A/N - So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodnight!

The next time he woke up, the team was back, asleep in chairs and on the couch, and his head was on the pillow again, but Clint's hand was still resting lightly in his. He gave it a small squeeze.

"Hey, sleepy-head." Clint smiled. "Going to give the others a chance to yell at you for being an idiot, now?"

"I suppose I should just get it over with." Tony grinned, that same grin he had worn like a mask to antagonize Stone. "Hey, Cap." He poked the closest man, the super-soldier in the hospital chair on the opposite side from Clint.

Steve blinked a few times, then focused in on Tony's face. "Hey, Tony." He smiled slightly. "You are absolutely terrifying sometimes without how stubborn you are. Don't scare us like that."

"Sorry about that." He hesitated. "Actually, I'm really not, I still haven't thought of a better plan than the one we used." He rolled his eyes.

Natasha woke up at their voices and both grinned and glared at him. "Ooh, you absolute idiot!You stupid, arrogant, son of a bitch, you are brilliant." She gently hugged him as best she could and whispered a soft, "Thank you so much."

Bruce just smiled at him, rubbing his eyes to wake up (not because he was almost crying, no, sir!) and said in a soft voice, "It's been awfully boring around here without you."

"Man of Iron!" Thor's voice was, for once, at acceptable levels for a hospital room. "You are awake! Your bravery rivalled that of warriors of Asgard, I am greatly pleased that you did not perish."

"Thanks, Thor," he laughed. "Perishing isn't in the job description. So... I really have to ask... who was it? Who figured it out?"

Steve smirked and pointed a finger right into Natasha's face. She blushed and swatted it away, muttering about a group effort.

"None of that, Nat." Tony took her hand and grinned up at her. "You saved our lives. I was half expecting that nobody would figure out I wasn't just being my idiot self."

"I almost didn't," she admitted. "The French, that just threw us all for a loop. Your timing was impeccable, though... the last p-picture came just as we cracked the code."

He didn't miss her stutter. "I'm really sorry about those. I probably looked like shit."

"Thor punched through a wall." Steve sold out his fellow Avenger remorselessly. "Like, a metal one. Double thick. I'm thinking about putting a picture frame around it."

"Buddy!" Tony laughed, but it turned into a painful wheeze. "Ah, fuck, my ribs are still out of it." He frowned at the offending area. "Catch up, will ya?"

Clint laughed. "You should have seen the state the doctors have been in around here. I heard at least three of them talking about quitting because they're sick of the same patients managing to get themselves in here all the time. Mostly you, I do believe."

Tony rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I'm insufferable, I know." He tried to shrug, wincing at pain in his shoulders. "It's because I need shit to do with my hands when I'm in pain, and this hospital most certainly is not my workshop."

"Maybe we should get you a doll," Natasha quipped with a deadpan expression.

"Naaaaaaat!"

The End of "Signs of Life." Everyone is safe and Tony is already bored, but I doubt anyone well ever consider kidnapping an Avenger ever again.