Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. Well, actually I do. I own Mandy, Mandy's mother, that social worker whose name I don't remember, Abigail, the other girlfriend whose name I don't remember, and Jesse. The rest of them I don't own. Bummer.

A/N: LAST CHAPTER! At least for now. I may add more excerpts, in the form of one shots, but for now this is all. Thank you for everyone who has stuck with me throughout this whole story. I really appreciated all the reviews I got. Also, if any of you watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, I just nearly finished the first season and oh my God, Ward. WHY?

Chapter 36

Phil took a bite of his cereal, savoring the taste of a calm morning. There were no villains, Steve and Tony had actually managed to keep most of their affection in the bedroom (so far), and Bruce had not hulked out in a panic because Clint had fallen asleep in the vents and Bruce couldn't find him.

"I have a boyfriend," Mandy announced. It was quite out of the blue, and it took everyone at the table a second to realize what she had just told them. Phil choked and stared across the table at his teenage daughter.

"Excuse me?" Clint asked, wiping a hand across his mouth to remove the juice that had sprayed out of his lips. "You what?"

"I have a boyfriend," Mandy repeated calmly, taking another bite of her bagel. "He's pretty cute, too."

"Who told you that you could have a boyfriend?" Tony asked her, clearly trying to be intimidating. Phil could tell it wasn't affecting Mandy at all, but whether that was because she was just too used to him or because his arms hadn't moved from around Steve's shoulders, he didn't know.

"My father did," Mandy said, meeting Phil's gaze across the table.

"You did this?" Clint asked Phil, pointing a menacing finger at him. Phil rolled his eyes without taking them off of Mandy.

"I did tell her that she could have a boyfriend, although I was not informed that she had one at the time," Phil said, shooting a hard look at Mandy. It was scary to him, that she could so easily keep things from him. God, she was growing up. "She is seventeen, Clint."

"She's a baby!" Clint argued. He looked at Bruce for support, but he only shook his head, so he turned to Natasha. She could always be counted on to be protective over Mandy, no matter how emotionless she tried to make herself seem. "Tell me you aren't okay with this, Nat."

"Who do you think told her how to get him?" Natasha raised a single unimpressed eyebrow. Phil wasn't sure if he should be grateful or angry at her helping Mandy. He looked at Abigail, but she was smiling at Mandy. "And Abigail, of course, helped."

Phil shook his head, unsure how he felt about this. He wanted to hate the boy, to ignore any fact that Mandy was growing up, but she was, and he didn't want to push her away with his own denial. Which meant that he had to be okay with the fact that she had a boyfriend.

Being okay with said boyfriend would have to be decided after he met him.

"He's coming to the house," Phil informed Mandy. She shrugged, eating the last bite of her bagel and licking a stripe of peanut butter off of her finger.

"I know," She assured him. "I've been preparing him for two weeks."

"And Bruce likes science, and so does Tony, but Tony likes mad science, and Bruce is pretty tame even if he is the Hulk," Jesse rambled. Mandy kissed him quickly to pause his words and then stared into his eyes.

"Calm down," Mandy told him. Honestly, he was so cute. "As long as you're you, you'll do fine."

"If you're sure," Jesse said uncertainly. Mandy nodded confidently.

"I am," She assured him, slipping her hand into his. His fingers squeezed her desperately, a major show of his nerves.

"If you're wrong, I expect you to fight them to keep me safe," Jesse informed her. Mandy smiled and pulled him towards the door, opening it and towing him through. Jesse audibly swallowed as they climbed the stairs and came upon Steve and Tony.

"Tony, Steve, this is Jesse," Mandy said, sending Tony a look, warning him to behave.

"Nice to meet you, son," Steve said, taking Jesse's hand. His voice was abnormally thick with Captain America-ness and Mandy shot him a disappointed look. She expected intimidation techniques from his husband, not Steve himself.

"You too Mr. Stark," Jesse said. His voice sounded incredibly respectful and self-assured, both things that Mandy knew had to be forced, because his voice was not usually this reverent. "And, you, Mr. Stark."

He didn't even stumble through referring to them both as Mr. Stark, Mandy noted proudly. This boy was a keeper.

"Huh," Tony made a thoughtful noise as he shook Jesse's hand. "We'll see."

Mandy rolled her eyes and pulled Jesse away from them, quickly, because she didn't put it past them to organize some sort of scenario meant to intimidate him. They passed Peter, who greeted Jesse cheerfully, if not a bit reluctantly. He had been making good bank off of the money Mandy had paid him not to tell everybody about her boyfriend.

Next they came upon Bruce and Natasha, both sitting at the table. Natasha was polishing her guns, even though Mandy was pretty certain she had done that only a day ago, but at least Bruce was only reading.

Jesse gulped, his hand tight around Mandy's.

"Bruce, Natasha, this is Jesse, my boyfriend." She added, hopefully to give him confidence.

"Nice to meet you," Natasha raised a single, unimpressed eyebrow.

"You too," Jesse returned. His voice was slightly wavering, but at least he met her gaze directly. "And it's nice to meet you, Dr. Banner."

"Good to meet you too," Bruce stood up and extended his hand towards Jesse, watching him closely. Jesse put his hand in Bruce's, smiling for quite possibly the first time. He had always liked Bruce's work.

It was going well, Mandy decided. Then Clint popped out of the vent, and she realized that she had spoken too soon.

Jesse went down, hands protectively around his crotch where Clint had shot him, groaning. Mandy hurriedly leaned over him.

"Clint!" She yelled. "Why would you do that?"

"He's a wimp," Clint sneered.

"You shot him the nuts!" Mandy complained. She reached over and grabbed one of Natasha's guns, the one she knew only stunned, and started towards him.

Clint, wisely, started to run.

Her father had taught her well, after all.

"Are you alright?" Someone asked Jesse. He looked up, and found the one person he would have done anything not to meet like this. Mandy's father.

It was clear that Mandy absolutely adored her father, and though she had seemed pretty confident that they would like him, Jesse wanted to make sure he did everything right, so at least if they didn't like him, they respected him.

Meeting Mandy's father with his hands curled around his junk was not on the plan for today.

Jesse sat up quickly, removing his hands, and made himself meet Phil Coulson's eyes.

"I'm fine," Jesse said, hoping that he couldn't hear the pain still in his voice. "It's nice to meet you sir," He added, trying to salvage the situation.

"Well, I imagine it's nicer for me than you right now," Mandy's father said. Jesse laughed a little uncertainly. "I can't say I'm surprised, though. Mandy is a part of a crazy family, and if you're going to be a part of it, you have to be prepared to deal with such."

"She's worth it," Jesse spoke honestly. Because Mandy was, well, she was Mandy. Amazing, and kind, and sincere, and nice, and willing to fight bullies for him, and strong, and just... Mandy.

The kid was okay, Phil decided.

For now.