If you recognise it… I don't own it.

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The room was dark when Tony finally stirred from his injury-induced slumber. Clint, perched on top of a cupboard, kept quiet, watching over the scene.

"Briar," Tony murmured, looking at the man, "I had the weirdest dream. What happened? I was… I was…"

"What was the dream about?" Bucky asked, his feet up on the bed as he leaned back in his chair.

"Steve was alive." Tony replied, "I know it's stupid, he's dead… But… It… It felt real, you know?"

"Check the other side of the bed, Brat." Bucky snorted, "Then talk to me."

Tony turned and stared. Steve was holding his hand, had been since he'd been allowed in, but had fallen asleep, draped across the bed. Somehow, and Clint wasn't entirely sure how, he'd managed to avoid putting too much weight on Tony, so the Genius hadn't fully been aware of his presence until Bucky had pointed it out.

Although part of that could have been due to the pain-killers Tony was still doped up on.

"But…" Tony stared, "But… It was true? It really…?"

"Yes, Brat." Bucky pulled Tony into a rough hug, "Everybody Lives and the Doctor Dances. You're safe. Stevie's safe. I'm safe. I've got you."

"Jarvis," Tony was firm, but quiet, "You up?"

"Always for you, Sir." Jarvis declared.

Okay, Tony had Jarvis in more places than Clint realized… And probably more than he was comfortable with to be brutally honest, who knew what the AI had seen over the years.

"What's the sitch with Hydra?" Tony asked, "Give me all the deets."

"Belay that Jarvis." Bucky cut in, before the reply was given, "Brat, you're injured. Down for the moment. Rest. Recuperate. You need this."

"I need Hydra gone. You should get that."

"I do. But I also know that if you keep going like this… You'll kill yourself. I can't lose you. Steve can't lose you. Don't do this to us."

"I can stop them." Tony fired back, "I escaped the Ten Rings. I took down Stane. I can do this. I've been on my own a long time. I don't need anyone else to protect me."

"You may not need it." Bucky countered, "But you sure as hell can't tell me that you don't want it. I get it. I really do. You've been on your own for so long… Nearly all your life, right? Everyone left eventually. So you got used to not needing anyone… Because you couldn't rely on anyone. But you can now. You've got me. You've got Steve."

"Do I?" Tony muttered, "You all lied to me."

And didn't that hit Clint right in the gut?

"Find out our reasons before you judge," Bucky instructed, "Mine are pretty simple, when I remembered that I knew Captain America, I kept it a secret from you at first, because it was something that was mine. Something no-one could take away from me. When I realized it was your Steve… I wanted to surprise you. It was a joke. I never meant it to get this far. I never meant for… For all of this to happen. I just… I wanted to see your faces. I was going to get pictures! Stevie always called me a Jerk. And I am. A guy who does stupid things. My ma used to call me her idiot. It was just… Just a joke. A practical joke that went very, very wrong. And I'm sorry."

"Then get me off these pain-killers." Tony challenged, "I can deal with the pain."

"I know you can." Bucky nodded, "But you don't have to. And you're not going to. They stay. Don't even try to remove them yourself. I'll stop you if I have to."

"According to you, you're my friend!" Tony fired back.

"And I am." Bucky agreed, "Which means I will tell you when you are being an idiot. And you're being one right now. You don't have to save the world."

"Hydra needs to be stopped."

"But not necessarily by you, right now."

"They took Steve. What do you expect me to do?"

"When you can't run anymore, you crawl." Bucky declared.

"And when you can't do that," Tony murmured, "You find someone to carry you."

"Looks to me," Bucky grinned, "Like you got a lot of people here willing to carry you. You might want to consider letting them."

Bucky waved a hand around the room, it was cluttered with people. The Howlies had claimed a sofa between the three of them, which Thor had relocated into the room for them. Pietro and Wanda were curled up on the same bed; how they both fitted on the thing was slightly beyond Clint. Natasha was apparently dozing on another bed, not quite asleep, ready to react to the slightest threat; however, Clint knew she was unashamedly eavesdropping. Phil was doing the same in the recliner at the base of Clint's cupboard. Sam was using the old adage of soldiers everywhere and getting sleep while he could; with no other beds available, he'd made up a comfy spot on the floor with blankets swiped from Clint's cupboard. Loki had conjured a bed from somewhere and would have been the most comfortable person in the room, if Thor hadn't declared that they were sharing just like when they had been children. Clint had felt the drop in the room's temperature with the glare that Loki had levelled at his adopted brother, but Thor had been oblivious. Loki had clearly decided it wasn't worth the fight and given in; although if Clint was reading the Asgardian/Jotun correctly Thor would be regretting it in the morning. Bruce was curled up at the foot of Natasha's bed, taking up less space than Clint thought was even possible. Rhodey was probably going to end up with an uncomfortable crick in his back, given that he was half propped up on the foot of Tony's bed and half curled up on the floor, with only a blanket thrown over him for warmth; although the room was a comfortable temperature by Clint's standards. Peter, still in his Spiderman costume, had made himself a hammock up in a corner and was securely set in for the night; though Clint wondered when the webbing would give way.

"I'll vouch for that." Clint piped up, "Tony, take a day, okay? You've earned it. Multiple times over. Take a day. And man? I'm sorry. It started off as habit… It became orders… And we never got permission. Probably should have just defied them looking back, but I never thought… I never realized… Fucking Pierce! He probably was going to present you with the information later and turn you against us. Make you Hydra that way. We just wanted you safe. We were trying to protect you. Road to hell and all that. Maybe if we'd disobeyed and told you things would have gone a lot smoother… But we care for you. Hell, we love you. You're my bratty younger brother."

"I'm the older one." Tony protested.

"I'm the big brother." Bucky was firm, "And right now, it doesn't matter if I'm using the little brothers or the bigger brothers to look after you. All that matters is that you're hurt. And I'm going to make sure you take the time to heal. Get some rest, Brat."

"I've got stuff to do." Tony moved as if to get up.

"Like Hell you do!" Bucky snapped.

Reaching to where the PCA was, Bucky quickly pressed the button; the click as the dose was released was audible in the silence of the room.

"Hey!" Tony protested, "I'm okay! Don't do that!"

However, his words were already slurring and his eyelids becoming heavy as the medication raced through his system.

"Tones," Clint called out softly, "How'd you know about Hydra?"

"Hacked SHIELD." Tony responded sleepily, "Read it."

"But you were looking," Clint stressed, "How'd you know to look?"

"The pilots took off." Tony was trying to explain, "How'd they know?"

"Know what?" Bucky carried on the questioning.

"It was a stupid-ass decision." Tony breathed, "Elected to ignore… So how'd the pilots know to go? Can't ask them… How'd they know to go?"

Clint was lip-reading more than he was hearing as Tony finally succumbed to the medication.

"Okay," Clint addressed the room, "Did that make sense to anyone? Do you need more intel?"

"The missile," Phil put in, "New York. It was a WSC decision. Fury declared it was a wrong decision. He never passed the launch information onto the pilots… But two took off anyway."

"Why weren't they questioned?" Bucky demanded.

"They both died." Phil shrugged, "With all the clear up after the battle it got lost in the chaos I guess. Fury wasn't exactly on top of his game right then."

"You're not his one good eye for nothing." Clint sighed, "Hill can't even measure up… She Hydra?"

"No." Bucky shook his head, "She's clear."

"It is interesting to note," Natasha joined in the conversation, "That Fury's exact words were 'I recognise the council has made a decision, but given that it's a stupid-ass decision, I've elected to ignore it.' Tony must have viewed the footage."

"Tony went digging based on a single incident?" Phil frowned, "Then again, he was burned once by someone he trusted. Once bitten, twice shy."

"Nah," Bucky grinned, "He just doesn't like unanswered questions. If you knew about the number of people who had hurt him in the past… You'd wonder why he trusts at all. What I want to know, Agent… Why'd he take his Armour off for Congress?"

"Students were there." Phil sighed, "Winners of a Science Fair thing. He'd known about it, but thought they were at the Air and Space Museum… Only someone changed the schedule. Last minute thing. He knew he could get them out as Stark. But not as Iron Man. We weren't sure where they were in the building, with all the chaos; so we split up. He found them and got them out through the tunnels… Or at least he directed them to the tunnels. From what I was hearing on the comms, he played distraction to buy them time to get out. Smart move."

"Stupid move." Clint muttered, "He's worth more than they were."

"Not to the Brat." Bucky muttered, "He'd burn himself alive to save someone."

"True." Phil agreed, "But he's just as important to us. Why can't he see that?"

"Howard damaged him in more ways than one." Clint declared firmly.

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For the official record, Hawkeye hated Press Conferences. However, he knew it was a necessary evil, particularly given what had happened; people needed reassurance about what had happened. They were scared, so they needed reassurance. Nothing like finding out about a secret military organisation intent on enslaving the world to cause people to want answers.

The Avengers stood facing the Press in full uniform; Hawkeye discretely wriggled his nose to better settle his shades.

The Winter Soldier had settled, easily, into position just to the left and back a bit from Captain America; given how comfortable both of them seemed with it, Hawkeye was betting that it had been Bucky's usual position during marches in the War. The Avengers had adapted to the addition and were arrayed behind; the Black Widow was on the Captain's right, with the Falcon on her right; Thor was level with the Captain, just to Bucky's left; Banner, as normal was hanging right at the back, almost invisible behind the Falcon; War Machine was just off to Thor's side and back a bit. Hawkeye was tucked into Thor and War Machine's shadows, not quite comfortable with being on display, for all the fact that he was masked up.

To be fair, the Black Widow wasn't too happy about it either; she just hid it better.

Spiderman had managed to get out of the whole thing, because he had school; also, as far as the Press was aware, Spiderman wasn't a member of the Avengers, simply an affiliate.

Loki and the Twins were in the Tower; Hawkeye wasn't entirely sure he was comfortable with them being in his space, but better that than with the Commandos. Jarvis was probably a little more dangerous than a group of men, who looked like they would be blown over in a strong wind.

The initial statement was quite bland given the situation; just a general overview of what had gone on. About how Hydra had managed to remain hidden for so long and why Iron Man and the Winter Soldier had chosen that particular method of revealing the truth. Coulson had worked particularly hard on the statement, making sure not to sensationalise anything. Fortunately, the security cameras had gone down not long after the Winter Soldier's info dump, so identities were still secure. The reporters already had enough to work with to make headlines; there was no need to make anything worse by giving them too much to play with. Best to keep it simple and straightforward.

The questions would be bad enough.

"Captain," The first reporter rose to speak, "We can clearly see that you have adopted the Winter Soldier into the Avengers; however, there is no sign of Iron Man. There hasn't been since the battle on Capitol Hill. What had become of him?"

"Iron Man was injured in the battle." The Captain replied, "Currently he is recuperating from his injuries. When he has recovered, he will be given the option of joining the Avengers."

"Winter Soldier," Another rose, "How do you feel about fighting alongside those you fought against for so long?"

"It was a game," The Winter Soldier shrugged, "At least to me and Iron Man. We always knew we'd end up teaming up with them. To be honest the only thing that really got me, was the fact we had to leave them ignorant for so long. I found it funny, and was completely looking forward to revealing it to them. Especially this Punk. But I didn't like leaving them amongst enemies unaware. Iron Man didn't like it either; however, he's more pragmatic. We were leaving them unaware, but that in itself provided a level of protection. Every fight we had, increased their protection, because they became more focused on us."

"However it backfired," The Captain took over, "I became more interested in the why than the who. Iron Man gave me enough for me to be focused on them and I wanted to understand why they did what they did."

"So can we expect to see Iron Man in the Avenger roster in the future?"

"That depends upon Iron Man," The Captain stated, "The initial reason Iron Man was created was to bring to light certain injustices. Those have since been resolved. If Iron Man decides to retire that is a decision, we will have to accept."

Not likely, Hawkeye thought. Though the Captain was probably planning on arguing it out with Tony for quite some time before he gave in to the inevitable and let Iron Man do as he wished.

Hawkeye was quite looking forward to the entertainment. Tony had been too injured for Steve to feel comfortable in starting a confrontation about anything; it didn't mean the situation was resolved or that the argument about everything wasn't going to happen, simply that it had been shelved for now. Hawkeye was planning on bringing popcorn to that event.

"How do you know that you can trust them?"

"Both the Winter Soldier and the Man of Iron have lifted Mjolnir." Thor intoned, "While neither of them were deemed worthy to wield the Lightning; they were deemed to be sufficiently true of heart to wield Mjolnir as a weapon. It is no mean feat. Many have failed, even some of the Avengers. They have proven their worth."

"That may work in Asgard, but this is Earth. We need more than just some magic to tell us that we can trust people. Particularly given the crimes that Iron Man has commited."

"Is not my word enough?" Thor frowned.

"For those of us who know you, Point Break." The voice came out of the blue, "Of course it is. However, the ravenous pack of journalists require a little more. Especially given that that one works for the Bugle."

Iron Man touched down between the Avengers and the reporters. For once forgoing his landing pose, though that could have been because the landing was smooth and controlled.

There was a long moment of pure silence, before the journalists rallied and the photography hit extreme levels.

"You're still injured," The Captain walked forward to be level with Iron Man, "We agreed you would stay in bed."

"No," Iron Man replied, "You declared. I disagreed, but chose not to tell you. This is me telling you."

"You're angry at me."

"Damn right I am."

"Would it help if I told you it was orders?"

"Not particularly."

"You kept secrets too."

"Mine could have gotten you killed. I was protecting you!"

The Captain had moved quite clearly into Iron Man's personal space. So close in fact that the two of them were only just not touching.

Hawkeye noticed idly that all the reporters had fallen quiet; clearly they realized that something significant was happening. Even if they didn't know what.

"I get that you're angry. Rightfully so. And I'm sorry, it just… It just seemed easier at the time. It was a mistake. I shouldn't have done it."

"Yeah, you shouldn't."

"But you could have told me. I can look after myself. You know that."

"I was going to. Before I found out about Hydra. I was just waiting for a year and a day. That was my deadline. I was going to prove to you that I could go without for a year and a day before I told you. So that you knew it was in my past. That I had left it behind. I wasn't going to count New York, because… Well, I was a bone-fida good guy then. It didn't matter in the scheme of things. I had saved lives. I thought you'd be proud of that."

"I was… I am… You really were going to tell me?"

"Yes. It was all in the plan. I had to work really hard to get everything done before…. You know."

"And we were worried we'd have to duck out because of you." The Captain snorted.

"I'd never do that… It was driving me nuts trying to schedule everything. I was spread thin."

"Looking back, you looked it."

"I thought I was doing well at covering it up."

"I just thought it was stress. I was stressed too. Though I've heard it's normal."

"I'm still mad at you."

"I know." The Captain smiled softly, "You've a right to be. I'm angry too."

Hawkeye managed to tear his eyes away from the scene.

"Are they seriously having a domestic in front of reporters?" He hissed at the other Avengers, "I mean I know I wanted to watch this but…"

"This is a little public." War Machine agreed, "However I'm not going to stop them."

"I'm not getting involved." The Winter Soldier added, "Stevie's still mad at me and I don't think the Brat's much happier either."

"Well," Hawkeye muttered, "We all knew this would happen. Though I was planning on spying on it… With popcorn."

"Will this suffice, Little Hawk?" Loki's voice came from nowhere, then he appeared much like the Cheshire Cat; a bowl of popcorn held in his hands.

"Brother!" Thor rejoiced, "You have come to join us?"

"To watch," Loki returned, "I forsee this being most entertaining… And I didn't even have a hand in creating it. Oh what fools these mortals be."

"I'm with Loki on this," Sam remarked, "This is going to be fun."

"Anyone taking bets on what the Press make of it?" Natasha asked, "Five will get you ten that they assume the Iron Man is a woman."

Hawkeye turned his attention away from the betting and back to the fight.

"You made Bucky keep your secret." Steve challenged; and it was Steve for all he was still dressed and cowled as Captain America.

"Made him?" Tony countered, "Briar keeps his own council for his own reasons. He just wanted to laugh at us. I never made him keep secrets. Never asked him to either."

"I was just trying to keep you safe."

"So you told everyone else in our life, but not me?"

"Not everyone… And I didn't tell all of them. Most of them found out."

"Oh, sorry. Nearly everyone else knew. But you kept them from telling me."

"I just wanted you safe. You did the same!"

"I was justified. And besides, I only told one other human."

"I'm sorry. Okay? I really am sorry. But the longer it went on… The easier it was to just… Leave the lie in place."

"And that makes it okay?"

"What do you want me to do? Apologise? I'm sorry. I truly am. All I have is excuses as to why I didn't tell you. I don't have reasons. I'm sorry, Shellhead."

"I know you are, Winghead. It still hurts though. That you didn't trust me."

"One life, one home." Steve stepped even closer, virtually stepping on Tony's feet, "I can't do this without you. That was my mistake; I won't make it again."

"What do you mean?" The tilt of Tony's head meant that he was confused.

"I need you. I've always needed you. I just didn't know it. If you want to continue in the Armour… Stand with me."

"Your Number Two?"

"No. Co-Leader. We've always done well together because as much as we are the same, we are different. Opposites attract and all that. We're stronger together than we are apart. Together there is no rain. Please?"

"As you wish."

"Please?" Steve tried again; though why Hawkeye didn't quite know, it was clear that Tony had acquiesced to Steve's plan.

"Captain America," One the Journalists managed to recover enough to interrupt, "You know Iron Man's true identity? Can we presume from your interaction that Iron Man is in fact the Iron Woman?"

"You know," Tony turned to face them, "I really don't like that name… Iron Man… It's a Gold Titanium Alloy… Although I will give you that Iron Man is pithier than Gold Titanium. For the record though, there's more iron in War Machine that there is in Iron Man. I didn't use ferrous materials."

"But you are a woman." It was more of a statement than a question.

"Called it." Natasha grinned; her voice barely audible, and slightly garbled around the popcorn in her mouth. Clearly she'd decided that Loki's popcorn was safe, so Clint felt safe enough to claim his own portion.

"Did I ever say that?" Tony retorted; even without seeing it, Clint knew there was a smug smirk on Tony's face.

"The two of you know each other outside of your masks, and clearly there's a romantic relationship."

"And that equates to female because?" Steve pressed, "There is more than one type of relationship."

"But you're Captain America… You're from the forties."

"We had sex back then. We had homosexuals back then too. We just didn't talk about it." Steve fired back, "We didn't talk about a lot of things back then. Didn't mean that it didn't happen. Just means we didn't talk about it. Trust me, there were quite a few bachelors "sharing the rent"… And just as many spinsters."

It was almost cute the way that Steve used air quotation marks to make his point.

"Just tell us who you are!" One of the reporters demanded, "We have a right to the truth."

"And we have a right to privacy." Tony retorted, "Do you really want to tread on that? The private life of Captain America? He's a National Hero. A Legend in his own lifetime."

"Easy." Steve's hand automatically went to Tony's elbow, "It's okay. It's just questions."

"They don't have the right to pry… To rehash our private lives endlessly… Till we don't know which way is up or down."

"Hey," Steve pulled Tony's helmeted head down towards his shoulder, "Not this time. Two people, one life. Remember?"

"I love you."

"I know."

Clint watched as Steve moved his head to a particular position. It was a subtle tell that he was listening to his comm. However, Clint couldn't hear anything, which shouldn't be the case as all of them were linked.

Given the fact that Tony was involved though, Clint was willing to bet that Tony had hacked the thing; just so he could have a private word with Steve.

There was a long pause, several minutes worth; it wasn't silent, given that the Press started to demand answers to questions after a few heartbeats. However neither Steve nor Tony audibly spoke.

That wasn't to say they weren't speaking; Steve still had his peculiar head-tilt and was tapping the tip of his finger on the Armour in such a manner that it was likely he was communicating using Morse Code.

Finally Steve broke their silence.

"You sure?" Steve asked.

"I'll follow your lead in this… Just like I did last time. It's your choice. You didn't do too badly last time."

"Alright." Steve nodded.

The pair of them turned towards the Press. Privately Clint felt a little cheated; he'd missed most of the argument and Steve had been tapping too quickly for him to get more than a few letters.

"Quite frankly, you need to engage your brains." Steve declared, "Iron Man and Bucky have just proven that Hydra still exists; they are rooted in a great many locations and can weild a great amount of power. Revealing our identities would only paint targets on the backs of those whom we care for. Until such time as we can be certain that we are not increasing their risk we will not be revealing ourselves. Individual members of the Avengers are free to do so as they so choose, but do not count on it. You have the Right to Free Speech. However, you would be wise to remember that an indiviual's right to swing their fist stops where another person's nose begins."

Steve finished, turned back to Tony and deliberately stepped forward onto the boots.

"Let's go home." Steve smiled.

"As you wish."

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Finished! I know it's a little open-ended, but that's where the conclusion needed to be for me. And it's been difficult to get it here. Admittedly some of that was my fault, I started playing Avengers Academy, a scarily addictive game, even without all of its features.

I hope you all enjoyed the ride.

Please Review.

Thanks to my reviewers:

Minecraft Guardiansaiyan – No, but it's an interesting concept.

YYHfan-KB – You ever tried the Wintersmith Album? It's by Steeleye Span. Got some great music on it.

DaemonWolfe – As you can see Coulson wasn't threatening. Glad you enjoyed.

LiulfrLokison – Sorry that you missed most of the talk. Wasn't entirely sure how to write it at first.

Love toshiro dragon – As you can see, they've talked. Not everything is sorted, but they're getting there.

Lydia – Sorry, this is all you're getting at this time. Thought I hoped you enjoyed it.

RG – I get where you're coming from. Sorry, but this Tony needed to be male for me. Though I am playing with an idea for a young female Tony. I need to work on a few other projects first though.

Once again thank you.