~The Avenger Gift Exchange~

Hello the wonderful world of ! I have returned with another fanfic story, this one shorter and a little happier than other ones. I had been slowly picking away at this story for about a year and I finally finished it. Thank goodness. This idea came from me and my sister (hello sissy!) talking in the car and over time morphed into this one shot. Hopefully you all enjoy!

NOTE: this happens after Iron Man 3, but I am ignoring Thor 2 and Captain America 2 because they just throw the story off a… sorry if that bothers you.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the Avengers or Marvel characters.

~:-:~

Songs drifted lazily through the city and lights, songs of hope and glad tidings. Songs sang of beloved character like Rudolph and Frosty and…

"Jingle Bells, Captain Smells, Hawkeye laid an egg!" sang Tony Stark.

"Hey," Steve warned.

Clint jumped in to finish the song, "Tony Stark broke his arc and Widow got away!"

"You two need to knock it off or Thor's going to think those are the actual words," Pepper Potts said as she entered the room, her heels clicking as she went.

Yeah, it was Christmas time 2014 at Stark Tower. Sure, things had been a bit hectic for the Avengers, but that was nothing new. Of course Christmas was shaping up to a bit strange considering most of the Avengers either didn't celebrate the holiday, hadn't in a long time or just didn't seem to be bothered by it. However, there was one person that seemed to care this year: Pepper Potts.

There was a thundering crash as Thor came crashing to the floor with a Christmas tree on top of him. Pepper rushed over, "Are you okay?"

Thor laughed and pushed the tree upright, "I am quite alright; all of the tinsel cushioned my fall." He stood up and picked up the tinsel strands and shook them out. "See? Everything is fine."

"Geeze Pep, you're going to run the poor god into the ground," Tony joked as he wrapped his arms around her.

Pepper waved a hand, "He wanted to decorate a tree and I told him he could do this one."

"Since this was the only room you hadn't touched yet," Clint teased as he went over to help Thor wrap the tree in the tinsel. "Well, until tonight."

Pepper gave a playful pout, "Sorry I actually have a job, a company to run and a house full of Avengers to take care of."

"Technically, it's a tower."

Pepper had started to get ready for the holiday just as soon as Thanksgiving was over. It had started off subtlety with just a few lights in the main lobby of the building that she insisted were just "to brighten the place up". But soon the individual apartments had hints of the season. Of course Tony had promoted anything Pepper wanted. The last Christmas had admittedly gone south in a major way and he wanted to make it up to her. And the rest of the inhabitants of the building liked things better when Pepper was happy. So they let her decorate as she saw fit. Soon there was a Christmas tree on every floor; some a few inches tall sitting on a table, others were deemed a "normal" height, and the one in the lobby reaching a full two stories.

It didn't bother any of them to see her get all excited. What did throw them for a loop, however, occurred on December 2. Pepper Potts walked into the conference room where the Avengers were meeting to discuss new budgeting cuts SHIELD had handed out (for some reason they didn't want to pay for the Avengers team to increase their hacking ability. The fact that they could hack into SHEILD apparently meant they were "advance" enough). She walked in carrying an Iron Man helmet prototype full of little slips of white paper. She stood quietly with the hat behind her back until the meeting was over and the screen went black.

"What do you want?" Natasha snapped at the other red head. The meeting had apparently not gone well, leaving every member of the team at least a little upset.

"Pep," Tony Stark asked as he looked her over with tired eyes. "What are you doing with that?"

Pepper shrugged and ran her hand over the helmet, "I couldn't find a normal hat. So this will have to work." She offered the helmet to Tony, "Take one."

"What's going on?" Steve Rogers asked."

"I know this group isn't into celebrating holidays or birthdays…"

"And for good reason," Barton sighed as he closed his eyes.

"But it's Christmas," Pepper continued. "And I thought that maybe we could compromise: instead of everyone getting everyone something, we could just do a Secret Santa and call it a night."

"What is a Secret Santa?" Thor asked.

"You pull a name out of the hat and you get them a gift, only you don't tell them you have them until they get the gift," Agent Clint Barton explained with a smirk, suddenly interested. "It saves money and shopping time. More fun too." He stood up from his chair and walked over to Pepper. He reached in and pulled out a little slip of paper, read it, and his smirk fell. He walked back and sat down with a huff.

Thor inquired, "Whose name did you pull out?"

"He can't tell you," Pepper explained. "We have to wait until Christmas to find out." She held the helmet out to Tony who pulled out a paper, looked at it, and rolled his eyes before stuffing it in his pocket. Next, Agent Natasha Romanoff pulled out a piece and quickly hid it, although none of them could tell exactly where.

"Not going to look?" Steve asked.

Natasha shook her head with cold eyes, "Not with Barton in the room. One year the SHEILD agents did a Secret Santa. Needless to say that doing something like that with a bunch of trained agents wasn't the best idea. Clint knew who everyone had within the hour."

"It's different this time though…"

"Don't care," she cut him off.

Pepper went around and allowed for Steve to pull one next. He pulled a paper out, looked at it, and then folded it up back in his hand with one of his smiles. Thor was after him. He said nothing but the huge grin on his face explained his excitement.

Bruce Banner pulled his and stifled a laugh, "Well, this shall be fun."

The chaos from the Secret Santa started off small. There was the time that Steve got a call from Clint. "Hello?" he had answered.

"Captain, help. Widow…" and then the sound of the phone falling on the ground came. Steve was on his feet and running up the stairs to the floor on which the SHEILD spies spent most of their time, taking the steps two at a time.

Steve opened the door, his eyes wide as he took in the scene. Barton swung lightly by his ankles from the ceiling with what looked like a bed sheet wrapped around his legs and the chandelier. The Hawk's arms were crossed close to his chest and his expression looked discouraged.

Natasha Romanoff walked past the Captain with her hair swishing with each determined step.

"What happened?" Steve asked as she walked past.

"He tried to see who I have for Christmas," she responded without pausing even a moment.

Steve's gaze went to the swinging Hawk. Clint answered "I had forgotten she knew Swahili."

"Did you learn you're lesson?" Steve asked as he walked over and cut Clint down.

Clint stood up and shook himself out. His eyes twinkled mischievously, "Yeah, don't get caught." He smiled at the fellow Avenger and then took off down the hall, following Natasha.

The Avengers also had to deal with the fact that Thor had never been shopping at a mall or anything on Earth. He was eager for the new experience, however since most of the Avengers were easily recognizable, it was more complicated than expected. Tony stayed home knowing that he would pull a large crowd, plus the fact that he wanted to work on things in his lab. Bruce stayed behind with him having decided that even though he would be fine, the slight chance of the Big Guy meant that he should have stayed. The rest of the group went in disguises that were well calculated to hide their identities.

However most of them were found out. Thor's booming voice was easily recognizable by anyone who had been paying attention to the news recently. Pepper thought she had been in the clear until a picture of her from the adventure found its way into a tabloid. Steve's big heart got him in trouble when he saw a homeless man on the street near the mall begging with a sign that read "Veteran. Anything will help". Steve gave the man his hat without thinking anything of it. In the end, he still thought it was the right call; giving the man something warm for the extremely cold night was more important than hiding himself at a mall.

The team (and Pepper) didn't talk much about how the shopping was going. Everyone seemed to have a good handle on their gifts. It came up in one interview when they were asked about their holiday plans, but other than that it had been quiet.

Before they knew it, it was 11:45pm Christmas Eve. The group had gathered figuring that this was the best time for them to accomplish something without being rushed. (Steve was going to go volunteer at a children's hospital in the morning. It was something he had done back before the war and wanted to get back into it.)

A nice warm fire was in the fireplace and the tree was lit. It took a while to get everyone gathered since they had all been busy, which was usual. After an argument about people wanting to change, everyone convened wearing whatever they were in, which led to quite the mix. Tony was still in a dark, pinstriped suit and Pepper was in her white business suit because they both had flown back from a business trip that evening for Stark Industries that had been in Paris. They had ensured that they were back in time for the night, but had just barely made it. Steve wore his favorite red, white and blue flannel shirt after spending a quiet day in the Tower surfing the internet and trying to catch up on the last 70 years or so. Natasha and Clint were in their work out gear, having been working there until Bruce came to get them. Banner himself was wearing a dark sweater and had a coffee mug in hand of warm tea. After spending most of the day in the lab, he had gone on a walk and came back just moments before Pepper and Tony walked in. Thor stood by the fire in a t-shirt and jeans. He hadn't done much of anything that day except sleep. No one had complained though. Rumor had it that he had faced a rather difficult battle back home a few days back when he went to check on things. Either way it had been clear that the alien warrior needed sleep.

Pepper and Tony had sat on the couch together. Steve sat on the floor off to the side of the couch. Clint sat in the arm chair that was looking at the fire place, and Natasha sat on the arm of the chair. Banner stood next to the Christmas tree, admiring the lights as they twinkled. Thor was next to him watching the fire, clearly in thought.

After they all settled in, Tony stood up and walked to the middle of the circle they had formed, commanding the room. "Alright, Merry Christmas everyone and thanks for coming."

"Tony this isn't another Stark party," Pepper laughed. "Calm down and relax."

He smiled a dazzling smile and put a hand up in acknowledgement. "Fair enough… So how do we want to do this?" he asked as he loosened his tie.

"Just tell us who you have and give them their present?" Natasha asked with a raise of an eyebrow. She knew enough about Christmas traditions even if she never really celebrated them herself. Or at least, she didn't celebrate them in the traditional sense.

"Alright then," Tony said. His air of confidence was shaken slightly and the team could pick up on it. They had heard that the meeting he and Pepper had attended hadn't gone as well as planned, but none of them had pressed on past that. Clearly something had bothered Tony.

"Someone else could go first if you'd prefer," Banner offered as he took a sip of peppermint tea from his coffee mug.

"No, I got it," Tony responded, quickly gathering himself again. "So I pulled Captain Winghead's name," he explained as he pulled out a green envelope out of his jacket. He looked at it as he addressed Steve, "You are hard to shop for. Especially when you don't want anything… at all. Well, nothing that you would admit to besides world peace. So I had to get creative." He handed the envelope to Steve who opened it and pulled out its contents. His eyes scanned over the papers before he looked up at Tony in disbelief.

Bruce asked, "What is it?"

"A kick in the butt," Tony answered smugly as he took his seat next to Pepper on the couch.

"He set me up for a date," Steve answered as his blue eyes scanned the papers in his hand again.

"Oh sure," Clint joked, "When the great Tony Stark sets you up for your first date in years, you're all game. But when I try…"

"You tried to set him up with a SHEILD recruit," Natasha pointed out. "Something tells me this is a bit different."

Steve shook his head in agreement, although slightly distant in his thoughts, "Yeah. Different."

"You just need to call her to confirm the date and plans," Tony said. "And I'm flying you in one of my private jets, so travel won't be an issue."

The rest of the Avengers looked at one another confused, "Clearly we are missing something here."

Tony ignored them, "I have to admit I'm not sure why you didn't try to contact her before."

"I… I umm… well…"

"Please, she's been asking about you since you came out of the ice," Tony laughed.

"How'd you…"

Tony looked at him with an "are you serious" look and said, "My father was Howard Stark. You were there. You know that he worked with Agent Carter."

"Well… thank you, Tony," said Steve. "It means a lot."

"Your turn Steve," Banner said. "Who'd you have?"

Steve put the envelope from Tony in his shirt pocket and reached behind the couch, "I had the pleasure of having Clint to shop for. And I had an idea, only I hit a snag. Hope this works instead." He handed Clint a box that was classically wrapped in red paper and a white bow. Clint's eyes widened in child-like wonder as he tore through the paper. He took the bow off and stuck it on Natasha's head with a devilish grin. Any other time she would have killed him for that, but she knew it had been a while since he was given a gift, so she let it slide even though she took it off immediately.

Inside the box was a beautiful leather quiver unlike any of them had seen before. Steve explained, "I heard you needed a new one for target practice since your last one wore out. However they discontinued your favorite line last month…"

Clint's eyes widened as he looked it over, "You made this."

"Leather work isn't anything to fuss about. I had learned it back when I was in the Boy Scouts," Steve explained.

"I didn't think the Scouts went this far into detail…"

"They didn't," Tony piped in.

"Will it work?" Steve asked anxiously.

"Definitely. It's great. Thanks," Clint said with a smile. "I guess I have to share who I had next?" The group nodded. He pulled out a little box wrapped simply. He handed it over to Natasha, "I had our resident Russian red-head."

Natasha raised an eyebrow as she slipped her hand through the paper. The box was a Diamond brand matchbox. A smile flickered across the Russian's face for a moment as she opened the box and found it empty.

"Am I the only one who does not understand?" Thor asked.

"No, I'm lost too," responded Pepper.

"He owed me a box from our mission in Budapest," Natasha explained. "Glad to see you finally got around to it Clint."

"My pleasure," Clint beamed, clearly proud at his simple yet memorable accomplishment. "You have to share next."

Natasha nodded and pulled a manila envelope from behind her back. She stood up from her chair and walked over to Pepper, "Pepper, I had you. And before I give you this, you need to understand some things. One, you can't share this information even with us. And two, you cannot misuse the power it grants you. If you do either, SHEILD will have to interfere before the FBI, CIA or anyone else hears about it. It could cost us lives if this leaks. We had to pull a lot of strings and call in a ton of favors to get this."

Pepper gulped, but nodded. Natasha handed her the envelope and walked back to her chair. Pepper opened the envelope and looked over the papers cautiously at first. Her brow furrowed as she flipped through the document's pages.

"What'd you get?" Tony asked, clearly curious but knowing better than to try and find out from himself. Natasha's threats made it clear not to mess with whatever it was.

"It's the codes to get into SHEILD's communication center," Agent Romanoff explained. "This way you can see what we see and hear when Avengers go on call. No more having to listen to the story being fed to the media or wondering what is happening. If you put those codes into Jarvis it will allow for you to monitor us. It will also allow for you to be in communication with Tony in battle even if the cell phone towers get knocked out or something."

"Wait," interrupted Tony, "If it doesn't use cell towers, how does this work?"

"Internet would be too risky…" Bruce thought out loud.

Clint and Natasha's expressions went blank, "No comment."

Pepper's eyes were wet, but she didn't allow herself a moment to cry. She stood up and walked over by the elevator where her brief case was. The eyes of all of the Avenger's followed her there. She opened the case and slipped the valuable paper's inside, "Thanks so much Natasha."

Natasha nodded in response.

Pepper stayed over by the elevator, "I have Thor. And my gift for him is more of a surprise, but I hope he likes it."

"I am sure it will be marvelous," Thor answered with a smile.

"Well, I know that you had a big battle on Asgard," Pepper explained. "It took you away from Earth for longer than you had originally planned. And I know that you came back for this because you knew it meant a lot to us, so I thought that maybe I could save you a trip to make up for it."

"Sooo…" Tony waved his hands trying to get her to get to the point.

A woman stepped out from behind the Christmas Tree by the fire with a silver present bow in her hair, "Hi there." Steve, Tony, and Bruce all jumped at the sudden appearance. Natasha didn't move, but Clint smiled knowingly. "Hello Jane Foster."

Thor stood there stuck in awe for a few minutes before a large smile spread across his face, "Jane." He rushed over to her and picked her up in a hug. He swung her around in a circle and the two of them were laughing. All of the Avenger's smiled, happy to see the god this excited. They hadn't seen him act like this since he had gotten back from that battle on Asgard.

"She's staying with us for the week," Pepper explained. "Or as long as you two wish."

"Thank you Pepper," Thor laughed as he kissed Jane on the head. "You have really out done yourself."

"Who'd you have Hammer Head?" Tony asked.

"I had Banner," Thor said. He handed the doctor a box which was intricately wrapped in blue paper that glittered in the light.

Banner un-wrapped the package and found a small wooden box. Inside was an assortment of aromatic packages which smelled literally out of this world. "It's an assortment of teas from my home. They are designed to help soothe the mind and heal the body of any and all ailments. Not to mention they are exquisite. I hope you find them enjoyable."

Banner smiled meekly, "Thanks."

"Well, you're last Doctor," Clint said. "And that means that you have…"

"Tony," Banner finished with a laugh. "Do you know how hard it is to shop for the guy that has virtually everything money can buy?"

"So what did you come up with?" asked Pepper.

"Nothing fancy, just a phone number," Bruce said as he passed a card over to Tony. "Remember when you were telling me that one story and I fell asleep?"

Tony nodded as he opened the card and pulled out a small piece of paper, "Of course."

"Well, that's the number to the person that could help you more than I could," Bruce explained. "He's a colleague of mine and a friend. And he is sworn to secrecy. He said to tell you that he will clear his schedule and pencil you in if you want to talk to him."

Tony nodded, clearly distracted, "Thanks." He cleared his throat before he smiled coming back from his thoughts, "Merry Christmas everyone."

~:-:~

Tony Stark and Pepper Potts sat at the bar casually, flipping through things for work. Pepper was busy double checking charts for a presentation to the board in the morning while Tony looked over some blueprints. Pepper yawned. It was 3:30 in the morning.

"You do realize that you can go to bed," said Tony without looking up. "It's not like we're his parents or anything."

"I know," Pepper responded. "I'm just…"

"Nosey? Curious? Intrusive?" Tony suggested. "Nothing wrong with that of course."

"Concerned," Pepper corrected with a look. "They haven't seen each other in years. And they didn't end in the best of circumstances…"

"As long as the plane didn't go down, I'm sure everything went great," said Tony. "Can we take a vote on pretending he had another time jump if he froze again?" Pepper gave him a mortified look before he amended, "I'm kidding Pep."

"That's not funny."

"What's not funny?" Steve asked as he came into the room.

"Oh, Tony is just being himself," Pepper said as she gave Tony a look that screamed "behave or else".

"Oh," Steve said as he sat down on the couch. He loosened his tie a little and ran a hand through his hair, clearly distracted. "I see."

Pepper looked at Tony before she stood up and yawned, "It's late and I have an early morning. I'm off to bed. Don't stay up too late you two." She kissed Tony on his head and then left.

As soon as the elevator doors closed and Pepper was out of sight, Tony gave Steve a Cheshire cat's grin, "So how'd it go?"

Steve answered with a shrug, "It went."

"Oh come on," Tony teased. "Does the old man have game after missing out for 70 years?"

This caused Steve to smile a little, "To be fair, I don't think I ever had game."

"Oh please," grinned Tony, "You're Captain freakin' America for crying out loud. Mister big, buff, army guy. Every guy in the nation wanted to be you. Are you trying to tell me there weren't mobs of girls after you and you had nothing but your star spangled Frisbee to protect you?"

Steve looked at Tony with a slightly amused expression, "Pretty much."

"No girls?"

"There weren't very many women in the military at that time," Steve replied. "There was Peggy…"

"What about that one blonde that one time I heard of," Tony said with a raise of his eyebrow mischievously. "Shots were fired over that if I remember correctly. Something about fondue?"

Steve's face went beet-red, "Your dad tell you about that one?"

"More or less. I overheard it one night when my parents were hosting a party… so no girls?"

"It was a different time. The focus was elsewhere. Before I met Doctor Erskine I was so focused on getting in to the military that the rest didn't matter. Girls weren't interested before and I was too busy after. I wasn't always Captain America. I spent a long time just being Steve Rogers." Steve smiled, "Peggy was one of the few that understood that."

Tony nodded in understanding, "Is that why you liked her?"

"One of the reasons," Steve said quietly.

"Did you get to do everything you wanted to?" Tony asked, pulling Steve back from his thoughts.

"Yeah," Steve said as he stood up. "We went to dinner at that one restaurant you found… and then I had to get her back to her place so she could be there for her family's New Year's party at 9…"

"Whoa," interrupted Tony, "Your reservation for dinner was at 5:00. There is no way it took four hours to eat."

Steve was half way out the door, "Good night Tony."

"Whoa, hold up there circus monkey…"

Steve stopped in his tracks and groaned. "Your dad tell you about that too?"

"Wait. What?"

"Nevermind. Goodnight Tony!"

"Hang on…"

Steve walked into the elevator without turning back. He took a deep breath as the elevator began to move. It had been one long day, and he suspected that it would be a few days before he could adapt back to normal. It was hard to see how 70 years can change a person, yet he wouldn't have wanted it any other way. As the elevator opened up to his floor, Steve took his tie off and walked towards the small table in the entry way. He grabbed his sketch book and the pencil that was lying on it before moving to his room. He didn't sleep that night; he just spent time alone with his thoughts.

Steve never said anything about the dance to anyone in the tower.

~:-:~

Clint stood in the shooting range that Tony had helped to set up for him on one of the floors of the Tower. It wasn't very big, just enough for one or two people. At one end there were targets that were replaced at the call of a robot. This made the range very customizable to fit the needs of the archer, and this is what made Clint feel the most "at home" he had ever felt. Everything was his to control thanks to Stark tech.

Technology was the reason he liked to practice with a "normal" quiver at times. He knew how to handle the technologically advanced things pretty easily. They were like normal quivers, arrows and bows just more… flashy. If he was a good shot with "normal" equipment then he should be a good shot with the fancy ones, he reasoned.

He took a deep breath and focused in on the target at the other end of the range. He reached back to his back to grab an arrow out of the quiver. A smile spread across his face as the arrow came out smoothly. Steve had done a great job on it.

He inhaled, not focusing so much on the target, but on the room. He let the arrow go, sending it flying through the air. Clint couldn't help but admire the way it flew. It stuck in the bull's-eye in the target perfectly. "Too easy," he sighed, almost in disappointment. "Retrieve."

A robot came scurrying out of its corner and ran over to the target. It quickly pulled out the arrow and scurried back to its corner. Clint shook his head at it; like most of Tony's robots it acted as if it was a pet. It almost looked excited to go get the next one.

Clint pulled back on the bow again, lining up the shot smoothly. A smile curled on his face. "Too easy," he whispered to himself. He whipped around 180 degrees and let the arrow soar.

Natasha raised an eyebrow at the arrow that was imbedded in the wall a centimeter from her head as the door shut behind her. "Good shot."

Clint shrugged, "Still too easy."

"Stark might kill you for the mark on the door," Natasha commented as she examined the arrow. She reached for it to take it out of the door, but was interrupted by another arrow shooting landing just to the right of her hand. Her eyes darted towards the archer.

He smirked as he nocked another arrow, "Well now he can kill me for two of them. And let the bot get the arrow. He's overly excited to get the difficult ones. Retrieve."

"How's Roger's gift?"

Clint smiled, "Works like a dream. Better than the old one actually."

Natasha shifted to lean against the wall. She looked around the room, taking it all in, watching. He knew what she wanted, but he didn't want to face the reality.

Agent Romanoff finally spoke up, "We need to get going. Fury has another mission for us."

Barton rolled his eyes, "We just got back."

"And now we have to ship out again. You know how this works."

"Fine, let's go then," Clint mumbled as he headed for the door.

Natasha put a hand out to stop him, "Forgetting something?"

Clint looked his partner over, "I don't think so."

"You still have your practice quiver…"

He shrugged and pushed her hand out of the way, "And? This one works better anyway."

~:-:~

Natasha had put the empty match box in her room and hadn't said a word about it to anyone. Anytime any of the other Avengers asked about what had happened or what it meant, the answer was always the same: classified.

Tony had tried to run some tests on it to see if it was anything more than it appeared. Those attempts had gotten him getting pined to the wall for a while, but no conclusions could be made. "I promise it's just a box," Clint had said at dinner that night as he finished his plate.

"Then why did you give her an empty box?" Steve had asked.

Clint shrugged, "Because I owed her one."

Bruce asked, "Why?"

"Classified," explained Barton with a deathly serious expression.

Tony was still curious, even though he was busy icing his shoulder, "How classified is classified?"

"Very classified."

"As in…"

Clint stood up, "As in if you bother her about it anymore, you will have two assassins on your case. And being pinned to the wall for a few hours will be the least of your worries. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go check in on things with SHEILD."

The team let it rest at that. Everyone could understand that sometimes the assassins just wanted a sense of privacy. They all did, therefore they could respect the wish.

Clint and Natasha would never admit it to anyone, but they both knew the secret of the box was safe. Even the greatest hacker couldn't discover their secret because no one had any knowledge of it besides the two of them. And no one ever would.

It would always serve as a reminder of that night in Budapest when they had lost almost all hope…

~:-:~

Pepper had been woken up by SHEILD's call to the Avengers, saying that it was yet again time to assemble. To say she hadn't been happy about the call would have been an understatement. For the first night in ages, everyone in the tower had fallen asleep. Pepper had been excited that she was the last one to bed for the first time ever. But then SHEILD had called at two o'clock in the morning waking all of the inhabitants.

Tony had gotten up to get dressed in his Iron Man suit, yawning as he did. Pepper opened her eyes and looked around. She weighed her options, she could either try to sleep or go watch the battle from the living room. She sighed and sat up, knowing that she wouldn't be able to sleep without knowing if things were safe had made the choice easy for her.

Pepper followed Iron Man, who had been muttering under his breath as he walked to meet the others. At first, the only people who seemed fully awake were Clint and Natasha. Something told Pepper that the only reason for that was the fact that the two spies were never really relaxed thanks to years of high risk missions. Steve and Thor seemed to be tired but quickly woke up. Their history with wars, battles and training camps had probably conditioned them to wake up rather well, Pepper reasoned. Tony and Bruce seemed the most out of it, which made sense since they had both gone two days without any sleep thanks to one of their pet projects.

"Time to get going," Captain called to the others.

Pepper turned to the Iron Man suit next to her. The face plate slid up revealing a tired Tony inside looking her over.

"You can go back to bed," Tony said with a lazy smile. "This shouldn't take long."

"What exactly is going on?" Pepper asked.

"A hacker we've been looking for is making his big move ahead of schedule," Steve explained. "We're hoping that if Tony shows up with the Iron Man armor, then he might get distracted long enough for us to get in and destroy his robots' control center."

"Whoa, wait. Are you… you're bait?" Pepper asked bewildered.

Tony shrugged, "Yeah I guess that's the word for it."

Her eyes grew wide, "There is no way…"

"Pep," interrupted Tony. "I got this. There's no way this guy can hack my suit. Honestly, I suspect this is going to be really boring. Go back to bed. I'll be back before you have to leave for work."

"We need to go. Now," Steve interrupted sternly.

Tony kissed Pepper on the head before the faceplate slid down. "I won't be long," said Iron Man before he turned around and headed off towards the launching platform. Captain America shot her an apologetic look before he ran off after the armored Avenger. The rumble of the Quinjet signaled their departure, leaving Pepper Potts in the tower alone.

She wasted no time in moving, she already created a ritual to go through during these times. She created a nice, warm cup of tea (decaf since it was late) which normally took enough time for the team to get to their destination. She then would run to the living room where the largest television was located.

"Jarvis," she called to the AI. "Please pull up SAT (SHEILD Avenger Team) Communications."

"On screen," Jarvis responded as the display lit up. On the screen, a GPS map gave the location of every team member on the ground. A video display showed the video feed of Tony inside the Iron Man suit as well as what was on his screen inside the suit. Another part listed all of the Avenger's code names, allowing her to see that they were all still in communication with one another. A read out of vitals were also available for her to flip through via tabs on the side of the display. Through the sound system, Pepper could hear the team communicating with one another. Steve was yelling out commands and everyone in turn responded.

She sighed and took a sip of her tea as she curled up in the arm of the couch. It was hard to explain how this whole thing was calming to her, yet it was. Perhaps it was just the certainty she could have that everything was going to be okay. Even though the danger to the team was clear, their ability also shone through. Sure she flinched on the close calls, but the longer she watched the less it fazed her. She had admittedly held her breath on a few close calls for the team, especially Iron Man, but thankfully they all turned out well in the end.

Thankfully, the plan worked. Their fiendish foe found he had fallen into the Avenger's trap a little too late. Surprisingly to Pepper, he had had no luck in hacking into Iron Man, which had infuriated him. She drank the last of her tea as the team finished destroying a final handful of robots.

When the team came home, she was passed out peacefully in front of the television screen.

~:-:~

Clint sat in the common living room flipping through the newspaper while drinking a coffee. He had been off grid for a couple of days, but for classified reason could not log on to any sort of computer until SHEILD gave him the okay.

"Barton," Thor's loud voice boomed through the room. The large god came bounding into the room with a large smile across his face. The Hawk almost spit his coffee out across the room at the sight of him. Thor was sporting a classic "I 3 NYC" shirt proudly across his chest.

"H-hey there," Clint finally managed, suppressing the laugh. "How were things with Jane?"

Thor laid across the couch in one big flop, "Ah, things were wonderful, as expected. We saw the sights of this fair city today. Jane had been here before, but she had never been 'sight-seeing' as she put it."

Clint nodded in understanding, "Where is Miss Forester now?"

"At the airport," sighed Thor. "She has to get back to work out west. I plan on joining her out there for a week next month."

"I'm sorry she couldn't stay longer," Clint added. He looked Thor over and could tell that the Asgardian was distracted and disappointed even though he was trying to hide it well. "Everything okay?"

Thor closed his eyes and placed a hand over them, "Everything is fine. I just feel guilty."

"Why is that?"

"Jane was confused as to why I did not see her when I came back to help aid in the Loki fiasco," Thor allowed after a moment. "I do not understand why she was so lost in my reasoning."

Clint simply raised an eyebrow, which prompting Thor into continuing talking. "I was only thinking of her safety. I had SHIELD move her away from her home during that time so that she would be safe from Loki's grasp. If I had gone to see her, he would have been able to find her and use her to prevent me from interfering. And there was no time after the battle to see her before I was to take Loki back to Asgard."

"Makes sense to me," Clint nodded.

Thor sat upright, "How do I explain to her that it was for her own good in a way that she will understand?"

Clint sighed and folded the newspaper up. He looked Thor in the eyes, "I can't answer that." He put a hand up to stop Thor from interrupting. "She already knows. She's smart. She knows why you did it. She just can't believe it."

"I do not follow."

"You just surprised her is all," Clint simplified. He stood up and stretched. "No problem with that. Keeps them guessing."

"So what should I do?"

"Just give her time. I am sure she'll make sense of it all in her own time."

Thor sat up and smiled radiantly, "Thank you Clint. Your insight has been appreciated"

"Any time."

~:-:~

Doctor Bruce Banner stood in one of the expansive labs inside the Tower staring down at some data that he had recovered thanks to Jarvis running a few internet sweeps while the Avengers were out for a meeting. The data included information about gamma radiation leak that had been swept under the rug following a suicide bombing on the other side of the world.

"Doctor Banner," Jarvis chimed in through the silence. "I have retrieved all information concerning the incident with only one exception. SHIELD refuses to allow me access."

Banner readjusted his glasses with a sigh, "Thanks Jarvis. That's all right."

"You also have a phone call from Master Stark on line one, shall I patch him through?"

Banner nodded, causing the glasses to slide back down slightly, "Go for it, thanks."

"Hey, Bruce," Tony Stark's voice rang through the room. "Jarvis told me you got shut out from getting some information."

"That's right."

"So? Why didn't you tell him to hack it?"

Banner rolled his eyes, "Tony, he said he couldn't get the data."

Tony spoke quickly, "Well of course not. You didn't give him permission to use extreme measures. I raised my AI's to be polite- ow, okay, Pepper taught them that. If you want the information ask him to see what he can do."

"I don't think it's that big of a deal," Banner said as he flipped through a few different sets of data on his data pad. "It… just feels weird. There was no reason for gamma to be in that small of a village."

"Remember what I said," Tony said. "You need…"

"To strut," Bruce finished with a small flash of a knowing smile. "I know. You've told me."

"See, you're learning. Now you and Jarvis have the place to yourself tonight. No throwing wild parties you two," Tony laughed. "Enjoy the quiet."

"Yeah," Banner responded. "I'm sure I will. Enjoy the night out in Vegas with Pepper."

"You got it big guy," Stark said as he hung up the phone.

Banner sighed and went back to reading the data. The whole situation was weird. There was a suicide bomber who brought a bomb to a remote village settlement in the middle of Africa. Nothing Bruce found could explain why this was the location for a suicide bomber. He looked at the levels of radiation and noticed it seemed awfully familiar. Actually, the readings were awfully similar to…

"No," Banner shook his head. "No one would be that…"

Yet why was SHIELD protecting information, he wondered. The only reason they would block it would be if they didn't want someone looking into it. Someone that could turn into a green monster and destroy the place before Fury could say oops.

"Sir, I have noticed that your heart rate has increased. Is there anything I can do to be of assistance?" Jarvis asked.

"Actually, yeah. Jarvis I need that information SHILED is hiding from us. Do whatever it takes, I want to know what they are keeping from me," Banner said as he took of his glasses and placed them on the table. He stood up, "I'm going to go make some tea. Let me know when you have it."

"Of course."

Doctor Bruce Banner walked to the elevator and went down to the kitchen. He focused on his breathing and tried to ignore the rush of emotions he was being bombarded with every minute. He opened the cabinet where they kept the tea and coffee and rummaged around. He frowned; apparently they were out of his usual choice of herbal tea. Then he saw the box underneath all of the caffeinated black tea and he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He rearranged things and pulled out the tea that Thor had given him for Christmas.

"I have the information you were asking for," said Jarvis. "And I already boiled water for you. The tea you have in your hand is to steep for five minutes."

"Thanks," Bruce said. He grabbed a mug and placed it under the spout where Jarvis allowed the boiling water to run. He then placed the tea in the water and walked the mug over to the screen that was lying on the counter. As soon as he picked it up, Jarvis displayed the information from SHIELD on the screen.

An hour later, Natasha came tearing through the doors that led out to the landing pad. Her red hair whipped around her as she came to a sudden stop at the kitchen. Her right hand went to her hip like a magnet. Her eyes scanned the area in scrutiny. Doctor Banner was sitting on one of the stools at the counter in the kitchen, hunched over. "Doctor?" she asked as she eyed him over.

"Agent Romanoff," Bruce addressed her without turning around. "What are you doing back already?"

Natasha hesitantly took a few steps forward, "Jarvis called. He said that your heart rate and breathing were up and you were about to Hulk out."

"I see," he responded.

"Something upset you?"

"Someone was trying to create a new… Hulk. That's why there was a suicide bomber in the Sahara. SHIELD is covering someone trying to make another super soldier…"

Natasha looked him over, "I can understand then why you were upset."

Banner pinched the bridge of his nose, "Are."

"I'm sorry?"

Bruce turned around to look at the Russian. Natasha's breath caught when she saw the bright green in his eyes. "Present tense," he explained.

"So why…"

Banner smiled as he started to shake a little. He folded his arms protectively around himself, "Thor's tea. I think our raging friend likes it. He wants me to finish the tea."

~:-:~

"So, Stark," Clint started over team dinner. "Did you ever get around to using your gift from the doctor?"

"Why do you ask bird brain?" Tony said with his poker face on.

"I mean, everyone else we know has used their Christmas gifts. But we haven't heard anything from you about yours," Barton explained.

Tony took a bite of spaghetti, "Technically we haven't heard about Natalie over there."

"Actually, Stark," corrected Natasha with a smirk, "You heard all that you will on that subject."

"Which is that we won't hear anything on the subject," Banner pointed out.

"If she doesn't have to tell, then I don't have to tell," Tony reasoned.

"It's not like he asked what you talked about," Rogers stated out. "Just if you used it or not."

Tony Stark swirled the plate of spaghetti before answering, "I met with the guy once. Happy?"

"What did you talk about?" asked Hawkeye with a smirk. The Black Widow kicked him under the table. "Ow."

Tony was a man that kept his cards close to himself. Most members of the team kept bringing the issue up over the next few days, but the billionaire kept his mouth shut. Banner never asked because he understood how Tony was. And more correctly was that he knew the truth.

The truth was that Tony met the guy at a bar long enough to tell him thanks for being willing to talk to him and to buy him a few drinks. However, Stark wasn't going to talk to him at this time. It made sense; if word got out that he was seeing a shrink, the company would be put in the midst of all sorts of attention it didn't want. Plus, the companionship of the Avengers was enough to keep him sane.

~:-:~

Thank you all for reading. Don't forget to REVIEW now!

Thanks to my sister and boyfriend for helping me get this story ready for posting. I know I drove you insane with me asking questions and reading you sections.

For those of you that may be wondering: Natasha's empty box does have a meaning and I hope to write THAT fanfic soon. Stay tuned for it if you are interested!