"You should be in bed, not out here on the roof" Pepper admonished as she found Barton leaning over the railing looking at the sunset. She had gone to his room but found it empty; after conferring with Jarvis she had found where Clint had snuck off too.

"I heard Fury called a team meeting." His voice sounded a fraction of what it usually did.

Pepper closed the distance between them and took position at the railing beside him. She took a moment to really look at the man before her; the slumped shoulders, the failure to make eye contact, the weight of the world on him for something that wasn't his fault - it reminded her of Tony at his lowest, and Bruce when he first arrived at Stark Tower. It was quite a group they had gathered together; a group of superheroes that saved the world, but were in just as much need of being saved themselves. "He did; but you're supposed to be in bed resting, which is why he was asked not to include you."

Clint simply huffed and turned his head so he couldn't see Pepper any more. Everything he had worked so hard for was slipping through his fingers; he could feel it and no matter how hard he tried, it was only a matter of time. What was worse was the trail of dead bodies that led to his complete failure was going to be his team mates.

"Yeah sure, I wouldn't trust me either at this point," he mumbled to the cityscape.

"For what it's worth, I trust you with my life."

"You don't have to entrust me with it that often. No offense, but that's kind of the equivalent of saying that pebble over there keeps tigers from attacking the tower."

"I was wondering what was keeping them at bay." Silence fell for a moment, then she added quietly "I trust you with Tony's life."

In the midst of his sea of turmoil and self loathing those few words offered a buoy of hope. The thought that someone he barely knew had given him what mattered most to her, was uplifting and daunting at the same time.

"I'm not going to tell you that it's going to be alright because I know you won't believe me; but you need to know that everyone is fine. The injuries were minor, and they'll all be good to go in no time." She reached over and placed a hand on his shoulder "if you need to talk, I'm willing to listen; and if you think I can't handle it, I know anyone of the team would be willing to listen too."

The door to the roof opened and Steve stepped out. "Can I have a moment with Barton?"

Pepper looked at Clint who gave a small nod. She could feel him tense at the prospect of being alone with Rogers. "This will be alright," she whispered. He knew she meant that he could handle the heart to heart with the man he tried to bludgeon to death in an effort to get Rogers to kill him. As she started to walk away she called out, "remember, anytime you need to talk."

Steve waited a few moments after Potts left before he began to speak. He stayed near the door not feeling overly comfortable with getting into the archer's personal space. The bruises coving Clint's face were still dark and a constant reminder of just how badly he had failed the man. For his part Clint turned around with both elbows resting on the railing, but he refused to meet the Captain's gaze.

Clint beat him to the punch though and spoke first. "I don't know what to say Cap, and Hallmark doesn't make a 'sorry I almost bashed your head in with your own weapon' card."

Rogers had come up here to apologise for losing control of the situation, and instead Barton felt compelled to apologise to him. Steve had been thinking about the whole situation a lot since that night; he remembered on the helicarrier he'd told Banner he didn't care about the man's past actions if Bruce was there to save the world from Loki with them. Why hadn't that philosophy translated to the archer? Maybe because he hadn't experienced Bruce's destruction firsthand the way he had Clint's. Steve countered, "I think I figured out your plan."

"Oh yeah, what's that?"

"You took Romanoff out first because she knows you; she would have figured it out and tried to stop you. You gagged Tony so he wouldn't be able to tell me, and you went after Bruce because if you got him to lose control he wouldn't be able to stop you either."

"And just what was I trying to stop them from doing?"

"You wanted me to do it. You wanted me to kill you. You assumed that I would if I felt the team was in danger; that I would keep them safe from you."

"Seems like a reasonable request from where I'm standing. You should protect the team, keep them safe."

"There's just one problem with that."

"And what's that?" asked Clint as he stole a quick glance at Steve.

"You're a part of the team. It's my job to look out for you as much as I do them, and I want to apologise for not doing that; for not recognizing what you've been going through, not only since the bank but since Loki too. I haven't been fair to you. I've been so busy trying to pretend that everything is alright and it's not; this whole thing is fucked up. There, I said it."

A small smile graced Barton's lips. "Language Captain. What would your many followers think if they heard such things come from your mouth?"

"The situation called for it," shrugged Steve as he wandered over to the railing to take in the view. "Even when things are stacked against you, you rise above it in the best interests of the team; a team that seems to let you down every time."

"You guys don't let me down, Cap. Seems the only thing I'm good at lately is taking out my own people."

"I know you didn't miss that shot."

"I was there; I saw that I missed that shot." He shrugged "guess I can't say that I never miss anymore."

"You didn't miss Clint. If you bear with us and put in a little more effort on your part instead of keeping your distance..." Clint turned so he was now facing the city instead of the door but Steve caught the eye roll at his words. "Even though you do it because you think it's in our best interests, we might be able to get this team thing working properly. Now I'll accept your apology, as unwarranted as it is, if you accept mine." Rogers reached over and offered his hand.

Clint mulled over the Captain's words for a few moments then nodded as he shook Steve's hand; maybe they could make this team thing work after all.

The end.

Part 2 of 3.

Thank-you so much to everyone who read this story.

A big thanks to anyone who added an alert, favourite or review (especially anyone who reviewed more than once)it is greatly appreciated and means a lot. Thank you to Bazinga26, discordchick and TheNaggingCube for reviewing almost every chapter!

Huge thanks to Tracy137 for the terrific beta job!

This is the second story in a series I am working on. The next story is 2 Wrongs Don't Make a Right. (The council has decided to take issue with Barton and force Clint to stand trial for recent events.)