back to kiss her, earning a tiny smirk. "That will not save you."

"That's okay. I don't need saved usually."

"We will see." She went back to reading.

Their Loki appeared looking like he had gotten rained on, dried off without a towel, and was hungover. He was pale, smelled a tiny bit, had greasy hair, and looked like hell. He flopped down next to the children, looking at Ares. "The stupid chaos sorcerer is no more. My spouse went after him when he found out what he had done. He had fun, or so he said."

"That means he can't create dragons," Dawn quipped with a smile for him. "Janus up too?"

"No, he's not. He's stuck in the many lands of 'what if'." He looked at the children then at Dawn. "Ares said he could have only put it on your spouse's line if he had a touch of magic in it."

"Which wasn't from me," Dawn said. She smirked. "Things like that usually come from *godly* infection, like by a staff." Loki gaped and then groaned and shook his head. Natasha stared at her. "That sort of marking in your aura? The marks we wear from our bonds wouldn't have allowed that. It only goes to us. If it was placed on Clint's bloodline and not ours, it was something only he went through. Our markings might've eased it some."

Loki tested them and nodded. "It did. They were going to originally double it."

"Their spouses would be batshit insane," the local Xander said. "Horatio was more than once."

Loki nodded. "Quite. Which is why Janus is still stuck in the land of 'what if' and the many paths of the future he can see." His Ares showed up to help them. They couldn't remove it either. Even with the Loki over cursebreaking appearing thanks to his high priest praying for him. They could mute it. It'd minimally hit these three but their children were screwed because it'd be full strength on them. Dawn hugged them all for their help. They went home to mutter and make sure things like that *never* happened in their worlds. Having that Xander convention meant that they got a lot of warning about things they wanted to stop.

Natasha handed back the information. "I will be watching for it." She looked at the cutely napping children and sighed. "Clint is on his way back. He was not pleased that being put under control started it off."

Dawn shrugged. "It left a mark, like a scar. Someone just took advantage of it. Think what might've happened if they had done it to all of us."

Natasha looked at her. "You really do need to have your mind averted to something less dire." She grinned. She looked at the local Xander. "Thank you for your help."

"You're welcome. I'm glad we could ease it. I spent a lot of time angry and pouty about all that, even after I knew why it was happening." He looked at Dawn. "Clint's nearly back?"

"Few minutes." She smiled. "Then we'll go home, make a report to be put into the safe for them in case something happens to us, then they're going to see Grandma and Grandpa."

"Joyce is still married?" he asked.

"No, Joyce and Bruce found they have a lot in common and they're in gushy love," Dawn said with a grin.

"Wow," he said. Dawn showed off pictures from her wallet. "Who're they?"

"They are Buffy's kids with Hylal, who was an Asgardian warrior. They've passed on so we finished raising the kids when they weren't helping Atlantis while she was stuck on Asgard."

"Huh. They're adorable."

"I had to beat off *so* many people who wanted them to model." They shared a grin and got the kids back into the stroller. Eric got put inside on the couch.

Clint got sent once he got there. "Any hope?" They shook their heads. "Then we'll handle it."

"We muted it some. Their kids will have a lot more," Lavelle said.

Clint sighed but nodded. "Thanks for trying, guys. Everyone else home?" They grinned and nodded. "Let me go tie down Dawn to make her lose her mind." He and his bags went with him.

Lavelle hugged Xander. "Those kids are going to ride over it like you did."

"They will. And mine's not like Hormoned Xander's, who has it all the time." They nodded and cuddled him until Horatio got home. Lavelle and Dumass went to get drunk and think about how much chaos could come from someone like Dawn being naughty. Or other chaos sources on their worlds.

The local Xander cleaned up the small mess from the kids; Dawn's kids had been nicely polite and Philip had already cleaned up a lot of it. He waited on Horatio to get home, happy that he had helped and knowing that at least his son's future chaos problem would be easier than his because he'd know what was going on. Plus most of the really bad ones that had gotten to him didn't have kids so they had to be lesser evils, right?

***

Natasha looked at the children then at Dawn. "Go get cleaned up and we'll take you to your grandmother's."

"Mom said she might come over," Dawn said, calling her. "We're back. No, no luck. They eased it some but their kids are going to get slammed. Thanks, Mom." She hung up. "Bruce strained his back." They got the kids cleaned up and over to Mom's. The kids all piled on Bruce to make him feel better, and Philip even tried to give him a backrub. It was sweet and Joyce enjoyed them fussing over Bruce with her. Dawn came back and found Natasha writing a report. "For the safe?"

"For the official files just in case they have terrorists too," she said. "Though I'm making notes on who to kill before the children come of age to date. You can put one into the safe for them." Dawn sat down to write a letter for the safe for the kids. That way even if they weren't there, they'd know what to expect. Clint appeared, staring at them. Both women smiled at him. "Give me a few minutes to file a report for the future. Then I'll take a shower and do my hair."

"I can use the upstairs bathroom," Dawn offered.

Clint kissed her. "Your dirty mind drove *gods* to go drink," he said with an evil smirk.

She grinned. "I am a partial product of chaos."

"Yes, you certainly are. Thank you for the early birthday present, Dawn."

"It's a present for us too," she quipped. He laughed, going to shower and clean himself up so he could put on some of the new clothes. He did look excellent in them. It showed off all his muscles and every good thing while hiding the few negative parts of his body. Most of them made him look like he was porn star huge too, somehow. He wasn't sure how but it did it well.

Dawn came in to get her dress bag and curling iron. Natasha's was in her closet. Clint came out in a thong, because nothing else would fit under those clothes. Natasha took a shower so she could be freshly clean. Clint heard the enema package be opened and grinned. That was a great thing for their night's plans. Clint decided on the black jeans-like pants instead of the stretch cord ones. Those looked hot but they were distracting when they rubbed against his skin since they were slightly fuzzy.

Natasha came out to grab things to do her hair. She peeked at the dress, blushing. It went into the bathroom with her. Clint pulled on the new stretchy t-shirt looking shirt. It fit him like a glove and it enhanced each and every single muscle. Plus it was slightly made of kevlar so it was mildly bulletproof. He put on his favorite boots and grabbed a tiny bit of gel from Dawn's vanity to do his hair out there. Natasha could take forever to get a perfect look.

He looked at her when she came out. The black dress was hourglass shaped. It barely covered her breasts, then dipped in to cover her belly button, then back out to go around her hips to a modestly slutty length of skirt. All along it were red crystals that picked up the light and looked like tiny sparks. The back of the breast and skirt parts were skin-colored fabric and he could tell she was in a thong. He stroked over the subtle panty line she had from the strap. She sighed. He kissed her and adjusted the skirt a tiny bit. That hid the strap line in the waistband. That worked. She had *nowhere* to hide a weapon tonight.

She looked him over then kissed him again. "That outfit alone was worth the trip," she said, running a hand over his chest. He smirked. "I do not know where she finds such outfits."

"That one was done by the same guy who did the sheet dress," Clint said in her ear, making her shiver. "And you look edible in it, Nat. If we didn't have plans, you'd be screaming for more tongue by now." She shivered and put on her favorite black pumps, then looked at her weapons. Neither one could carry weapons tonight. They came out to find Dawn leaning on the railing up there. "Weapons?" he asked, staring at her. The fire of the dress was all silver, red, and gold embroidery with slight sparkle to the thread.

It wrapped up her stomach to her breasts, leaving a cutout of cleavage that drew the eye. It wrapped up around her neck in a halter top. As she walked down the stairs, they noticed the flames started an inch above the bottom edge of the skirt, right about where her pubic mound was. Underneath the embroidery was cream colored silk. She had on no stockings, no bra, but the dress had one built in by the way it was pushing her up, and Clint wanted to make sure she was wearing panties but he wouldn't look. He could grope later and tell.

Natasha blinked. The dress looked stunning on Dawn. The back was nonexistent to the point where you could start to see the crack of her ass. She had on heels that matched well with the fire and were high enough that she was closer to Clint's height. Natasha took a kiss and groped, moaning. "Dawn, underwear?"

"I'm wearing some. It's built in too," she said with a smirk. She picked up her tiny purse, dropping her necklace holding chamber into it. They both smiled at that move. That way they weren't disarmed if something happened. Then they went out together.

The reporters outside stared, a few forgetting to take pictures. "Wow," one breathed. "Natasha, you look *fantastic*," he moaned.

Dawn smiled. "Clint's birthday is Saturday. We're his present." They all moaned. "Later, guys."

"Sure," they agreed. A few took belated pictures as the ladies got into the rented car. Dawn had made sure they had a driver tonight.

Clint leaned back, watching the girls kiss. "You're a great present, Dawn." She smirked at him, leaning over to kiss him. "How hard is that to get off?"

"Two ruby buttons."

"Good. Nat?"

"It stretches."

Clint grinned, watching his girls play. Now he knew why Diana had needed to know how big he got when he got hard. He needed the room to grow with how tight the pants were. They got to the club and the bouncers stared at them. Clint smirked. "My girls are giving me a great present."

"We can tell, Agent Barton. You go right ahead, sir, and ladies." They smirked and walked in together to get something slightly fruity and mildly alcoholic. Then they put Clint between them to dance with him. The bouncers inside watched. A few of the people in there really needed drinks suddenly. Natasha let herself be led off by someone, even though Clint growled. It was a young teenage girl who was looking for a thrill and Natasha was in the mood to tease someone. The girl nearly drooled on her but she was good and found someone else for the next dance. She had to nearly peel people off Clint's ass thanks to those pants. She ran her hands over his hips and around his waist, smiling at Dawn over his shoulder. Dawn winked back and teased Clint by turning around to dance against his front. Clint moaned and it was good. Natasha moved around to dance with Dawn. There was that growl that made Dawn so thrilled and sent Natasha back to memories of them having fantastic sex.

Clearly, that was going to happen that night.

***

They came out of the club and Dawn winked at Clint, pulling him to the car. "Totally anonymous hotel room," she said with a smirk. He grinned. That meant they didn't have to fight reporters tonight. Or worry about cleaning up the bedroom the next day. The car dropped them at a less than four star place. It was really like a high class brothel hotel. He and Natasha both looked at her. She smirked. "You'll see. Phil recommended it." Clint moaned, shaking his head. She pulled them up to their room, she had checked in earlier by phone and the key had been brought to the club. Not all that expensive really.

She opened the door and let him walk in first. The whole room was draped in black and white fabric. The bed had black t-shirt cotton sheets. The curtains and walls were in white fabric. There were a few ...extras in there and the tv only got feed from the DVD player. The closet had three small drawers built in that had various toys. Natasha was looking at the sling that was between the bed and the window. So if you wanted to be an exhibitionist you could, but if not, the curtains were thick enough to block a view. The bathroom was fairly standard but had great water pressure.

Clint looked around then at Dawn. "How much did you spend on my birthday?"

"This whole setup was under six hundred."

"Wow." He and Natasha shared a look. She smirked at him. "We have to remember this place for her birthday, Nat."

"Yes, we do." She moved closer to Dawn to kiss her. "Where did you want to start?"

"It's his birthday, let him choose," she said with a wink back, leaning in to nibble on Natasha's throat for her. Nat moaned a tiny bit because Dawn had hit a sensitive spot easily from much practice.

Clint stared at them, then pulled off the shirt. "I think we should strip down because ruining those dresses would be a shame." The wives smiled and let him peel them out of them. They both came off easily enough when they wanted them to. Clint touched each of them. Newly shaved, lotioned so they were soft everywhere. Clint looked around the room. "Did it come like this?"

Dawn grinned. "They all come in various colors. If I had wanted the purple one it would've been purple and blue but had more S&M gear. It's meant for sensory depravation play. This is meant for sensual play that makes you squeal loudly."

"No, I like this," he promised. "This is great." He looked them over again. Nat still had on her thong. Dawn was naked. He looked around. "Where to start?" he mused. He looked at Nat. "Pull out some necessary things?"

"I can do that." She pulled water from the mini fridge and put it beside the bed on a coaster. Lube was pulled out of the drawer, and it was their brand so Dawn had done some prepping through the hotel. They were nice and she'd have to remember this. The bathroom had enema and douche kits in various fragrances and ones without cleaning agents. She came out and found Dawn on her knees in front of Clint, licking his cock through the pants. Natasha came over to undo the buttons, letting Dawn have the real thing. She kissed him, making him moan and his hand rub Dawn's scalp. "She has spoiled us greatly."

"She has." He looked down then at Natasha. "I don't want any of us to remember having a name in the morning."

She smiled. "We can make love for that long. We have in the past."

He groaned. "Yes, we have." He kissed her then Dawn again. "Up, Dawn." She gave him one last lick then stood up. "How trimmed are you?" She leaned over on the bed so he could check for stray hairs. "That's pretty." He touched the hairless parts then Natasha's. "Where did you want to start, Dawn?"

"Up to you, Clint." She kissed him, smiling at him. "It's your birthday, not mine." She teased his chest with her nails, making him smirk. "Where do you want us?"

"Gods, Dawn. I want you begging."

"I'm already wet," she said against his lips, taking another kiss. "I would've worn a vibrating egg to the club but I didn't need it to be turned on."

"No, you didn't," Natasha agreed, touching Dawn's body. "You are nicely turned on." She kissed her, looking around. "I want to torment her until she begs." Dawn shivered but Clint liked that idea. Dawn went into the sling and Clint hitched down her wrists, giving her something to grip. They weren't tight and she could slip out of them. Her ankles got tied more tightly since Dawn sometimes kicked when she was too hot. He adjusted the sling up higher. That gave them a nice height to lick her from. Natasha took the first lick and moaned. "You used that douche that leaves you clean but smelling like cinnamon?"

"I used it everywhere," she said with an evil kitty smirk. "Clint, I'm too high and I can't suck on you."

"You can suck on me in a few minutes, Dawn. You know I like oral sex with you." He moved Natasha to lick Dawn clean then dirty her up a few dozen times. Natasha got him a chair and lowered Dawn down for him. That made it easier on them. Dawn leaned over to lick at her nipples, making Natasha happy too. She could play with Dawn's breasts. Clint was happily occupied. Dawn and Natasha shared a look and Dawn looked at the closet then at her again, earning a smirk. She had seen the strap on kit that was like theirs at home. She had some amusing options for later. If Clint didn't want to be able to remember his name, they could do that to him. Dawn moaned and thrashed a bit when Clint nibbled but he was good to her and eased the ache with his tongue and fingers. She sighed as she came. He lapped her, staring up at her. She smiled. Natasha smirked at him. "Is she tormented enough?"

"No but I sensed the dirty thoughts," he said with a smirk for her.

"Yes, there were. You said you didn't want to remember your name." She took a kiss and licked his lips for him. "She tastes nice. We should make her more wiggly."

"More wiggly means you can't walk in the morning," Clint reminded her.

"Not if we're both on her. Or on you." She strolled over to the closet to look at her options. There were a few excellent ones for that strap on system and one was nearly the same size as the one she favored at home. She laid that out beside the bed and a few other things. Anal beads on a stick. A strangely proportioned and ribbed dildo. She held it up. "What is this?"

Dawn grinned. "It's from the guys who make dragon dongs."

"They do?" Clint asked. Dawn smiled and nodded. "Really?"

"Really. It's a fairly popular company. Called Bad Dragon."

Natasha looked it up and actually blushed. "I do not think we will be playing with that." She put it back into the drawer and shut it firmly then came back to rearrange Clint's mind.

He took her phone to look at it while Natasha and Dawn kissed and Natasha got in some groping. "Okay, and they each have a back story," he said, putting the phone down. "Not my thing." Dawn giggled. "Damn." He shook his head but Natasha pulled him back over to kiss them and that helped. That and Dawn wiggled her ass a bit so he could clear his mind by driving her out of hers. That always helped when he had bad thoughts. Dawn's pussy was the ultimate bad thought eliminator. It worked on both him and Natasha since she was helping him tease Dawn. Dawn let out a squeal and wiggled more. That was more like it.

When they got tired of that, Clint pulled her out of the sling and onto the bed. "Where to start now," Natasha asked him, rubbing a hand over his lower back.

Clint stared. "I want to make her scream, Nat."

She smiled. "I think we both want you to scream so that will work." She moved to get the harness for the strap on set, making him shiver. "You please Dawn for a bit while I get you ready."

Dawn flipped around and pulled Clint down to suck on him while helping lube him. Clint went along with it, he loved to torment Dawn's pussy at times. She moaned into him and he liked that. It made him twitch. Clint finally came up for air again and had to moan when they stretched him far enough for Natasha to finally slip in. Dawn wiggled around as he got up slightly, presenting herself to him. He dove into her mouth to kiss her, pushing his cock into her at the same time. It was a bit rough but Dawn liked that sometimes and so did he and Natasha. As proven by her using his ass as her playground. He was moaning and twitching to what she was doing. "Nat, did you put in something elephant sized?" he begged into Dawn's shoulder.

"Not hardly," she teased. She stroked her nails up his back. "I could go find something larger."

"No, don't. That's a bit much," he groaned. Dawn wiggled and looked at Natasha, taking the harness from her to put on and change toys out while Nat got Clint's attention. Clint groaned into Natasha's lips, knowing he was in for a ride to make him forget how to love his women. Dawn selected one that was longer but softer in texture and smaller in diameter. She lubed it up well and came back to gently slide into Clint's body, making him shiver. "Dawn," he groaned. "Damn! It's a fire hose?"

"Yes, it is," she said, leaning down to lick across his neck cords that were sticking out. "Did it hit your prostate yet?" He nodded, gulping air as she pulled back to gently slide in again. "Like that?"

"Harder?" he begged.

"Hell no. You're ours tonight, Clint Barton, and I want you begging so much you sound like I usually do." He sighed as she hit his sweet spot again. Slowly dragging the toy across it each way until he was twitching with the need to come and Natasha not letting him. Or Dawn. Dawn smiled at Natasha. "Is he ready?"

"For now. Later he will come again for you."

"I could like that." She slammed in hard just the once. Clint yelped and screamed, and came, bucking between them. Dawn petted his back muscles through it. "That's good, Clint. You need a few more of those."

Clint looked back at her, panting. "What's in that lube?"

"It's an herbal stimulant that makes it *very* good." She smiled. "Liked it?"

"Yeah, but I think I'm going to die, Dawn."

Dawn licked up his spinal cord. "We know CPR, Clint. Don't worry about that part." She pulled out when Natasha wiggled free. She handed over the special bottle of lube to her fellow wife with a kiss and a wink. She pointed at something. "That?"

"That's much too short."

"But he doesn't want another one that way yet."

"Hmm. Like a pacifier? We have a plug to do that." She lubed it and inserted it, making Clint hiss and wince a bit. "That is not as wide as the one I used." She laid back down, letting Dawn calm Clint down to the point where he was wanting more. Natasha was happy watching them play, fingering herself while Dawn teased Clint. Clint leaned over to kiss her and pulled one of her hands up to taste then Dawn's fingers. "That's very good, Clint. Are you ready for more?"

"Not yet," he said. "Still tired." He yawned but Dawn kissed him during it and ran her nails over his cock slowly and gently, making him twitch and react to that. "Dawn," he begged.

"The next one is Nat in you and I get your cock all to myself," she said with a grin. "Or you can ask Nat nicely to hitch you into the sling so I can watch and you can have me when you're nearly there."

He groaned. "You two are going to kill me with sex for my birthday?"

"You said you didn't want to remember your name," Natasha teased with a smirk. She looked at the sling then at him. "I think he'd fit nicely in it." Dawn nodded, taking a kiss from her. Clint kissed them both then teased Dawn some more. Natasha smiled at that decision. It was a wise one. Clint in the sling might never get free of them and they'd have to move him to let him mount Dawn. Though she was sure she could find a stud block system somewhere in the city.

Clint looked over at her. "A what?"

"A mounting system for studs to breed with their mares," she said.

"I'm not that sort of stud, Natasha, and Dawn's not a mare." She shot a picture over and he shook his head. "No thanks."

"If you're certain." She ran a hand over his arm. "Do please her. I want her to be begging when I make you ride her hard enough to dissolve her magic again," she said into his ear. He shivered but it was great with Dawn. She liked most everything he ever did. Natasha leaned down again. "If you come before she does, I'll have to take over for you and make her beg for me instead of you." Clint turned his head to kiss her, sharing an evil smirk with her. "I know she would like that."

"We could both have her," he said.

"After we rest we will."

"Or we can do that to you."

"After we rest, we may do that as well," she teased. She stroked her fingers over his back. "Make her squeal, Clint. We love the sound of her squealing."

"Yes we do." He went back to pleasing Dawn, making her beg and moan and plead for more. He was very good to her, he usually gave in to her. He could get her off and then enjoy the afterglow with her. He had to shift his hips some when Natasha took out the plug and inserted the new toy hitched to the harness into his ass. It was wide, it was long, and it was a monster. "Is that the dragon one?" he moaned.

"That one does not attach," she said, pushing in all the way. He shivered. "But it is nicely ridged and nicely thick. Nearly your own size I'd say." He glanced back at her. She smiled. "It is."

"Uh-huh." She pulled out and he moaned, going back to teasing Dawn. Dawn needed teasing for this wicked idea. Nat was merciless to him but he was enjoying it. It was making him harder faster than he wanted though. Dawn needed to come soon. He shifted a hand down to tease her clit while he thrust into her on Natasha's rhythm. She whimpered and shifted. "Dawn, we want you to come so hard," he said in her ear.

"Harder, Clint, please?" she begged. He shifted his weight to go a bit deeper and she squealed at that, arching up to help him. That was it and Dawn was going to come but Natasha was doing that wicked thing to his prostate and scratching his perineum at the same time. Dawn barely got off before him but he came and went limp on top of her. She cuddled, flipping them onto their sides so she wasn't smashed into the bed. It meant Nat had to pull out but Dawn winked and pointed at the dresser.

Natasha took off the toy to clean them all and looked in the dresser. There were two familiar diamond chokers that changed form and/or gender in there. Dawn cuddled, letting Nat have Clint's back this time since he was asleep on Dawn's shoulder, wrapped around her. It wouldn't last that long. Clint never slept more than three hours without waking up. It let Dawn and Natasha rest and make up plans for later with the addition of that new toy. Dawn was really tired and she hadn't come as much as usual. But it had been good.

It took two hours for Clint to wake up with a moan and a slight wince. Natasha kissed his neck. "We have a new plan if you are not too sore," she hissed in his ear.

He shivered. "Will I enjoy it, Nat?"

"I think you will. We do at times." She got up, letting him watch her get slightly dressed. She put on a special pair of boyshorts that would normally go over the harness to make the toy look more like it was from her. Then she put on one of the chokers. She only turned that part into hers. She had wondered, what woman hadn't, but now she'd find out. Clint stared, blinking at her. She smiled and held up the other one. "Which of you gets that one, Clint?"

"Is that the one with the fertility spell?"

"No. I'm wearing that one. It is not active. Dawn checked recently."

Clint swallowed. "So you're going to put me into that and let Dawn pounce me while you have her?"

She leaned down to kiss him, draping the choker around his neck. "If that's what you wish at first. I'm sure she'll love to prepare me for your own ride," she said then kissed him.

He moaned. "Nat, that's evil."

She smiled. "It was partially Dawn's idea. She's the one who brought it." She let the strands of gems fall pleasingly around his throat. "I will let you pick if you want, or I can make you look like Dawn?"

"I....." He kept her from hitching it. He stared at her. "Only mine in Dawn," he said.

She smiled. "I can easily take her backside instead, Clint. Yours is the only dick that will ever be in her pussy." Clint nodded and hitched the necklace himself, shivering as it changed him. He became a bit shorter. His hair grew out some. He was modestly large chested but not over a C cup. He had decided that he needed to be partially shaved like Dawn did. It was a good female version of him. Natasha smiled. "I like that."

"It's very rare," he said, noting his voice had went up a few octaves but it was still a bit deep and sounded rough, like he had been having sex all night. Which...was about right. Dawn woke up with a yawn and smiled at her, kissing them both. "Dawn."

"Hi, Clint." He kissed her back but Dawn took charge. She had a new playmate to tease and tempt. And if Natasha had to grab the lube and fix that wiggling she was doing, that was fine. "Oh, fuck, Nat," she moaned at the first finger being inserted. "I love you, sweetheart."

"I adore you as well but you may feel differently in a few hours," she promised. "Clint said that only his dick can be in you, Dawn." She moaned, leaning back to kiss Nat then down to kiss her very possessive spouse. Clint moaned into it, but Dawn was also teasing his nipples.

"So that's what those do," he panted, arching up into them. "Dawn?" She leaned down to lick and tease over them like he did to her. Clint held her head down. "Dawn!" he begged. She bit one and he hissed, arching up into her mouth. "Damn!" Natasha smiled and smirked at him, switching up to two fingers in Dawn's ass. "Nat, make her wiggly for me?"

"I am." She went back to the prep work, getting Dawn to where she wanted her to be. She slowly slid in, pulling Dawn upright onto her. They both moaned. "I had no idea penises were this sensitive," she moaned. Dawn kissed her then leaned down to lick over Clint's clit. He nearly came off the bed. Dawn was happily licking Clint until he was ready to beg for anything in his body. Dawn was getting hot and bothered by Nat. He finally had to flip Dawn around so they could lick each other. He knew what Dawn needed to get off. Dawn was exploring his needs and he found out he was a picky sort. He had a g-spot. Her fingers found it for him. He had a great clit, her tongue was making it beg. "More?" Dawn asked into her body.

"Yes, goddess, please," he begged. She smiled as she slid in two fingers. "More, Dawn."

"Did you want me to break you in that way?" she teased. "Or did you want Nat to do that for you, Clint?"

He swallowed. "You are?"

"If you want." She teased him. "Watch her, see how she's good at it." Clint swallowed again and nodded while Dawn teased him. Natasha was happily making plans. Dawn finally came when Natasha reached around to tease her clit. She pulled out and took off the condom, dropping it into the wastebasket. She hadn't come from Dawn. Clint was staring at it. Natasha leaned down to kiss him once Dawn was out of her way. "Would you like to try that, Clint?"

He nodded. "Please, Nat." She let him taste her and it was like heaven had just hit Natasha's body. Clint was good at this and she was extremely pleased. He pulled back, licking over the damp tip. "Nat?"

She blinked heavy lidded eyes at him. "How do you want me to plant this in you?"

"This way," he said. She slowly moved down his body, exploring his breasts and clit for herself. Clint was more than ready for more. He ached, he wanted, he felt like a hollow cavern that needed to be filled. And then she did and it was tight, and it hurt a bit, and it stretched. He winced but then she was fully there and hit his g-spot. He gasped, arching up. She smiled and teased his clit while she thrust in and out. Dawn was laying beside them teasing herself while she watched. Clint pulled Dawn over to kiss him. "Next time it's yours."

She smiled. "Of course it is." She winked and let him lick one of the fingers she had been teasing herself with. He moaned at the taste. "Ride him, Nat. Ride him like he would us." Clint shifted his weight to pull his knees up. Natasha slowly got harder and a bit rougher, making Clint gasp and arch up into it. Until Dawn finally reached over to tease his clit for him. Then Clint nearly passed out. He panted and tensed, breathing through it. Natasha came hard during it, shouting loudly. She was panting too as she calmed down.

Natasha took off her choker, disappearing from Clint's body as soon as she had pulled out. Clint's hands were shaking but he took off the choker and let it drop off the side of the bed, pulling her down to kiss her. "Thank you," he said quietly.

"It is a special occasion. We may have to try that again later," she teased. She laid down. "I am exhausted."

Clint looked at Dawn. "Clean her up?" Dawn smiled and leaned down to clean him up. He moaned and liked that. Then she got Natasha's cleaning done. Clint pulled her closer. "Let me catch my breath and I'll finish you off, Dawn," he promised.

She smiled. "When you wake up, I'll be here and waiting, Clint. Any way you want me." He nodded, curling between them. So what if there was a wet spot? They didn't really care at the moment.

Dawn finished herself off while they slept and set up her next surprise. She was waiting when they woke up. Clint needed water, which he gulped from the sink. He came out to find her on the bed, tied up on her knees, her knees spread by a slight bar. Her hands cuffed to the headboard. A toy plugging her ass for him. He groaned and got more water then came out to kiss her. "Can I have you go a bit primal?" she teased with a grin. "I'm a good captive wife for him."

"You're a great captive wife for me," Clint promised. He dove into her, licking her clean. The toy wasn't really large but it was enough to stretch her in case he wanted her that way. His slight case of shakes from being a girl was steadied now, he was back in familiar territory. His fears about his dick were gone since it was back. Not that Dawn and Nat wouldn't make him a fantastic lesbian if it hadn't come back. He might never get out of bed with that shit going on. Dawn was really tempting though. He wanted to lose it for her. He slowly built himself up into a good, claiming mood.

Dawn wanted claimed, he could do that for her. He finally slid in and let it all go. Primal him was a bear about his women. He stroked up and down Dawn's back and sides, then her butt and her legs. He licked her skin, tasting the sweat and the sex smells. It smelled like him and someone else. He sniffed Natasha. Then Dawn. So that's who it was. Well, he was the alpha male and he could prove it. She was nicely ready for him to make sure she was all his in every meaning. Primal him was in a great mood suddenly.

"Oh, Goddess, Clint!" Dawn shouted.

"Not exactly," Natasha said with a yawn. "He's in a male form, Dawn."

"So he's the hunter god?" she said, wiggling some. "Clint!"

"Mine," he reminded her.

"All yours."

"Good!" He slammed in and rode her harder and faster until she wasn't begging much, and couldn't really pronounce his name anymore either. Then he bit her on the shoulder, making her yelp. Natasha winced a bit but he understood why now. And it was good for them. He finally let himself come and Dawn whined so he pleased her until she fell onto her stomach and begged for mercy. That was what he wanted to hear. Clint laid down on her back, slightly off to the side so she didn't have problems breathing, and passed out. He was exhausted. But it was the best birthday sex ever.

"When do we have to leave?" Natasha asked.

"Sometime before Monday's work schedule," Dawn said. "I didn't think to pack us any clothes."

"Dawn, we cannot wear those dresses into the daylight," Natasha said.

"A jacket could make yours look less hot."

Natasha kissed her. "The sex has went to your brain. We are paid for all weekend?" Dawn smiled and nodded. "Excellent. The children?"

"Philip and I talked about how Daddy was getting super special birthday presents." She pointed. "Which are in the other side of the closet." She undid the cuffs with her teeth and snuggled in better. "Want some of him?"

"No. He's passed out and drooling slightly. I get enough of that from Mira," Natasha said with a smirk. "You have fun."

Dawn grinned. "If we're here tomorrow, want the sling?"

"We'll see. Sleep, Dawn, before your mind finishes rotting." Dawn smirked and closed her eyes, letting Clint cuddle her into a nap. Natasha let herself fall asleep again. Between those two's dirty minds she would need the rest. Plus it was very nice there were no midnight diaper changes to interrupt her sleep.

***

The various Xanders that had been helping the mini future Avengers met the next day for lunch. It wasn't convention time yet and they were bored. So they needed to do something. A Xander lunch was a good thing for them to do. They had another few that showed up, including one of the slightly magical Xander's with one of his Der.

GHS Xander smiled and petted the Der on the head. "I could use a few house elves if your makers ever get around to it."

"Don't tempt Draco or Harry's psychotic little elf friend," that Xander quipped. "I don't know how Dobby turned so militant and psychotically deranged but he was. He tied up John and floated him in to present him to Harry to find out who he was just in case he was a bad guy there after the great Harry Potter or Harry's pet Draco." The Der was snickering. "Sure, but you guys only get petted by Dobby. He somehow considers you guys his pets."

"He's nice to us. We perfectly understand each other, Lord Xander." He patted his master on the ear. "Were the children adorable?"

The local Xander smiled and nodded. "They were."

"They were," Alex Dumass agreed. "And I don't like kids. Dawn's done a great job raising them. Even if Philip does have a slightly dirty mind and likes kilts."

The GHS Xander grinned at them. "He thinks it's a sister's job to be pretty all the time, just like the mommies are." They all grinned at that. "I'm pretty sure that Dawn's kids are all going to be great with weapons too. Philip and I talked about self defense class."

"Don't remind me," the local Xander sighed. "Di called up complaining that her son was talking about such things. I had to tell her the kids that had shown up were in them because people kept trying to take Dawn. She asked if we were related." He ate a bite of lunch. The others all grinned at him for that. "It's not funny, guys. Di's very against all that stuff."

"Did you remind her of that finding a true mate curse?" Dumass grinned.

"No. Because then she'd never let me see my son ever again." They all grinned. "I'm not sure why they decided Barton's family needed that curse applied though."

"To make sure they were strong enough to put up with the stubbornness," GHS Xander quipped. "Dawn's stubbornness plus his equals kids that will never give in." They all smirked at that. Dawn had been cutely stubborn and flirty. "We should make sure they have a way to get help."

Lavelle looked over. "I can sense bad thoughts that would usually make my bad guy self happy."

GHS Xander pointed at the Xander Der. "The kids need helpers." The others all stared and that Xander moaned, but nodded, looking at his Der. "Maybe not a Xander Der though."

"There is the concept of chibi in anime," Lavelle said casually. They all smirked evilly at that. "Should we make them permanent?" They all nodded and settled in to find the spells they needed for that. They could cast it from the convention realm. Others would come help them. Maybe even Godly Xander from their realm.

***

Phil looked at the miniature being staring at him. "Thor, did someone shrink you?" he asked.

"Nay! I am a chibi," he said proudly, smiling at the full sized human. "I am proud to be such."

"Xander, what's a chibi?" Phil called. Xander was somewhere in the gardens.

Jensen leaned in. "Miniatures of the original being, usually seen as a conscience, a torment, or a toy." He grinned. "Hi, Chibi Thor."

"Well met, Jensen."

"Who made you guys?" Phil asked calmly.

"We are here to guide and help our big selves and the children."

Phil nodded. "Then we should probably get you to Avengers tower." Because Phil wasn't sure if he could deal with this. Though, the mini Thor was adorable. He carefully picked him up. "Are the others there?"

"Aye, they are. We were told the children were in mortal peril all too often and needed guidance at times."

"Yes they can be." He took him with him to the tower. He nearly went 'aww' at the mini Captain America. Inside, his inner twelve-year-old boy squealed with delight and started to want one but he would not collect miniature avengers. That feeling wasn't even ruined by the miniature Stark hitting on the full sized Pepper. "Pepper, someone made the chibi versions of them to help guide their original, full size versions and watch over the children."

"I can't believe I have kids," the mini Stark said.

"You have a few kids," Pepper said with an evil smirk. "And the big you was thinking about talking Steve into trying the MPREG machine so they could have one and then I could have another with him." Stark moaned. "Even Callia's in the daycare, Phil," she said, handing over the mini Tony. "Who nicely made them the moral guidance beings?"

"I'm not totally sure yet. Xander didn't answer when I asked what a chibi is. Though Jensen said it's related to anime."

Pepper sighed but nodded. "The kids are all down in the daycare." He picked up a plastic basket Pepper used to sort mail into, picking up all the mini Avengers, even the mini Hulk. That was weird, there was a mini Hulk and a mini Bruce, who shrugged and was staring at the mini Hulk. "You guys have fun in the daycare. The kids could use some common sense sometimes."

Phil looked at her. "Have you heard Dawn or Xander talking about that one Xander with the family blessing that gets them gifted and feted for four years to make sure it's a strong relationship?"

"I have," she admitted. "And Dawn told me someone blessed the kids with it."

"All the children of Barton's line."

"Would that happen to hit Barney's kid? I know Clint said he fathered a daughter a few years before he got captured."

"I do not know. We should check on that." He carried the mini Avengers down there, putting them in front of Philip and Chris. Who cooed and took them to cuddle.

Callia looked at them then at Phil. "Are they like the mouse people I play with now and then?"

"They were made as chibi Avengers to help guide you children and the adult versions."

"Huh. I wonder if that means the Mini Uncle Clint is going to crawl into .... there's no Mini Auntie Dawn."

"They may have based it off the comics in their world."

"Huh. So the Mini Uncle Clint will only climb on the Auntie 'Tasha? That'll be weird."

The little Black Widow was staring at her. "We were told we were a trio here but they didn't know enough about Dawn to make one of her."

"Cool. I'm sure it'll be great." She smirked. "Auntie Dawn is Dad and Mommy Pepper's assistant. She's very flirty. And Uncle Clint growls."

The mini Clint rubbed his ear and nodded once. "That's weird. I didn't know I was possessive."

Callia pointed. "That's your son, your daughter with Auntie 'Tasha, and your daughter with Auntie Dawn."

The mini Clint stared, mouth open. "Wow. They're beautiful little hellions."

Philip smirked at him. "Philip is good boy most of the time. If not, Mommy Dawn gets proud at pranks." He grinned sweetly. Chris nudged him and they shared an evil smirk then cackled and ran off with the mini Tony.

"Have fun with the mini Daddy," Callia called after them, waving. "JARVIS, please tell Mommy Pepper that the boys are going to be boys again."

"I can do that," the AI said patiently. "I've also told your aunt and father so they could come down to meet them. The other Avengers are in the other tower."

"We can move all us kids over there," Callia decided. She took the basket to put into her lap. That's when they realized she was in a wheelchair, not a regular chair. "Bad guys," she said at the odd looks. "JARVIS, please herd the boys there before they blow up something."

"They're trying to get free cookies because Chris forgot his badge," the AI said. He zapped the machine for the boys. "Callia said go up to the Avengers meeting area with the chibi Stark," he told them.

"Yes, sir," Philip said with a grin for the cookie cashier. "Thank you! You make us happy evil boys." He grinned back at the boys and pointed. They ran to the elevator and JARVIS let them in there. "Hi," he said, waving his cookie. His father took half. "Hey! I was going to share with the mini you and the mini Mommy!"

Chris looked at him. "I not share cookies, Philip."

Philip smiled. "I got two!" He held up the other one. His father handed back most of the first one, but he looked confused. Callia and the others walked in, with the three toddlers in their walkers following her thanks to Liz helping them. Maeve squealed and waved at everyone. They all smiled and waved back. Callia rolled closer and put the basket onto the table in the meeting area. Phil hadn't followed but that was okay she guessed. "Hi," Philip said. "Daddy took some of the cookie but want some?" He let the daddy and mommy mini people take some of his cookie.

Chris looked at him. "I not share," he said. Maeve pouted and whined, reaching for his cookies. "No! Mine! You want cookies, go buy cookies!" He stuffed his mouth.

"She's a bit young for that and so are you," Tony told his son. He handed his daughter some of his dried fruit. She liked to gum on it so it made her happy and she threw some at her besties because they were fussy. They liked fruit too.

Clint stared at the mini him then at Callia. "Lab accident?"

"Uncle Phil brought them." The trio of toddler girls came over to pat the mini Avengers and coo on them. "Lexi, that's not a dolly, sweetheart. Don't chew on the mini Stepmom. Please?"

Steve saved his mini self from the teething drool, looking at him. "How did this happen?"

"The few Xanders decided the kids needed some special guidance and you guys could use the help," he said dryly. "So they made us." He smirked a tiny bit. "I'm with Stark? Really?"

"And Pepper," he agreed. "Maeve's my daughter with Pepper."

The mini Steve looked. "Wow," he said, grinning at his self. "She's adorable, even if kids are a bit scary."

"Those three are only scary when they're shopping," Tony said, looking at the mini him. "Why are you on Clint's kid?" he asked.

"He has a nice shoulder and he's letting me sneak bites of cookie." Tony let him have some of the fruit.

Bruce looked at the two mini hims. "That's really odd," he said. The mini human him nodded.

"Hulk smash," he said firmly, staring around.

"Ooho, we build!" Chris yelped, getting up with Philip to build stuff with him for the Hulk to smash. "C'mon, Grandpa Grr Guy."

"Grandpa?"

"We married Joyce, Dawn's mother." He smiled. "She's an amazing woman and since Callia is Dawn's older sister's first child, all the kids became grandchildren."

"I'm wondering if whoever had this plan got it from the same place as the daddy and kid matching boy panties," Clint said.

Callia looked at him. "It helped him potty train faster because he was just like you," she said dryly, trying not to grin. "And I'm sure it was adorable. Did the adult sizes have ruffles on the butts?"

"No. Just lace around the edges," Tony said. "Did you finish that proton thing you were fussing over for the young scientist's thing that's due this week?"

"I did yesterday. I was fussing over testing it." She shrugged a bit and grinned. "It's nowhere near your areas of interest, Dad, so they can't say I'm your clone or sucking off the genius tit anymore."

"I'm proud, even if they do say that," he said. He ruffled her hair.

"Hey!"

Clint grinned. "You're going to the event to see the boys?" he teased.

"I'm hoping a few of them will become my crew when I take over the old mansion," she quipped. "I don't need boys, Uncle Clint. Not yet. Damn!"

"Language," both Steves ordered.

"And Barton, no boys yet," the bigger one complained. "She's eleven. Barely eleven."

"There were stories recently of girls having kids at ten," he quipped with a grin.

"No, we've given our daughter a very complete, very thorough, sex ed talk," Tony said dryly. "There's not going to be any teenage pregnancies, even if there was a slight prophecy."

"There was?" she asked.

"Yep, for when you were fourteen," Bruce said. "Dawn had it so we made plans about where to hide you until your parents calmed down."

She nodded. "Antarctica. The Pegasus galaxy might not be far enough away."

Tony nodded she was right. "You bet."

"Daddy, tell Philip lego cars can too have goat engines," Chris complained. "Please?"

"It can, boys, if you want them to."

"No, is plastic so has to have chemical engine," Philip said firmly, staring at him. "That way it matches."

Clint blinked. "When did you start to like cars, son?" He went to play with the two kids.

Callia shrugged then sighed. "Philip's argument makes sense to me." She looked at the three toddlers then at Liz, who was cuddling the mini Steve. She had snuck him to cuddle. "That's a really good cuddle, Liz." Liz smirked evilly. "Maybe he'll make you do your homework."

"You should do your homework," the mini Steve agreed, staring up at her. "You can read it to me if you want." She beamed and ran over to get it then ran all the way back over to do it there.

"No!" Maeve said, shaking her head wildly. "No me!"

"No, you're too young for homework," the big Natasha said. She was still staring at her tiny self. Who shrugged back. "We will have to arrange for range and other areas for you to workout in," she said quietly.

"Please. I don't want to get out of shape." The mini Clint grinned from behind her, nodding too. "Or him."

"We can figure that out," Tony said, looking at Bruce.

"There's that practice room we don't use," he said with a point.

"Good point." The mini Hulk hopped down and went to smash the person that came in. "No, leave Bucky alone, Mini Hulk. He's a good boy." The Hulk grunted but Bucky picked him up to look at oddly. "We're not sure but we think there's a Xander in another realm involved. You guys are the same as the Army of Der, aren't you?" They all smirked and nodded at him. "Okay, that explains a lot."

"Warn them about the goat, Dad," Callia said, pulling out her tablet to check on something. "Here, Philip. The chemical engine I was looking up last night for the lego cars." He hopped up to get it and brought it back. "I want the tablet back," she reminded him. He grinned and waved it. He and Chris flopped down to go over it with Clint helping. And the mini Tony wondering what it was for. "It's for race cars," she quipped. The big Tony stared at her. She smirked. "Some day I'll put that in my little sports car I'll be picking out." She rolled off to pick up her father's forgotten tablet to work on something else. "Dad, your new repulsor has a feedback loop. I'm fixing it for you."

"I need a slight one for amplification," he said.

"Why not use an amplifier then?" she asked dryly. She got into the plans, shaking her head. "I know you created them in a cave, but really, Dad."

"I've upgraded them a number of times."

"Then this must be from the Mark II. Because, *damn* it's a mess." She got back to it, humming a bit. Her chair started to play music for her to work to. "Thanks, JARVIS and Atlantis."

"You're very welcome," both AI's said.

Tony looked at Bruce. "My kids are smarter than I am."

"They had access to more knowledge than you did so they sucked it up faster. You had to make some of your own," Bruce said.

"Good point. At least I don't feel the need to compete with the kids." Bruce smiled. "By the time they're ready to take over, I'll be kicked back on a beach somewhere with Pepper. And Steve if he ever retires." Steve gave him a dirty look. "You never know, one of the kids may take your spot."

"I don't think I want Maeve in my uniform, Tony."

"I'm getting Daddy's armor," Chris called.

"I'm taking Mommy's," Philip called.

Natasha looked over. "Mine or your other mother's?"

"Both?" He grinned. "You'd look pretty in chainmail, Mommy."

"Perhaps." She looked at Clint, who pulled his son over to hug. "We'll have to see what you want to do when you're old enough to train for such things, son." She looked at the mini her again. "He's a bit...open to possibilities at times," she said quietly. "Including kilts."

"They told us he looked adorable in it."

Natasha nodded. "He does. As does Christopher."

"Kilts are cool but saris are all wrappy and beautiful," Chris chirped.

"Saris are for girls," Callia reminded him. "Boys wear dhoti, Chris."

"Oh, yeah. And the long shirts that could be nightgowns."

Philip pouted. "I not have those."

"We'll see," Clint said firmly. "Dhoti take a lot of folding and tucking and are hard to get out of when you need to pee."

Chris nodded. "They are. They're skirts that turn into pants."

"Ooh, that's neat," Philip said, giving his daddy the big eyed begging look.

Clint stared at him, shaking his head. "Not until you can go more than two hours without needing a potty break, Philip. Because you have to take it all the way off and then refold it and rewrap it to get it back on."

"Oh, okay. I'll stick with kilts. You can pee anywhere in them."

"Your mothers would like you to quit peeing in the backyard," Clint said dryly.

"Fine. Flowers needed it."

"We have rain for that," Clint said, kissing him on the head.

"Music?"

"Later, when we get home."

"Shoot. JARVIS, music please?" he begged.

"What did you want to listen to?"

"Daddy playing?"

"I can find some nice guitar music but I do not have recordings of Clint playing, Philip. Would that be suitable?"

"Thank you, JARVIS. You're the second best thing Uncle Tony made, right behind Chris."

"I'm very pleased that you consider him your friend," the AI said, sounding slightly amused.

Tony shook his head. "I'd put you both on an equal basis since you're both so intelligent," Tony quipped. Chris beamed at him. Callia looked over. "You too."

"Of course I am, Daddy, and just for that, you get to help me bra shop."

"Like hell," he snorted with an evil smirk.

She grinned. "It's that or I have to go out with the boys."

"What's a bra?" Philip asked.

"That thing your mothers wear under their shirts," Clint said.

"Oh, that." He nodded. "They can be pretty booby holders. Will I get boobies, Daddy?"

"No, only girls."

"So Lexi and Mira will get boobies?"

"Don't let your mother hear you call them that, and yes when they're teenagers they'll get breasts," Natasha said. "You will not be allowed to see them but they will have them some year."

"Then why do boys have nipples?" Chris asked, looking smug.

"It's an evolutionary throwback," Bruce said.

"A what?" Chris asked.

"You made me do a paper when I asked what that was," Callia said. "Don't you dare answer him and not make him do the papers I used to do." She glared at her father. Then at her grandfather. "It's what made me so smart, right?"

"Mostly it was punishment," Tony said dryly. "Miss mouthy."

She smirked evilly. "Chris, you have to look those things up. It makes a Stark smarter to look things up instead of asking Dad. Asking Dad or the Moms, or Grandma, is for when you can't find stuff on it online."

"Oooooh. I can do that." He pulled up a virtual screen to type that into google so he could look that up.

Clint grinned at her. "Bitter are we?" he asked quietly.

"Tiny bit since Chris doesn't do half the homework I used to do. I know girls have to be better to get to the same point, but *really*."

"He's doing the same classes you did," Tony assured her. "He's just slacking and doing them slower, Callia." She snorted, looking at him. "I also haven't had to ground him and make him do punishment papers."

"Yes you did. You made him go clean out Maeve's closet instead of it." She stared at him. "Equal rights means equal treatment, even of the male heir versus the female heir, Dad." She grinned sweetly. "Or else that heir will be a dumbass forever more and he'll only follow in your playboy footsteps, not your engineering ones. And if I can't be a slut like you were, he can't either. I think that's fair."

"None of you kids can be the slut I was," he said dryly. "And he's getting the same classes. If he acts out like you do, including that little one there that earned you a paper on gender equality, then he'll get punishment papers too. That one infraction of the rules was him trying to wear makeup again."

"I put on makeup and you told me to go have Auntie Dawn show me how. That's what I told him by the way." She grinned and pulled up a virtual screen, then that paper, tossing it to him. "It's really unfair that I did more work than he does. We don't want an illiterate Stark, do we?" She smiled at him. "I can help by making sure he has some of my old notes."

He groaned. "I'll go over his class schedule and make sure that he's at the same level. You planned this?"

"No, I was going to put it up on my lj and then write an editorial to a teen girl's magazine to point out that even progressive, hip fathers still have gender bias issues. By the time I was his age, you read me bedtime stories and I was still doing another book report a month."

"He's starting that."

"A year later."

"Callia, you're a bit brighter than him," Steve said quietly.

"Hey!" Chris complained.

Steve looked at him. "You get the hands-on stuff better than she did, Chris, and she got the book work sooner than you did. You're catching up to where she was. In another year you'll be at the same spot."

Chris pouted at his father. Who hugged him. "Sometimes boys learn better by building instead of reading about it and then building. I made your sister read about it then build."

"I can do that."

"Yes you can and I'll make you start doing that." Chris beamed and hugged him then Steve, then ran back to pounce Philip and brag about school stuff. He gave his daughter a look. "That was evil," he mouthed.

She smirked. "I need someone to equal my genius. That way he can have the kids to carry on the family name and they're going to match my future single spawn." She got back to work on her plans.

Clint looked over at her. "Just one?"

"Yup. Not sure if I ever want to go through what I saw Mommy Pepper going through with delivering Chris." She shuddered. "I might not mind the other parts of pregnancy but not the delivery."

"They do c-sections," Tony said.

"And your aunt can help you with a healing spell so you don't have to worry about scars, which is why she had Lexi the hard way."

Callia nodded. "I remember how sore she was."

"That was atypical," Bruce said.

"Usually it's a few weeks," Clint agreed. "Natasha was sparring after three weeks."

The mini Natasha looked at her. "You did?"

"Mira is mine," she said with a point at her. "There was a Halloween party with risque costumes."

The mini Natasha looked over then at her. "You're much braver than I am. I would've had to hide."

"Clint and Dawn protected me." She smiled slightly. "They are very protective and possessive."

"Just a bit," Tony said dryly. "That's why he growls." Liz growled, which made Maeve squeak but try to growl back. "Sure, when you two get to date, when you're fifty, you can growl like your uncle does at his wives."

Clint looked over with an evil smirk. "I only growl when I need to. Usually I don't have to. Everyone knows which women are mine, Stark."

"Speaking of which, where is the wifey-wife since all I've seen so far today is the husband-wife?" Tony asked.

"Soaking," Natasha said a bit smugly. "She helped us celebrate Clint's birthday a bit early."

Tony looked at her. "I didn't have to turn off the security alarms."

"She got us a porno suite," Clint said in Latin. The boys didn't know that language yet. Or Liz.

Tony hummed. "Was it that good?"

Clint grinned. "It was that great. Including a few things that were in the room already."

"Huh. I'll have to see if Pepper or Steve want to go there for an anniversary." Steve shook his head quickly. "You sure? I'm sure it's fun."

"Not my thing, Tony. Thank you anyway."

"Stark, he's always been a prude," Bucky pointed out. He sat down and watched the mini Avengers. They were adorably confused. "Wait until you meet Dawn. She screwed my head up more than once."

"Hey," Callia complained. "She did not. You were already screwy and she was trying to straighten your butt out." Bucky smirked at her. "She was. You're just resistant to women for *some* reason." She gave him a pointed look then smirked. "Cute girlfriend by the way." Bucky groaned. She got back to her father's plans. She looked up something else and changed his plans that way. She rolled over, tossing his tablet at him. "There, I Bose'd the amplification needs so it's not something that can break." She smiled at the three toddlers. "You three are a drooling mess." They grinned at her. "You need new shirts." Maeve squealed and beamed, waving at her. "I don't know. Call Miss Nancy to see if she has spare shirts?"

"She does and I'll have one sent down for Maeve, as well as diapers," JARVIS told her. "I'm sure someone will be needing one soon."

Tony tipped his head to look at their butts. "Looks like Lexi already does."

"If you tell Mira that, she'll be jealous," Philip called. "She's a jealous bitch at times. Ow!" Clint smirked at him. "Mean, Daddy."

"Don't swear and don't call your sisters a bitch. Because Mom will spank you for that." He looked at Natasha. "The other mother, son."

"Ooooh," he said with a wince. "Mommy not nice when she's mean." They got back to it.

Natasha shook her head. So did the mini her. The mini Clint was still looking confused.

Dawn strolled in looking nice in her jeans and a t-shirt that dipped a bit and had a sparkly bit of thread woven in, just enough to draw notice. "I heard there's new uses."

"They didn't know enough about you to make you a chibi," Callia said with a grin.

"Cool!" She smiled at them. "We need to make a chibi sized housing unit so you don't have to get rolled over on or sleep on the couches." She sat down to make notes on what they'd need. She ran into something and paused, staring at it. "What are you?" she asked. Natasha leaned over to look. "Huh." She got into that. "JARVIS, please open this for me?" He hummed and took over the hacking for her, making her nod. "Mother fucking bitch," she said.

"Mommy!" Philip said, jumping up to stare at her, eyes wide. "Bad guys coming? You need weapons? Philip helps!"

"I do but not for you, sweetheart." She smiled at him. "Mommy just found a long-term plan from the guy who used to have Grandma and Uncle Steve's job."

Natasha took the tablet to look at. "What?" she demanded coolly.

Dawn looked at her. "Yeah. That was my feeling. And I was in a happy mood."

Clint got up and came over to look. "I'm going to go kill the ferret known as Nick Fury," he decided.

"Daddy, we like ferret Fury," Philip reminded him.

"He made you a new uncle, kiddo." He blinked.

"He made him a half-brother," Natasha corrected quietly. She looked at him. "Using a few others."

He took the tablet to look at. "Fuck."

"We need weapons," Chris told Philip, who got up to help him pull them out of the closet in there. "Do we need arrows or just guns?"

"Boys, we have all the weapons we need until we go on the rescue missions," Dawn said. They sighed in displeasure. "Then we'll need some guns. Which you two are not allowed to handle yet." They nodded and instead laid out bullets by person's usual guns. They had seen most of them.

Stark watched his very weird little boy then looked at Dawn. "Did you teach him that?"

"We let him look at all our guns," Steve said quietly. "He knows what we each use." Chris beamed and nodded.

The mini Natasha hopped down and walked over. "I tend to use that size," she said. They pointed at her stack, which was bigger than the others'. "Thank you, boys. That's very helpful."

Philip picked her up to hug. "You're still my favorite mommy because you don't do mean things like make me get up in the mornings and you make me food I like." He looked over. "Mommy, are we pulling out yours?"

"No, mine are at home," she said. "I'll have to break out the stash from one of the necklaces." She pulled it off and tossed it over. "Get into that for me please? Your daddy's new arrows are in there. I picked them up on the way over from the gear shop." The boys opened it and then found the switch Uncle Phil had shown them. They got into it and found the arrows, bringing it out for Clint's bow. Then a few other things got dragged out. Dawn took the tablet back to look over. "I was going to enjoy being sore today."

Clint smirked. "Us too." Dawn smirked at him, but it was more a suggestive one. "You don't have to go."

"Shut up! I should meet my other kid." He blushed but nodded. "Even if he's a late teenager. I'm guessing this is Phase Three for him, like the weapons were Phase Two?"

"No, this is Phase Four by the notes," Natasha said quietly. "Phase Three was the team." They all nodded at that. "Though I would never let a child take my position unless I was dead."

"Definitely not," Tony agreed. He took it to get into. "Looks like they're in prototype stage, Dawn. Not fully there."

She pointed at a link. "I was heading there."

He looked and nodded. "I need to talk to my father apparently." He walked off. His father had been doing more than irritating the shit out of the family while floating around the house. That was always a bad thing.

"Dad, bring a suit or a weapon," Callia called after him.

"He's a ghost," he reminded her. "He was when he decided to gift our skills to others."

"Fuck that shit," Dawn said. Clint smirked at her. "There wasn't one of you under that link. There was a next generation of Iron Man, who he somehow accidentally pulled from the future. There was a kid that seemed to have Hulk's skills, though somehow pulled from somewhere else. An Asgardian with magic, who he somehow pulled....."

"Andrew's machine," Clint realized. She nodded. "Fuck!" He walked off to talk to Andrew about that. Maybe they could send them home? "Stark?" He looked back at him. "Andrew's machine?"

"That's what I was thinking too." They went down to look at it.

Dawn looked at Steve. "They tried it on other soldiers?" He nodded, that was pretty well known. "They managed it?"

"Not that I ever heard."

"There was one but they didn't like that he was biracial so they used him more as a guinea pig of methods," Bucky said quietly. "I looked it up." Steve grimaced. "Howard stopped it when he found out and let the guy go free after fixing the damage they had done to him."

Dawn grimaced. "There was one that was related to him."

"Crap," Bucky muttered, shaking his head. "True?"

"Not sure. The file wasn't sure."

Bucky nodded. "Okay." He looked at Natasha.

"I'll be looking into that," she promised, getting up to get a tablet from Callia's stash of them to get back to it. "Then what?"

"It depends on if they all came from the same earth version," Dawn said. "Otherwise, I have no idea." They all nodded at that. She rubbed her forehead. "There's a new comic series out that has you guys in another realm doing other things. I think someone got hold of the other realm comic collection and started a multiverse."

"We can figure that out. You can nap if you want," Steve said quietly. "You still look exhausted."

Dawn nodded. "I am a bit yeah. I'm not sure why though." She went to nap in one of the quiet bedrooms.

Loki appeared once she was safely contained, making sure the door locked then looked at Natasha. "We had to interfere."

"I can shoot you again," she offered calmly. "Did you want that outcome?"

He smirked. "It wasn't us that meddled, Widowmaker." He stared down at her. "If everyone in the family has one disease did you think another in the family would not? The blessing knocked their genes out of alignment enough that they should not suffer that same fate."

"Was that really why it was done?" she asked, sending that to Dawn and Clint.

"That was part of it, that and to keep Barton's line strong." He smirked. "Hers isn't cancerous. Yet. Though they will be having to remove a cyst within a year." Dawn came out to glare at him, arms crossed over her chest. "You are on magic restriction for the next ten months, chit." He gave her a smug look. "Someone desperately wanted that daughter you didn't get to have to be born. She and both...may be sons, not sure yet, will be your last due to that non-cancerous cyst."

"I know they found a tiny one that seemed to go away," she said quietly. "They said it wasn't cancerous and it probably wouldn't be."

"Yes, and then in a year it'll be large. Too large." She nodded once at that. "So do enjoy the last gifts of motherhood in this life. I'm not sure which Goddess intervened. It wasn't one we're familiar with. I know she was trying to be kind. I got sent as a messenger because they decided I could welcome new godchildren." He stared at her.

She shrugged. "I'm not unhappy if it took. Since I'm on a lot of birth control."

"Yes, but there was a goddess involved. The eggs were there when they needed to be there." He waved a hand. "Do have fun."

"I don't mind being pregnant most of the time." Loki sighed. "But yeah, thanks for the warning. Just the one girl?"

"Not totally sure. The one you didn't end up carrying with the son. That way she wasn't hanging in limbo when we needed her. The other two are twins. Not exactly sure yet."

She nodded. "Thank you for telling me. If you find out which goddess can you tell her I said thank you for the warning and the gifts?"

"I shall. You're not upset?"

Dawn shrugged. "If that cyst reappeared I probably would've talked Clint into having one last one then had it removed with the ovary it's on once it was safely born."

He slumped. "Nothing upsets you."

"Plenty upsets me. This....just a few years sooner than it might have happened before. Maybe this time my pregnancy will go like usual and I'll get to enjoy it instead of filling in on the team." He shuddered. She smirked. "Is that daughter going to have one of my Keys?"

"Or two possibly. Not exactly sure how that'll happen."

"Well, if so, that's great." She smiled. "Thank you, Loki." He huffed and left. "He's much less evil now that he's getting sex regularly," she said, walking off again. "Let me go rest. Apparently I'll need it to save up for morning sickness." She slammed the bedroom door.

Natasha winced. "She is not all that calm."

Bruce was texting Joyce. "Any idea which Goddess it might be?" he asked.

"We are not that well versed. You might ask Xander or Coulson."

Xander appeared, nodding. "The minor goddesses in Valhalla got together. They wanted Dawn's original first daughter to be their champion some day. The female Thor of their day." Natasha scowled at him. "She's going to be a fiery young bitch of a warrior."

"As is Philip," she said dryly.

"Often." He grinned. "They saw the cyst and saw it growing some so they gifted her with the boon of that so she wouldn't have a meager three children for her warrior spouses." He shrugged. "I'm not sure anyone consulted anyone."

"Boys or girls?"

"Not sure," he admitted. "Not sure if they're identical or fraternal and then the single. Which they pulled out of the ether since she didn't get pregnant with her here. Her essence went back to waiting." He disappeared.

Clint walked in and to the bedroom, knocking then walking in and slamming the door.

"Cuddle her for us," Chris called. "We need more boys in the family! We're lonely and surrounded by girls!"

"And yet you two like to dress as if girls," Natasha said in Russian.

Philip looked at her. "We can be pretty boys, Mommy," he replied in Russian. "We're very pretty boys."

"You are. You should dress like boys more often however. Pretty boys can still be boyish."

The boys shared a look and babbled in their strange best friend language then nodded. They could start doing that. "Guyliner?" Chris asked her.

"I'd spank," Steve assured him.

"Fine," he huffed. "It's pretty on boys."

"No. There will be jeans and t-shirts, boys." Natasha stared at him. "If we don't set it for both boys, it'll drift back."

Natasha snorted. "I will take the boys shopping later with Bucky. Boys do wear more than jeans and t-shirts. Especially my son. Plus they both need gi's for self defense class."

"Yup," Chris said happily. "I get to start soon."

"You are both going to the same gym where Dawn trains to get them," Natasha said. "They helped train your sister as well, Christopher."

Callia smiled. "It was pretty cool and I'm looking forward to going back once I can walk again." Natasha looked over. "I go now but I can't do as much."

"You will learn based on your future limitations then push past them." They all heard a squeal and looked. "I believe Clint is not displeased by that news of what happened on his birthday." She went back to hacking.

"Auntie, one of them is from the same realm but she's .... Wow, she's like a girly Uncle Clint."

"Then we'll let her help. She can handle it until Lexi or Mira is old enough."

"I take Daddy's bow," Philip said. "And Mommy's chainmail. Philip not have magic, Mommy."

"No, you don't. That should be more than suitable, son." He grinned and got back to work.

Clint opened the door, shirtless, his pants undone. "What?"

"Philip someday wants your bow, my suit, and Dawn's chainmail."

He nodded. "I can see that. We'll work on that when he's a teenager. Until then he's to be a little boy." He looked at his son, smirking at him. "You're going to be a big brother again." Philip got up to dance.

"We need more boys," Chris told him. "We're surrounded and losing this war, Uncle Clint."

"I didn't decide that, guys, but we'll see what they come out as." He closed the door. They all heard the lock engage. Then a moment later Dawn squealed again.

"He is very good to her," Natasha told her chibi self.

"Apparently he is." She looked at the mini Clint, who was blushing.

***

Dawn found the kids in their safety fallback and shook her head. It figured Howard used one of his old safehouses. She walked in and found a gun in her face. "Miss Bishop, I'm Dawn Summers-Romanoff-Barton," she said with a smile. "We just found out what Howard did. We're bringing you to Stark Towers."

The young brunette looked at her. "Like Hawkeye?"

"Yeah, I'm married to the big goofball. They're having an argument right now about how to rework the machine to see if we can get those of you from other realms home. Pack up. The beds there have got to be better and we have better water pressure, plus training areas if you want to use them. Clint's highly pleased that there's another archer that can match his greatness before he teaches our kids."

She looked at the other team members. "The other Avengers won't like that."

"Kate, we don't have Nick Fury in charge and we don't have mutant registration yet either. Frankly, Stark's in a snit of epic proportions about his father having pulled you guys to this earth." She looked at one. "Junior, no magic around me for a bit, okay? Some of the less noted Asgardian goddesses decided I'm to get one last pregnancy in." He nodded at that. She smiled. "C'mon. You can use my training area. It's specially built to withstand magical snit fits and mood swings." She looked at Kate. Then she called. "Talk to your protege."

"Get your asses to the tower now," Clint ordered but he sounded pleased. "Stark's talking with the guy who made the machine that pulled you guys and we need you guys to calibrate it if we're sending you home."

Kate pushed back her hair. "We came from different realms."

"That's fine," Dawn agreed. "Andrew used it to save a bunch of Keys from other realms." She shrugged and smiled. "C'mon. Pack up. The quin jet's waiting with Bucky."

"Barnes?" one demanded quietly. "He's....."

"We found him, deprogrammed him, and now he's busy reminding Cap that he's a stick in the mud about some things, especially about the kids," Dawn said dryly. She nodded. "C'mon. There's a high probability of an attack from the splinter group that SHIELD shed when they merged a few years back and I'm under orders not to be attacked while pregnant."

"If they do, I'm killing them all," Natasha said. "Children, come in. Now. We will see if we can send you home or not by tonight, and if not make plans with your input."

"And if Iron Lad's there, I'm making sure his suit doesn't look a thing like mine," Tony called in the background. "Or War Machine's."

"I think they renamed him, boss," Dawn said. "Something about Iron Patriot." She looked at Kate.

"Let's go, guys," Kate agreed. "I've seen enough press about her to know she works for Stark, not SHIELD."

Dawn grinned. "My mom half co-heads SHIELD with Steve. Mom's busy spanking a lot of people today that were helping with that. Mom's not going to leave much of that splinter group for anyone else." She pointed. "C'mon." They went out. Bucky made sure they had everything, finding the transmitter in their things. He threw it out and they lifted off, making it out of there an hour before the SHIELD splinter team got there. Dawn looked at Bucky. "They really have to name themselves something else. SHIELD/Splinter just doesn't work and Splinter was part of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."

He shook his head. "I don't know anything about turtles, Dawn. I was probably frozen then too. We'll make them rename themselves soon."

"I can humiliate them in the press," she said, starting on an editorial of their stupidity. "Guys, ten more minutes," she said at the first restless move. They landed and she pointed. "Down two floors." They went and she followed.

Clint looked up from putting the weapons back up, even though the boys were pouting. "Sorry, taking the kids' weapon petting time." He closed the necklace up and handed it to Dawn, who put it back on. He looked at Kate. "We need to make sure you can live up to my brilliance," he said with a grin. "And yeah, you can keep the name." She relaxed. "We'll figure it out and if we have to, we'll let you guys handle shit. We're going to be pretty much moved back to the west coast again soon." He looked at Dawn. "No dizziness yet?"

"Dear, it's only two days along. I didn't get dizzy and nauseous until I was five weeks along either time."

"Okay." He grinned. "Goddesses are giving us triplets. We went from one, to one plus Natasha's, then these three. I have the bad feeling if Natasha ever wants another baby we'll either have twins or a quad." Kate snickered. "C'mon. Geeks are waiting." He walked them off. "Wiccan, Thor's here. So's Loki again."

Dawn sighed. "Is he playing with his godson?"

"No, and he said not even he can keep all the chaos down around him," he said dryly. "So he'll get kidnaped half as often as you used to."

"Maybe by then he'll have a good mate who'll growl and insist he needs a leash like you used to complain I needed one," she shot back, poking him on the arm. He smirked at her. "We have a business trip to Argentina and then Paraguay next week."

"Fuck. No, you're taking some support, Dawn." He looked back at the kids. "Lots of people want Dawn for one reason or another."

Dawn shook her head. "That totally discounts that when I was pregnant with Philip I was his backup on the team while he was on assignment." They all smirked at her. "I'm not bad, guys. I can't spar for the next ten months but I'm not bad." She got them into the lab they were working in. "Guys?"

Andrew looked over. "It was a crackhead, two in the morning on Sunday after a weekend binge of chocolate idea," he apologized, looking sheepish. "I'm sorry, guys. Tony had it locked up and Howard's ghost stole it from there with the new Splinter people."

"They really have to name themselves something better," Dawn said. "Splinter was a rat that taught mutant turtles."

Andrew and Jonathan both smiled at her. "They do," Jonathan agreed. "But we can't come up with one for them since there's already bad guys."

"Kraken? Many tentacles, no mouth, and likes virgins to train right?" Dawn quipped. Jonathan blushed. Tony blushed. Andrew burst out cackling and hugged her.

Clint shook his head. "We'll cure the weird thoughts later, Dawn."

Natasha looked at him. "Some of us are still sore, Barton. She can have them tonight and that's not a bad name for their group. They are rather gropey."

Dawn added that to her opinion article and let Tony proofread it, making him cackle and send it in for her. She smiled. "I thought that might help." She looked at the machine. "Okay, it's still pulling this way, guys. I can feel pressure coming at me." They made her go away in case it tried the keys they had used it to summon. She checked on Pepper and the kids. Joyce was up there so she hugged her mother. Then her kids. Maeve pouted and got one too. "You're a good girl most of the time, Maeve. Even if you have been sucking on Mira again. Does she taste good?" Maeve grinned at her auntie. "That's good then."

Mira let out a shriek. She looked at her daughter. "We're not ignoring you." Mira pouted. Dawn picked her up to cuddle. Mira pouted worse. "Your mommy's playing with alternate reality machines. You can see the other Mommy and Daddy later, dear. They can both spoil you more rotten then." She put her back into her walker, letting her toddle off to bother Callia's pets. She shook her head, sitting down beside her mom. "So, apparently I might need some maternity leave in a few months, Pep."

"Apparently," she agreed. "Are you okay?"

"They spotted the cyst and it went away with the pills. The fact that it's coming back isn't all that surprising. I went through a predictive test and they said I had sixty percent chance, give or take twenty percent for errors, of popping up some sort of cancer. They thought it'd probably be a minor one like cervical or breast cancer though. Something more easily treated." She shrugged. "I've prepared myself for that thought. I might cry a lot when they remove that ovary but I'm not sure if they're going to have to remove both."

"Then we'll make sure you have time off when you need it."

"Loki said it wasn't going to be cancerous from what Nat said. And I'm about due for another full-body scan anyway." Pepper nodded at that. "So we'll see. I'm not sure I'm up to carrying triplets," she said, looking at her stomach. "I need to start lotioning tonight."

Joyce hugged her. "We'll get through it, Dawn. Even if it's not cancerous we'll handle it and maybe we can get you an assistant beyond the one you have."

"She's going to have to do a bit more and then cover for me when I'm on leave," Dawn agreed. "Thankfully the other two have been easy ones, outside that one delivery. So we'll have to see." Joyce gave her a squeeze.

Chris climbed into her lap. "Can we please have boys?"

"I'm not sure what they are yet. Babies won't tell us what sex they are until they're about five months along. I'm barely two days pregnant."

"Oh." He cuddled her, getting one back. "You cuddle great, Auntie Dawn."

"Thanks, Chris." She smiled when he fell asleep on her. "You're sweet, sometimes." Pepper laughed but nodded and got up to take him to put down on the other end of the sectional where Philip was napping. The girls were starting to nap in their walkers so Pepper got them napping with the boys. They liked to nap with their brothers. Philip all but pulled Mira underneath him to cuddle. Chris pulled Lexi close enough to crack her ribs with his cuddling, and Maeve got that sort of cuddles from her two friends.

Liz walked past them. "It's like a little hippy love in pile from the history channel," she complained. "Gross." She went down to her room. The adults were talking about kid things. The kids were napping and cuddling, which she didn't like to do, so she'd go paint or something.

Pepper smiled. "My kids are all very independent."

Joyce smiled back and nodded. "They are, but charming most of the time. You've done a great job with them, Pepper."

"Not alone but thank you, Joyce." Dawn grinned. It was partially her doing.

"Fuck!" Liz shouted, then ran up the stairs. "Spider! Mommy! Huge spider! Shoot it!"

Callia rolled down to the elevator then into her sister's room, shooting the spider. She brought it back up, holding it up by one robotic leg. "It's metal."

"So! Robotic spiders are still spiders!" Liz shouted. Chris hauled her over and made her cuddle too. "Hey!"

"Daddy stomp spiders or stepmom," he mumbled in her ear. "Cuddle Maeve." Liz huffed but she was trapped and she'd hurt the babies if she moved wrong. So she ended up between the two boys and their cuddle targets and holding Maeve to cuddle her. She could nap she guessed. It was better than being tormented by spiders.

Callia let her mother have it. "JARVIS, who's doing robotic spiders?"

"Lab 13," Dawn said. "Or maybe 17, they're looking at other robotic surveillance animal ideas."

"Thanks," she said, rolling that way. She found them in lab 13. She rolled in and cleared her throat. "People, you just upset my sister enough that she cried." A few winced. "I'd fucking go apologize *really* hard to Dad and Liz. And maybe Mommy Pepper too since Liz was having a fit about the spider. And why oh why was it in her dressing area?" One blanched. "Because if it's for that bad reason, we need to have a talk."

"You're in that chair," one said.

She snorted, looking at him. "Do you think this chair would stop me from killing someone who was staring at my naked baby sister? Really? I *am* a Summers woman as well as a Stark. I can and will put on that temporary nerve bridge and kick your ass." He backed up. "Was it for that reason?"

"I, um, no, not really. We were gauging how good the picture quality was, Callia. Really!"

"Uh-huh," she said, staring at him. "Is that your final answer?" He nodded. "Because I can go get the Band of Truth from Jonathan's stuff if I need to."

He burst out crying. "She's beautiful. She should be in art!"

"She likes art, dude, but if she ever models like Auntie Dawn we'd all be shocked. Liz hates being naked." She stared at him. "Go. Confess. Mommy Pepper won't let Auntie Dawn beat your ass today since we just found out she's pregnant but if I tell them.... well, Grandma's up there and Grandpa's around here somewhere." He ran off to tell them. "Any others?" she asked. They all shook their heads quickly. "Then I shot your device. It's really mean to put that in kids' rooms. They're often afraid of spiders and even I nearly flinched." She rolled off again, going up there. Grandma had the guy in a headlock and was kicking his ass. "Go, Grandma!" she cheered. "Whoo hoo!"

Joyce smirked at her. "Settle down before you wake the younger children, Callia." She finished up with him and put him onto the floor. She settled down, pouring her and Dawn some iced tea, but Pepper shook her head since she still had half a glass. "Now, let's talk about this problem you're having with reality," Joyce said pleasantly.

Callia watched. Grandma gave lessons in how to be a scary bitch without having to get sweaty very well. Summers women were just like that.

***

Tony looked up as a virtual screen popped up to show them what the guy was telling Pepper. They all watched as Joyce beat him and then sat down to be socially polite and pleasant. Tony looked at Bruce.

"She won't save me any," Bruce complained.

Kate blinked a few times. "My mother was like that," she said quietly.

Clint grinned. "Dawn can be but she swears a bit now and then. Joyce's whole family was apparently full of women like that."

Tony nodded. "Raven definitely was."

"She's Raven?" Kate demanded with a point.

"Her aunt was the last one," Tony said with a smirk. "Her great-aunt was the one during the war. Steve worked with her a few times. That apple did not fall far from the tree and Dawn's just as strong and tough, only she enjoys fussing over things and people. She's an *excellent* assistant." Kate smirked at that. "She's fixed a lot of things and whenever she has to, she's there with a weapon."

"Not for ten months," Clint said happily. "We'll have to make plans for the kidnaping idiots."

"We have last time's. We can update it," Steve said. "I had no idea why the guys on the admin floor were so respectful of Joyce. Though I like that they are. Apparently they've seen her do this. I thought she was still more fragile," he said when Bruce glared at him.

"She is but there's some things that will get a Summers woman out of a sickbed to fix," Tony said dryly. "Like when Dawn and her spouses disappeared due to Romania and then the US. She got out of her bed at the cancer center and took on SHIELD, Congress, the Army, us sometimes, and everyone else who got in her way."

Bruce grinned. "I admired her for that before I knew her," he admitted. "She's the sort of mom I wanted to have."

"Ditto," Clint agreed. "And Dawn's a lot like her as a mom. The kids hardly ever get ordered. She hardly ever loses her temper, outside of when Philip was acting up about the girls, but they do what they're told and they don't act like little shits in public."

"How do you get Philip up in the morning?" Bruce asked. "We couldn't figure that out the last time we babysat."

"You tempt, you offer food or the girls to cuddle, and if that doesn't work Dawn goes in to unwrap him, gets called mean in some language, and then he stomps off to the bathroom to sulk for a few minutes until Natasha or I get him to calm him down. Natasha calls that his diva moment of the day. Then you give him three choices for outfits, two if you must but if you give him three he'll probably tell you exactly what he wants to wear instead, and let him have the girls to fuss over."

Bruce smiled. "I'll remember that for the next one."

Tony looked at the staring kids, nodding some. "Dawn's kids are little divas. Mira hates certain colors and patterns, will scream until you get them off her or Philip tells her she looks tough. Lexi's got a thing about matching. Philip likes kilts."

Kate tried not to laugh but you had to. "They're very strong kids."

Clint nodded. "They're as stubborn as all three of us combined. Mira alone can make happy people lose their good mood." He looked at Andrew.

"I offer up the kids to cuddle," Andrew said with a grin. "It solves that since Mira thinks Caroline is a fascinating older woman to flirt with."

"She is her mother's daughter," Tony quipped. "Maybe Caro will be Mira's version of Dawn for Natasha."

"Maybe," Clint admitted. "Not real sure." They got back to recalibrating it. They got two of them home, Vision and Hulking. They were from the same realm it seemed. They had to recalibrate it for others. Iron Lad looked at it then at the others. Clint stared at him. "What?" he asked quietly.

"There was a guy called Kang....."

Clint held up a hand. "I asked Xander, who has a contact in another realm who runs a comic shop. We've gotten a rundown on all that, kids." They all relaxed. "Do you want to go home?"

"If he's defeated for good."

"Not totally sure but there's others there that can help you. Or you can stay and mentor under Stark."

"Your armor's being redesigned so you don't look like a mini me," Tony joked with a grin. "Chris is my suit's mini me and Callia's the science side mini me."

"I... He can't come here, can he?"

"No, he can't, and if he does, we've got tons of heavy duty backup," Clint said. "We've sidestepped a bunch of big evil shits thanks to that comic connection. Though we did battle Thanos," he sighed.

"Then can I stay?" Iron Lad asked.

"Yeah, not a problem," Tony said with a smirk.

"Then let's work on Stature and Patriot next," Andrew decided. The others had that uneasy look like they might not want to go home. "Boss, since Callia wants to start that think tank....."

"He'd be a good addition to it I think," he agreed, clapping the kid on the back. "We'll talk about all that stuff and lab space later, Richards." The kid grinned and nodded. "Okay. Patriot....." He stepped forward. The machine beeped and sent him back. It moved to Stature. "I've only met your dad and mom here a few times," Tony said quietly. "He's making himself into an Avenger now."

She grinned. "That's good to know. Sometimes Dad seems too infallible for his own good."

Tony snorted, shaking his head. "He had some really bad habits here that made Dawn nearly rip his molecules apart, kid. He's not infallible. None of us are," he said quietly. "You do the best with what you've got."

"I heard why my parents broke up," she admitted.

Tony smirked. "Dawn let him have a free shot and then she made him bark and back down."

"I can be a woman like that some year."

"All up to what you do with the genius," Tony reminded her.

She nodded. "I can do that. Thanks, Mr. Stark. You're a bigger asshole in our world."

"I'm a huge asshole here too. Just ask the other Avengers." They all nodded but Clint was smirking at him. "Sometimes they do it back though."

"I'll keep that in mind." She stepped through.

"Shit, overload," Andrew said, moving to make sure she got home while Jonathan fixed the overload.

"Pym particles," Jonathan sighed, correcting for that. "I should've realized." The machine flashed. "She's home." The machine was now broken. "Um.... Few weeks," he said, looking at the others.

Kate shrugged. "I'm happier here at the moment." The others nodded. "You didn't separate the twins."

"Their parents aren't here," Xander said as he appeared with a smirk. "At all. Never created here, never born here. The whole Magnus line was killed back in the late eighteen hundreds by a raid. In their world, they had a female relative that survived. Here they didn't." She nodded at that. So did the twins. Iron Lad just shifted some. Xander looked at him. "You're not him."

"I might be."

"You're not. Every experience changes your personality and your methods. This changed it a whole lot. You'll never be Kang."

"Thanks."

"Not a problem." He grinned at Billy Kaplan. "So, Uncle Thor is presently here somewhere but being fussed at by his wife I think." He rolled his eyes. "And they call Dawn mushy," he muttered, cracking Clint up. "So we'll introduce you to the Asgardians down here later. You're all welcome at the temple when you want time there." He looked at all of them. He looked at Billy again. "Alana might fuss over you. There hasn't been too many young born outside of Thor's kids and they're mightily fussed over and spoiled by all the valkyries."

"Who are you?" Kate asked.

"I'm Alexander, son of Loki and God Protectorate of Humanity. My mate, Phil, is also known as the God over Heros and Agent Coulson sometimes." He grinned. "I'm also the same Xander that used to help Dawn's sister Buffy hunt vamipres."

"Wow," she said. "So...."

Clint shook his head. "Only him and Coulson. The rest of us watch them get mushy in odd ways when we're at the temple to teach specialist skills to hopeful agent trainees."

Xander looked at him. "There hasn't been any in two classes?"

"Nope. They sucked," Clint said bluntly. "Badly. We went from whiny ones who thought they were *special* to ones that Nat and I had a thinking moment about what sort of bats we wanted to use on their heads. I was all for good, old fashioned baseball bats but she had a point about cricket bats getting a good depth of pain from them."

Xander winced. "The new one?"

"So far you've got half the class," Clint said. "Fully passed." Xander beamed and nodded, disappearing again. "He does our second step training for future agents. Him, a team of commandos, the valkyries when they want to come out to humiliate the guys for being slower than immortal warrior wenches who drink a lot."

"Wow," Kate said. "I take it he's really rough on them?"

"The baseline standards to pass from the book and physical testing are very high," Steve said with a smile. "Then they go to Xander to learn stamina, sparring, some specialist things in case we have another demon apocalypse, a bit about camping and survival skills in case they end up displaced or in need of them, and a few other things. Then they go on to field agent training."

Clint nodded with an evil smirk. "I usually give the crossbow lectures." She smirked at him. "It's handier when you're dealing with rookies used to guns and them having to go hunt vampires." He thought at Dawn, getting a smile and a sure back. She called off the sale with the realtor. "Kate, you're taking our old place since we're mostly going to be on the west coast now. It's got room for all of you." They nodded. "It's a few blocks from here. Stark can do educational stuff. It's got security and a gym in the building. It's got a lot of specialized content. Dawn spoiled us rotten with the house." He caught the keys when Callia threw them in. "Thanks, sprout."

"Welcome, Uncle Clint. They'll like it. I do. It's even got a wheelchair lift in case I need to visit." She smirked at Iron Lad. "We'll work on your suit so it's not shiny like Dad's." She rolled off.

Clint looked at Tony, who nodded. He took them to the house, using his phone to input them into the security system there. He got them into the elevator. "Basement has a cage in case we needed to house someone who broke in. The house has a fidelus on it still. We got *real* tired of the reporters," he told them. He brought them inside. "This is the main floor. That's a spare, handicapped accessible bathroom," he said with a point. "That's two work areas around the main bedroom." He led them around to look at things, ending up on the roof. He looked at Kate when she grinned at his 'hunting blind' with security camera feeds. "The fidelus goes most of the way on the loft floor but not up here," he warned, leading her back inside. "Reporters are like roaches." She laughed. "You okay?" he asked in the stairs.

"It's like a huge tornado blew in."

He nodded. "Sometimes. Dawn does that to us sometimes too. Then again, the faster we get you guys settled, the faster we can make you have what you need to train to take our places." She stared at him. "I saw." She shrugged but nodded. "You're good enough to wear my name." He grinned. "If they ask if you're my daughter, tell them no? They'll hound the kids."

She punched him on the arm. "Of course I'm not your kid. How would I access things at home?"

Xander appeared with a tiny being. "This is a goblin."

"I read Harry Potter," she admitted, staring at him.

"We do work with a limited number of realm switching beings," the goblin said. "Including Lord Alexander in another realm. We can arrange things for you with your home realm for a very small, one time fee."

"If you do it for that one hormoned Xander, he could use you to sell those jewels he gets that he doesn't want," Xander said smugly. "He has whole realms that send him shit he doesn't want." The goblin moaned. "And he's not really picky about the profit usually."

"So we could definitely work out an arrangement with you, Miss Bishop." She smirked at him. "We will talk later after we work on the primary one with that other Xander." She nodded, shaking his hand so he could go with that Xander.

Clint grinned at her. "Xander's like Dawn's big brother. He's highly protective of her."

She nodded. "I can see why." She looked around then at him. "How is this going to work?"

"You're going to finish school," he said bluntly. "You guys are going to train if you want to keep doing all this stuff. If something happens locally, then Cap's usually here on this coast and if not, Joyce and Bruce are." She relaxed. "Stark wanted to move back to the west coast, which means Dawn got moved with them, which meant Nat and I were going and Cap's there every few days at the moment. When you're old enough to have graduated high school, because you don't even want to hear the fit Dawn would throw about that subject, or Stark, then you guys can handle the bigger shit with us. Be our 'B' team. We have commando teams backing us up whenever we need them to, or going over to solve the minorly bad things that might evolve into our field cases. Bucky's probably going to mostly stay local unless Steve moves to the west coast full time so you guys can lean on him."

"Callia?"

"She's a good kid. Very bright. She's eleven. She's doing make work so she doesn't graduate right now and have to go to college." Kate winced at that. "She is the clone of Stark in a lot of ways. She's brilliant and mouthy like him but she's Dawn's sister's kid thanks to the NID fuckers." Kate grimaced but nodded she knew what they were. "She's a good kid. She's working hard to get out of the chair one of the minor bad guys put her into. Chris is slacking a lot but he's the next great Stark behind Callia. He's about where she was but he's not doing the bookwork he made her do, which made her pouty earlier. They both like weapons and Callia wants to start a think tank of her own when she's out of school to turn her ideas on all that into more helpful things for humanity. Things like turning the suit into portable hospital units and the like."

"That could be handy. Nathaniel might like that."

"Callia suggested that's not a bad thing. She's never planning on having the suit, that's Chris, but if it happens around her she'll handle it like her aunt does."

"Good to know. Chris?"

"Just starting self defense. Callia started earlier. Originally she was on the pre-slayer list." Kate winced. "Were they there?"

"Tv show."

"Her mom was Buffy."

"Oooooh. Well, she's not a flighty airhead."

"No, and she's a lot like her aunt. She'll quietly handle things and when you find out you bitch about her having done it and not telling you. Some weeks, we bitch at Dawn a lot."

"I can see how that goes. Are you sure...."

He stared at her. "You can be and are my heir until the kids are old enough. By then, you'll probably want to take some time off." She grinned. "Do the name proud. Keep up the practice. We spar every day and the team does it at least once a week, all of us. If you guys need specialist trainers, Dawn's got a gym here that works with the pagan community. They teach everything from spell work for Billy to sword, gymnastics, water aerobics, has a range.... It's how we kept Dawn in practice for all the skills she's had to build over the years."

"That's a nice thing."

"About six blocks in the other direction," he said with a grin. "We can introduce you there. They can train you guys like they have been training Dawn since she won't be able to for months." She smirked at that. "I'm not all that unhappy. I love my little hellions. Even when my son wears kilts and no underwear to daycare." She burst out laughing and they came out. He found the list of menus and put them on the counter then drew a map.

"Okay, specialist training gym," he said, looking at the boys. "Including spell work and all sorts of disciplines. Good pharmacy, good grocery store, good specialty place for italian food and one for chinese food." He pointed at them. "Stark Tower." He labeled a few things. "Semi good high school or Dawn can arrange for you guys to home school. You don't want to hear the fit they'll throw if you don't, guys." They all nodded. He pointed again. "SHIELD's local landbase HQ, where Joyce is most of the time. And usually Cap."

He pointed at another one. "Far distant but a Wal-Mart." He looked at them. "The house is under fidelus thanks to the plague of reporters we've had over the years. The club up the street is full of punks. They've had a lot of assault charges recently." They all nodded. "We left most everything here outside the personal stuff. The shop looking place downstairs is actually our home gym." They smiled. "I'll have Dawn set up stuff for you guys tomorrow. Okay?" They all nodded. "Then go rest. Decide how everyone does bedrooms."

"Why does the main bedroom have five closets?" Kate asked.

"My clothes, Nat's clothes, Dawn's work clothes, her formal clothes for work stuff, and her teasing clothes closet. There's plenty of days we wanted that to be left here." He looked at her, grinning some. "Dawn is really a dick teasing sith at times." She burst out laughing. "Yeah, she really is. So if you need help with girl stuff, ask her. She'll help. She likes to help and fuss and mentor." She nodded at that, smiling some.

"She's also a practical sort. She may be fanciful, full of magic, and pretty damn powerful, but she's the sort of mother that no one wants to mess with. People don't really try to get close to our kids because of Dawn defending them. They only try to snatch them for whatever reason when they're with me or Nat. Dawn is The Bitch of the Avengers. Even if she wasn't dating two of us she would be." He wrote numbers on the map.

"Stark's cell, which sometimes means you'll get JARVIS, Pepper, or Dawn. Dawn's cellphone," he said with a point. "Because she handles a lot of stuff for us, including getting the press off our asses at times. Pepper's line in case you need it. Her office phone is always forwarded to her cell when she's not in the office, and when she can't be on it, Dawn has it." They nodded at that. He wrote down one and handed it to Kate. "Mine," he said with a grin. She smiled back.

"All right, settle in. I'm pretty sure we forgot the canned food with how much grocery shopping we had to do when we got to LA." They looked and he helped make dinner while the guys settled in. Kate got the main bedroom since she was the only female. He looked at her. "The gym downstairs has a basic archery setup for target shooting. The one in the Tower has simulated and fully there divergent and obstacle course for things like firing on targets," he said quietly. "So you shouldn't need for training stuff. Callia's taking high school stuff too with some college mixed in so the books might already be around. Philip was enrolled here but we got him put into one in LA on our first choice without any problem. So if you want a real school with real students and all that, Dawn has a book that has a list."

"I went to school here. I can see if mine's here."

"Okay. Dawn can get you the home schoolers tests so you don't have to fake up grades and the like." She grinned at that. "Stark works with a number of colleges. Callia's going to one on the west coast. Stark's an MIT alum if Nathaniel wants that. Let us know and we'll support you guys. You're our next generation and we all realize that we're getting old. Hell, Stark's nearly fifty." She nodded. "For now, acclimate, train, finish the necessary things that would get you busted by authorities. I'll have Dawn work on the emancipation paperwork for you guys. If we can't we'll put you as wards of the team somehow."

"That should work for us. Nathaniel's the only one that's old enough."

"Which we get. Dawn started being a perky assistant sort for Stark when she was fifteen due to her mom having a brain tumor and there being a hell goddess after her." Kate shuddered. "Things can get weird but we're used to most of it by now. So let us know if you need shit."

"We can do that. The kids are adorable."

"Until first thing in the morning when you try to wake their asses up," he said blandly. "Then we have a diva, a primadonna, and a fussy bitch." She laughed. "And now three more," he sighed, shaking his head. "I'm super but not that way. Thankfully, Philip loves being a big brother. He'll help." He grinned. "We'll have to see how she's breastfeeding all three though." He shrugged it off. "Oregano?" She handed it over. "Thanks." He sprinkled some on and put the dish into the oven. "Twenty minutes." He looked at her. "Call even if it's just tiny things. We know how bogged down the life makes you.

"Oh, and if Deadpool shows up, he's got a fascination with Dawn. He calls her his mean, dark angel." She blushed at that. "Nothing happened but he apparently fussed over her while she was pregnant with Philip and I was on assignment." They shared a look. "Behave, train, call. Don't stop Dawn from fussing unless she's going super fussy over things like your clothes. Stark has a guy that makes outfits for us for battle uniforms." She smiled and nodded. "We will work on it. We'll support you guys until you're back on good footing and then come when you need help."

"We can do the same thing."

He smirked. "Of course you will. Let me hit the tower and I'll have Dawn take you guys to that gym tomorrow and then grocery shopping." He patted her on the shoulder. "You'll do great here, Kate, and wear the name proudly." He walked off happier.

Kate looked in the oven then at the guys. "Twenty." They grinned and set the table. They could figure things out while Dawn got them set up.

***

Dawn walked off the elevator the next morning. No noise. She went to check. Kate was still in bed. So were the others. She laughed and shook Kate, moving the knife that came up. "Don't try that, Kate. I'd hate to beat your ass." She grinned. "C'mon, I've got papers and a partial schedule for today and tomorrow to go over."

"Why?" she asked, pushing back her dark brown hair.

"Gym, costumes, judge for paperwork, tests to get you guys into the home schooling or regular schools. Stuff for Nathaniel to look over for college admission, passwords onto the Stark internet service we have here, all that." She smiled. "Go clean up." She went upstairs. "Boys, don't make me come in there to giggle at your boyish bodies," she yelled as she walked. They came out blushing. She smiled. "Let's go eat. I've got stuff for you guys to go over and all that." They nodded, coming down to work on coffee then maybe breakfast.

Dawn took over breakfast, smiling at Nathaniel. "I cook most mornings for the kids and Clint takes dinner most nights." They grinned and settled down. Dawn pulled up her briefcase. "Okay." She handed over envelopes. "In there are your Stark ID cards, your username and password for our system so you can log in to the internet now and then, or do homework, and your present temporary bank accounts from SHIELD. Avengers get paid here and even ones in training do. You're listed as speciality agents in training."

They all nodded at that. "It's not much of a stipend but it'll pay for movies, food, clothes, books, all that." She handed Nathaniel a package. "FAFSA, the college list of Stark-approved and liked college programs, the other three forms you'll have to fill out." She handed over other packages to all of them. "Tests to see where you fall on the home schooling radar to see where we have to make up based on the city's standards or in case you guys want to go to a normal high school. This way we know where to forge records so you don't have to take stuff from first grade again."

Kate smiled. "I was going to look into my present school here."

"Let me know where when you've decided and I'll get you the forms and all that you'll need to get in there. There's a meeting with the judge at one about getting you guys emancipation paperwork. He's being hesitant but he does know that you've been pulled here from another realm. Stark's head of Legal Affairs has set that up for you, and if he won't she has paperwork to name you guys wards of the various Avengers. We'd get Kate and Billy. Mom would get Thomas with Bruce, Nathaniel would get Stark. That puts you with your major skill groups and you'd still be at the tower a lot but we'd never hover unless you wanted us to."

She smiled. "Eat." They dug into the toast and eggs. "The people that do battle uniforms have you guys for a few hours tomorrow so they can get to work on that, because it can take months." They nodded while they chewed. "Get the tests for the school people done within a week please. We're going back to LA tomorrow night but I'll be back next Saturday through Tuesday to handle some things for Mom and the older Avengers." They all nodded at that and stared at her as they ate. "Good. Did Clint tell you guys where the stores were?" Kate smiled and nodded. "Decent. They will deliver but they'll get the most expensive stuff they can. They have online ordering too. We've done that a few times before the fidelus went up."

"How did you do that?" Billy asked. "I've never seen a copy of spells from another realm."

Dawn smiled. "Xander and his many multiverse counterparts hold a yearly convention and there's a few that are in that series of worlds. One's married to a Weasley. One's a cursebreaker and we got it from him." Kate choked. Dawn patted her on the back. "He's got a huge library and he's no longer the slut of the universe. He has whole books of past lovers. They're thicker than the phone book here some years." Kate moaned, shaking her head. "Yeah." She looked at them again.

"There's all sorts of Xanders. And if no one told you about the baby goat by Biology in the tower, it will bite. It will eat *anything*. The only thing that will make it quit biting is a hershey bar and that only lasts for about an hour. We have biologists missing fingers and a few with nicely healing injuries. It ate a roomba we sent in to clean up after it." The guys all groaned. "By the way, the Roomba army in the tower? They do have defensive capabilities and some of them are bomb sniffing. Mostly they're protective of the kids and the geeks.

"They were Andrew and Jonathan's project to have a pet. Callia allows nice people to pet her pets if they're local. Some of the cats don't but a few are more calm and so is the dog and her rabbit, Carrot." Kate smothered a smile but eating. "Also, regular shopping? I'm open for that. I take the kids and go with Pepper when she needs to take her kids."

She grinned. "I promise I won't put you boys in the boy panties we found for the kids that had ruffles." Kate choked while laughing, making Dawn pat her on the back. "Clint was not amused, no, but they were such cute daddy and boy sets," she said with a wicked smirk. "Philip still loves ruffles at times." She looked at the boys. They all went back to eating, shaking their heads. "I promise I won't gay you guys up, or goth you guys up. We can go normal clothes shopping so you have enough for a week, guys." They smiled. "And shoes. Because you need sneakers and probably boots." She looked at them. "Weapons..... We're going to be clearing out some of mine that I have stored so I need to know if you need anything specific."

"I have my staves and my sword, plus his old bow," Kate said.

"I have a stave," Billy agreed.

"I have my old suit," Nathaniel noted.

"I don't really use one," Thomas said. "I'm a lot like my uncle in powers."

"Okay. We'll take that into account on your future uniforms. The guys who do that have had a lot of luck with a bulletproof steel mixture and a few other things. They can make clothes and then body armor if you want. That's how I do it and Bucky does it." They nodded. "They can also make more minor battle outfits for serious sparring practice with weapons." They all nodded. "The Stark ID cards will get you into the secondary tower's Avengers only areas. You can also put a few bucks on them for after sparring treats." She smiled.

"Take the elevator up as high as it goes, use the card, walk past the overhead walkway that goes to the other tower, go up the three stairs and use the card again to get into the gym and stuff. We have specially shielded rooms over there for headaches and the like too. Or calming down after bad missions. The gym has a changing area you can keep stuff in, and showers. There's speciality training areas for everyone to use. Billy, the one that's magic proof is upstairs by a floor. It's shielded so even if I let loose with everything I can do magically, it'll just bounce back at me so I learn not to do that and how to duck better.

"You can adjust that if you need to. I can show you how." He smiled and nodded. "Frankly, it's really great to have a backup witch here. Tara's not much on offensive spells and there's been days I feel like the only witch on earth. And then Dr. Strange showed up to tell me that trying to save my mother was wrong and he tried to kill me for it." They all groaned. "There's a lot of judgmental assholes," she said more calmly. "I've gotten ones that have yelled at me for backing up the Avengers, for daring to be near them, for not being in uniform all the time because that's not where my skills lie. That's why we did the fidelus."

They smiled. "Speaking of, I'm the secret keeper so if you need to let someone in on it, let me know and I'll text it to them." They all nodded. "We used to keep a little stack of printed cards but I think we ran out thanks to the local PD." She shrugged. "Anyway." She looked at them. "We've got this morning for necessary shopping then the gym after the judge. We can hit the grocery store on the way back if you're not too tired. I'll warn you they're not easy aerobics instructors. I know commandos who have said they're hardasses about stuff. The guy who teaches offensive magic and battle stuff, he's not real nice about slacking," she warned.

"I'll keep that in mind."

"What else do they have?" Kate asked.

"They have gymnastics, a weight center, six different forms of martial arts being taught, the fencing master can also teach katana and broadsword sort of fighting as he put it. He's not great with the lighter ones but he knows someone who is and he offered to have me taught a few years back. I was still working on my fencing then." She nodded. "There's magic areas, there's a pool with boards and water aerobics, which I always found very calming down after laps and weights and gymnastics. A good way to calm down before lunch. There's tons of stuff I never went toward. A lot of them are training to be protective sorts or demon hunters. If you need more work than they can give you, talk to Xander. He's got warriors in most all ancient weapons he can call up and it'll probably be something he'd like to help you with. He claims he's bored. Oh, two of the current puppies of war are mean and bite everyone. There's one that's already humping everything. Phil was not pleased when they humped his son yesterday and we nearly had one less puppy of war."

"Like war dogs?" Nathaniel asked, looking confused.

Dawn smiled and nodded. "Xander got given one by Ares when he got given a permanent position because he broke out as a full god. Then Hellion had some puppies and when Ares pissed him off, Xander took the rest of them from him when he sent him to be a pageant girl because he was being a douche bro."

Billy burst out laughing. "Really?"

"Yep. Ares is now married to Loki and they're much more tolerable now. Loki's no longer the president's husband....." She sighed. "Or causing me problems." She smiled. "That's why he got made Philip's godfather."

"What else is on our schedule?" Kate asked.

"Three things. One, do you guys want to make people wonder who you are and if you're long lost relatives?" They all nodded at that. "Okay. So we don't have to put out something subtle until you're noted at things. Nathaniel, you and Kate are going to be talking to the weapons people that Stark has to make Avengers weapons. They've taken over SHIELD's design team for them. Not that Stark doesn't but he lets Petra and her team make the speciality arrows and Borkin do other speciality weapons." They nodded at that. "Stark wanted to talk to you about your suit sometime. Probably not today. He's kind of stuck with sick kid syndrome.

"Liz had nightmares all night and ended up throwing up all over him at breakfast but Pepper has meetings all day. So does Steve so she's clinging to him and has made him promise multiple times to kill any and all spiders. Chris may bug you, he's getting the basics of circuit and robotics design right now in his lessons. Callia's been through all that and can rip her father's suit down, rebuild it using another power source, and make it beg her for new toys. So you might see her. I think Tony was going to suggest you two could work on things if you wanted to since she's designing on her own."

"I wouldn't mind. I was still in school and learning."

Dawn smiled. "Real geniuses never stop learning, even if it's not in a book. Also, you should talk to Andrew and Jonathan, the guys with the portal? They're the source of sci-fi related tech around the office. If anyone can understand all that your suit can do, it's probably them. They saw it as comic books and built from them."

"Good to know."

"Stark took them in so they'd quit being evil overlord sorts," Dawn said with a grin for him. "Billy, Tara will introduce herself later probably. After the kids are in daycare and school. She's Maria Hill's wife." Kate gaped. "Maria actually quit working overtime to fix her marriage with Tara. They have four kids. A set of fraternal twins then she and Tara each had one. Danielle is smooth and likes to wrap people around her fingers. So fair warning. She's herbalism and Nature magic if you need it." He nodded at that. "Thomas, we have areas for you to test how fast and how long you can go. Do you need any training beyond that and how to use your skills on various things? Xander noted you could cause molecular destabilization in other things with it." He nodded that was right.

"So we can let you work with various metals and types of things you might run into so you can practice that. One of the training areas is bomb shielded so Natasha and Bucky could update on their disarming lessons. You can probably use that." They nodded. "If you want to learn more stuff, ask Bucky or the guys at the gym. Bucky's kinda....gruff and a bit sulky at times. Usually we sic him on Cap or Cap on him to fix each other's bad moods. Or Bucky has a girlfriend that sometimes I sneak in for him to be in a better mood." Kate was gaping again.

Dawn smiled. "It works on most people, Kate. I'm realistic about that. Also, the infirmary in the tower does all our medical usually. Doctor Pigalli and Dr. Shivs are *great*. They've gotten me through poisonings, concussions, gunshot wounds, biological agents being sent to my desk, pregnancy, all that. They can handle most any need. They do not tend to keep condoms, and will usually tell you how to get to the big condom mart downtown, but they can and will put you on birth control if you ask. And yes, someone at Stark is trying to make a male pill. They *really* want to put Stark and any male baby Starks on it so they don't have to compete as hard to be top geek." She smiled at them. "She hates delivering babies. She delivered Liz and we had trolls, bimbo assassins and witches, and all sorts of merry hell so they don't want to deliver any babies."

"Concussion is a needed thing?" Nathaniel asked.

"Yeah. Because there was a church group just over seven months ago that decided to attack me and stone me with very thinly padded stones." Billy shuddered. "So yes, they're great and they have a list of specialists to call on if they can't do it themselves. Stark medical is some of the best there is. And if they can't handle it, they know who can. Including agents that had microchips in their heads and stuff."

Nathaniel nodded. "Wow."

Dawn smiled. "They baby everything from minor scrapes up. They're used to the kids and Stark, who can sometimes be a kid about injuries. There's not too much that's too weird for them. We had someone who was growing a huge fungus tentacle creature that tried to claim me once. They didn't even blink at scraping off the fungus and helping me get it cleared up. And that was before a lot of weird things."

"Eww," Billy muttered, then shuddered.

Dawn nodded. "Very. But it happens sometimes when you get a bunch of geniuses in one building and one of them gets jealous and wants status. Her husband was building a robotic sentry dog that bit me. She was going to have the fungus creature eat him and me so she could get a shot at Stark's panties."

"Stark has taste," Thomas said. "Pepper's really beautiful and talented."

"Yeah but there's always a ho somewhere who wants status, money, and babies to keep it," Kate said.

Dawn nodded. "Yup. I've driven a number away from Stark. And a few from Clint because they wanted his kids instead of me." She shrugged. "You get used to it." She smiled. "Finish up, shower and all that, then we'll run out for regular clothes and necessary things." They did. She looked at Kate. "Girl things are probably in the closet beside the vanity," she said quietly. "I'm pretty sure I didn't pack them because Natasha was complaining she was out."

"Thanks, Dawn."

"Girls gotta have stuff," she said with a shrug. "It happens to all of us." Kate smiled, going in there to shower and clean up for the day. Dawn did the dishes by putting them in the dishwasher and made notes on the grocery list on the fridge. She had no idea if the kids could cook or not. They came down while she was taking their profiles out of the Pandora setting on the tv.

"Leave them," Kate said. "Maybe we'll find stuff we like."

"Sure. We each have a different playlist. The one with the kids, Mira's is all orchestral music. Lexi's is all happy pop music that drives Clint nuts. Philip's is all stuff he thinks the girls might like." They grinned. "He's very particular sometimes about the girls." She took them with her to the usual teen stores. She handed Kate a top with a smirk. "Not flashy but comfy. I have a *ton* of them in my closet." She nodded, going to try it on. She came out looking pleased. "Washable, doesn't need ironing, looks good for years on end," Dawn said happily. The guys she got into better things than jeans and t-shirts that were on the cheap rack. "Guys, I won over six mil at poker last year, get clothes," she ordered. They sighed but did that.

"How?" Kate asked.

"Kitten poker." She smiled. "I'll teach you to play." Kate grinned and they finished up there, went to the pharmacy for necessary things like shampoo and soap, then home for lunch. Dawn got them to the judge, who talked with the kids while she sat outside and handled things for Pepper and Tony from her tablet. They came out sulking. Dawn walked in there. "No on the emancipation?"

"I think they could handle it but I also think that would make them vulnerable to people that used to torment you, Miss Summers."

"That's what we were thinking about as secondary backup plan," she said. "So they're ours?"

"Yes." He handed over the papers. "I realize you're moving to the west coast."

"They're going to be in and out of Stark and our place. We'll pay close enough attention to them and help them. Mom's on this coast," she said when he opened his mouth. "So is Cap usually. We're in and out of here."

"Then that should suffice at their ages and experience levels." Dawn smiled and shook his hand, going out to talk to the kids. He wasn't naive, those kids would be doing what they wanted to do, with guidance, but they'd handle things.

***

Dawn flopped down the next night, smiling at Philip since he was bringing her a mug of tea. "Thank you, Philip." She kissed him on the head. "You're a good boy." He grinned and ran back to the kitchen. She sipped her tea and moaned. "Thanks for the honey."

"You missed lunch." Clint looked at her as she stretched out. "They all set up?"

"Yup. All the school stuff is done too. They're officially home schooling with the Stark kids. MB is watching over their studies for me. She's starting Caroline on it and Jonathan's little heaving hissy fit throwing girl too."

"Some girls do," Clint said. "Natasha's taking a nap."

"I felt. That's nice." She smiled at him. "Are the girls hiding?"

"Yup. They're playing in their room," Philip said, heading to play with them. "Do parent stuff so I get new baby sister!"

"You're already getting one," Dawn said, sipping her tea. She smiled at Clint when he came out with dinner for them. "Have I mentioned lately I love it when you cook?"

"No, but I like hearing it." He took a kiss. "Something simple and kinda bland. The kids ate earlier."

She smiled. "We can grocery shop."

"We did. Your stomach's been upset all day."

"It was all the running around." She took another kiss and they ate, then settled in to watch tv until the kids wanted to play with them. Philip pushed them out there in their walkers, which they didn't need but liked too much to give up. Dawn got up to give them baths and Clint got to read bedtime stories. It was good and everything went good tonight. It was nice to settle in and maybe the future would be more sparkly for them. Even if the chibi Natasha and Clint were very amused by the kids and their rituals. Or that Clint made Dawn get very noisy at times. Chibi Natasha almost cackled out loud when her bigger version simply rolled over and complained she was trying to sleep and would molest Dawn and Clint both in the morning if they would shut up for a bit.

The End.

Table of Contents

54: Vacationing Old Ones And Others. 1

Shipy vacation things happen. Some other shipy things too. R for hints of sex. 1

55: Education From Some Old Ones. 52

Some people never learn, like Barney Barton. NC-17 for the trio. 52

56: Old Ones In Limbo. 115

Philip's becoming a big boy with big boy questions, even though he and Chris are sometimes a bit odd

57: To Dream A Mighty Dream.. 174

This is Dawn's 'dream' while she's under the concussion. It's just a dream, she knows it's just a dr

58: All The Old Ones Screaming 'Oh Shit!' 259

Takes place during part 57. While Dawn's down, others are handling things, and not always in the bes

59: Coping Like A Champion Old One. 319

Everyone seems to be coping until people with *ideas* decide they want a Stark kid of their own. Whi

60: Visiting Old Ones. 395

When another Xander visits this Xander to get some help from Dawn and others, things get a bit...wei

61: School Trips For Future Old Ones. 464

Sometimes people just don't like Dawn. Which usually makes Dawn show her butt in many interesting, p

62: Playing Old Ones. 564

Bikinis are a right of passage, a trial of faith, and an emotional coaster. For most every woman, ev

63: Confessing Old Ones. 618

Clint's really horrible dream vision leads to him going to a bar to hang out with the actor who play

64: Another Dawn, Another Xander, Another Clint. 641

Someone nicely *gifts* the Barton family line with a blessing from another realm's Xander's family.