Arianna checked herself in the mirror for the eighth time that minute before looking at Howie for the third. "Are you sure? It's a bit poofier than the darker blue dress," she commented, again, pointing to one of the nine dresses thrown around on the bed.

Howard put a hand to his chin and pretended to be deep in thought as he examined the dress. "I dunno… it makes your eyes look too dark," he said, although his tone was purely teasing. "Seriously, what are you expecting me to say? You look great."

"I want to look better than great! You're really useless sometimes," Arianna groaned before looking at him again. "Okay, I'll wear this one," and just as she saw him relax, she couldn't help but ask, with as much seriousness as she could muster, "but are my eyes too dark?"

Howie, unfortunately, didn't inherit his father's ability to remain cool at basically all times. "No, of course not!" He was quick to reassure. "Your eyes are beautiful!" Two years ago he would have blushed as he said it, she was sure, but they'd grown too close for comments like that to really fluster either of them.

She put her hand to her heart. "You're too sweet." With another glance at the mirror, she turned on her heel. "We'd better go before we're late for my sweet sixteen."

"The birthday girl is technically allowed to be late to her own party - just call it 'fashionably late' and nobody bats an eye," Howie retorted, rushing to catch up with her and adjusting his tie in frustration. "Ugh, why does Dad insist I wear the stupidest-looking ties?" He complained under his breath.

"He's getting older and uglier; he doesn't want you to have good fashion sense and become hotter than him," Arianna replied in her own logic.

The boy laughed. "And yet he was voted Sexiest Philanthropist for the fifth time in a row last month." They turned a corner and took the stairs to the floor directly beneath, stopping right outside the door to the main hall where the party was being held. "Okay, looks like everybody's here." Howie observed, peeking inside. "Okay, does my tie look weird? My mom'll kill me if I walk you in there looking like a hobo."

Arianna turned to face him, almost stopping in shock with how badly the tie had been messed up since she last properly looked at it. "Stop touching it, then," she advised before undoing it. "Would it help you if I looked like a hobo too? I'll happily change back into my jeans."

He rolled his eyes. "No, my mom would kill me twice if I let you not look all dolled-up for the party. I'm surprised how many times I've escaped death, honestly."

"You'll be fine… just… don't let me drink too much, or at all - we don't want a repeat of last time." Arianna shook her head as she remembered her powers going crazy; that was one thing she wasn't sure she had wanted to inherit from her mother. Not to mention she was allowed to have one glass of champagne and well… had more. She patted his chest after finishing his tie. "I don't want the first thing sixteen-year-old me gets is grounded."

"Are you kidding? My mom would, I repeat, get murderous. Grounding is the better end of that deal," Howie replied. He always got uptight when his mother was supervising - Pepper was a very stern disciplinarian. "Don't worry, though; I'll be your alcohol spotter." This was more teasing, although she knew he would still literally confiscate any drinks that weren't authorised.

"As long as you don't drink, I fully have faith in you," Arianna teased before turning to the door. "Let's go," she said with confidence, but still made Howie go first - he was in the spotlight more than her, and with him by her side, she could do anything. But, in this case, he was going first.

Wanda turned her attention away from Sam's youngest, Oliver, when Arianna finally walked through the doors with Howard. No matter how much her daughter acted confident, strutting around like she could do anything, using her powers with concentration beyond her years, she was still just a sixteen-year-old girl - woman.

"I can't believe she's sixteen; It feels like yesterday I had to chase her through the compound naked."

That was a fond memory. Arianna was four and decided that she no longer wanted to comply with social norms. It was even more amusing when Bucky had been the one to catch the naked child and returned her with a look of horror on his face. How that didn't put him off from having a daughter of his own, she did not know. "Please mention that in your speech later," she muttered, a soft, nostalgic smile on her face, before she realised how many people were here. "Actually, maybe not that specific story."

Her husband chuckled beside her. "I could always tell the story about her first magical explosion."

"That'd probably embarrass her more."

"How?"

"That was also her first period."

Rhodey gave her a horrified look. Even though he had been supportive and even helped Arianna through her puberty very well, and in a mature manner, there were some details that he didn't know, or hadn't realised. "That- I thought- I can see why she was moody with some of the jokes I made."

"No point dwelling on the past; she's sixteen - soon she'll be dating…" Wanda paused her thought, smiling teasingly over at her husband. "If she's not already, that is."

His head whipped to her so quickly it reminded her of that girl from that demonic possession movie. Surprising he didn't snap a few vertebrae out of place. "Uh, heh, no… no," he said as firmly as he could. "That's… that's later… WAY later…"

She turned her smug face away from him and watched Arianna whisper something to Howard. "Who knows; maybe those two will end up together."

Once again, the lightning-fast head turn. He examined the two teens closely. "I'll have to talk to Tony about limiting their time together…" he mused, sounding half-serious about it.

"James, you will not," Wanda warned instantly; even the idea of that was ridiculous. "I started dating younger than her… besides, you don't want to drive her away with embarrassment."

Rhodey looked at her, pretending to be aghast. "You mean I wasn't your first love? Oh, the horror of it all!"

Wanda raised her eyebrows at him. "Are you going to claim that I was yours?" She challenged.

"He'd better not - there was, what, Anita, back in high school?" Tony butted in, coming up beside his best friend. "You were pretty sure she was 'the one', and then she ditched you for the captain of the chess team, remember?" He laughed rambunctiously while Rhodey looked less than pleased at the reminder. "Ah, good times…"

"Hey, Tony. We were just talking about the potential future relationship between our children," Wanda updated him.

Tony's expression lit up in a way that generally called for concern. "Ooh! I'm totally cool with an arranged marriage if you guys are!" He said this loud enough that it caught Howie's attention, and the boy blushed furiously while shooting his father a glare. Tony replied with a lovingly exaggerated 'I got this' sign and wink, making Howard roll his eyes and look away again.

"Tony, stop traumatising your son," Rhodey scolded.

"Oh, we're planning ways to traumatise our kids? I'm in!" Clint piped up as he waded through the crowd to stand with them. "So far Laura has first place for pinching Coop's cheeks while he was with his Marines buddies."

"Because that was more embarrassing than you turning up on Lila's first mission to offer cover," Laura interrupted, raising her brow at him.

Wanda's mouth dropped. "Wait, you what?"

Clint was quick to defend himself. "To be fair, her commanding officer was an idiot for pairing her with a weapons expert instead of a tactician! I was just… helping her out a bit…"

Tony snorted. "So basically her first mission was mainly cheating."

"He also tagged along on Coop's first three missions - but nobody found out about them," Natasha commented, stepping into the circle, a smirk on her face.

Laura's eyes widened. "You are staying with me all next week. You won't be gate-crashing Nate's first mission too."

Her husband crossed his arms stubbornly. "You won't even notice I've snuck out," he challenged.

"Not a smart thing to say, bud," Rhodey advised.

Laura narrowed her eyes dangerously at Clint, sealing his fate. "We are having words later," she informed him.

Wanda looked at Rhodey, wondering if there was anything he was hiding from her. Then again, they had two children, and neither of them seemed to have plans to join S.H.I.E.L.D. or the military like Clint's children had. And if they did, she'd be sending Rhodey to keep them safe. At her name, she looked up at Nat. "Huh?"

"I said, how are you feeling about Arianna growing up?"

"Oh… better than James here."

Rhodey rolled his eyes. "Hey, I'm proud of her. She's a great kid. I just want it clear that she's not dating until she's thirty!"

"Good call," Steve agreed solemnly, coming up to stand beside his wife. "Keep it as far off as you can."

"Says the man who has a daughter in her thirties who is married with two children," Natasha inputted. "And another daughter in her twenties who is engaged to be married. Not a very reliable opinion."

"Hey, if anything, that makes my opinion more reliable!" Steve argued. "Besides, we all know teenagers aren't that great at making decisions with common sense- best to wait until they're way older."

"And how old were you when you allowed scientists to experiment on you, Dad?" Selina questioned, poking her head in. "A teenager, right?" She stuck her tongue out before walking off with Matt.

"Completely different!" Steve called after her.

"Totally different," Tony agreed, although it was hard to miss his giant smirk.

Wanda couldn't help but chuckle at Selina's comment, and the following regards made after that. She had to admit, she hadn't made the best decisions when she was a teen either, but it was a passage of life that everybody had to go through. "The difference is… that we will make sure our kids will always have somebody to turn to when they make mistakes." She'd had Pietro for her mistakes, and that was the best thing Wanda could have asked for. She would make sure Arianna and Wyatt could always come to her; no matter how much they screwed up.

"That's very poetic… but very true," Tony eventually conceded, clearly holding back from making some sort of joke. Rhodey rolled his eyes at that but put an arm around Wanda, wordlessly agreeing with what she'd said.

"What mischief do you think they're all up to?" Wanda asked, looking at the children who had gathered in their own groups, usually based on ages or familiarity.

Clint shrugged. "If Nicole's over there, a wrestling match will probably break out in the next five minutes."

"And Mackenzie will probably referee it," Steve added, spotting his niece in the crowd of kids.

"... And Wyatt will probably be the one she's wrestling…" Rhodey added with a sigh.

"Carter's over there; he should keep things under control," Natasha reasoned.

"As long as Edward stays away from the sugary drinks, we should all survive this party," Steve said with a shudder. The last time that child was given sugar, nobody had slept for a solid two days.

"So basically," Tony summed up, turning to Steve and Natasha, "your kid's kid is the only one we can count on behaving himself."

They all exchanged a look. "We're doomed," Rhodey lamented.

Steve smiled across the table at Natasha, who was dressed up in one of her nicest dresses even though they were eating at home tonight. He'd lovingly prepared a nice dinner for their wedding anniversary this year, as opposed to going out to eat, which, while nice, tended to take away from the intimacy of the occasion. There was nowhere he'd rather be than right here with his wife, engaged in fairly normal dinner conversation but with undertones of disbelief that they'd really been together for so long already. The time seemed to just fly by all of a sudden.

"Poor Peter was telling me yesterday that he's stuck on laundry duty for a week since his scary story made Ryan wet the bed," Steve said with a chuckle. "He keeps saying the story wasn't that scary, but he doesn't seem to get that kids get scared of basically everything at that age if they're not portrayed right."

"Wetting the bed at six?" Natasha commented, her eyes unfocused for a moment before refocusing on him. "Let's stick to Disney movies when he's here, then. Do you know what the story was?" She asked as an afterthought.

He held back a laugh. "I think it was another Spiderman adventure - taking down some bank robbers or something."

"Why is he still doing those lame missions again?"

"Because he's still a big child who does it for the fun," Steve answered with a fond teasing in his tone and Natasha rolled her eyes. He still remembered when he had been like that - when the missions were their own compensation and it was simply thrilling to be using his power. "... Remember our first mission together?"

"Of course; we were rescuing a brainwashed Clint from Loki," she stated.

"I didn't even know you were the Black Widow at first… I got you and Maria mixed up," Steve confessed sheepishly. That had been embarrassing him for years now.

She raised an eyebrow at that. "I didn't know that. Remind me to tell Maria."

He raised his hands in surrender. "Hey, whatever you say… just be aware that if you're relying on me to remember to do that, it'll never happen… I'll forget," he assured with a small smirk.

A matching smirk graced Natasha's face. "It's a good thing I have an impeccable memory, then, isn't it?"

His expression fell slightly. "Yeah… it sure is…" he said with fake flatness. "Are you always scheming against me?"

"Yes."

He sighed. "You're gonna be the death of me."

"'Til death do us part," Natasha replied cheekily. She picked up her glass of wine and took a long sip, a smile on her face as she placed it down.

"Yeah, that's reassuring. How did you talk me into marrying you, again?" He asked teasingly.

"I remember that very clearly. My easiest mission completed," she retorted, a cheeky grin on her lips.

Steve chuckled, sipping his own wine. "Ah, so I'm a mission? That explains a lot."

"What else would it be? You're over twice my age," Natasha teased. She dropped a wink at him as she finished the last sip of her glass.

"You make me sound like a creepy old man with a young trophy wife," he replied with a small shudder. "Is there a term for that? A reverse-cougar?"

A smirk returned to her lips. "You're my sugar-daddy."

He pulled a face. "I'd, uh… rather not… Besides, last I checked you're not as young as you appear, Madame."

She stood, stepping around the table and leaning against it right next to him. "Still younger than you, Oldie."

He stood as well, pulling her closer. "Then maybe we should refrain from any activities later if I'm so old and frail," he teased.

"I am the Black Widow - do you think I care?" She pulled him towards her further to close the distance between their lips.

Steve smiled into the kiss, leaning against her as it intensified. However, it was short-lived as Natasha's phone went off. He almost groaned as he leant back - she always answered it… it was occasionally awkward.

"Yes?" She fell silent, letting out a few 'yes's' and 'no's' before finally hanging up. "We have a mission."

He rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Why are we still Avengers, again? Just wondering."

"Life isn't worth living unless somebody's trying to kill us."

A/N:

For anybody who is wondering, this lists the parents and their children (ages of children) from where we've ended!

Clint and Laura - Cooper (29), Lila (26), Nate (19), Nicole (13)

Tony and Pepper - Howie (15).

Bucky and Maria - Mackenzie (10)

Steve and Natasha - Chloe (32), Selina (22).

Rhodey and Wanda - Arianna (16), Wyatt (10).

Peter and Chloe - Carter (13), Ryan (6)

Sam and Grace - Edward (9), Agatha (7), Tobias (4), Oliver (1).

Cooper and Shaun - Isabella (5).

Note from Violet: Hi, lovely readers! I can't believe we're finally at the end of the line for this story- you all have been so great and supportive and it's been such a fun experience! Vanilla and I put so much time and effort into this, and you all are what makes it worthwhile! It's been great writing this for you, and I hope you enjoyed it to the very last word! Thank you for your support and interaction!

Time for Ash: I honestly cannot say thank you enough to all of you! I won't bore you with a long speech about how much you all mean to be and yadda yadda. Because I love you all (That sums it up). I am going to inform you all that you won't really see me posting much from now on, especially, multi-length stories. My health is actually really poor right now, and between hospital visits and real life, it's getting really difficult. However, I should still be around, probably reading and reviewing more than writing. So... you may see one-shots popping up, or a previously abandoned multi-length story updated. But nothing regular - it all depends on my overall health. LOVE YOU ALL! Now... a treat for you, just like the end of a movie, a song for the end credits:

Well it's time to say goodbye my friend
I'm glad you stayed until the end
I hope that you've enjoyed the time we spent
Though I know that I'll be back again
I don't know just how soon my friend
Until we meet again just think of me
I'll think of you

It was easier to say hello
Than to say goodbye
Now the bus is leaving once again
I bid farewell to you

And now, in a Marvel fashion: A few random End Credit Scenes (and/or deleted scenes):

Hello! So these aren't actually 'end credit scenes', but rather scenes that either didn't fit into the storyline, were forgotten, or we changed the storyline/went into another direction. I'll put a little introduction for all of them.

This was originally going to be the ending, with Arianna being sixteen - but we (Violet mainly) decided it was too depressing. It's slightly unfinished.

Arianna's eyes were downcast as she listened to the epilogue, trying to keep the tears from falling down her cheeks before she had the chance to speak. Her hand had scrunched together so much that the programme she had been handed at the beginning of this was now screwed up and useless. When she was asked to say a few words, she stood, dropping the programme to the floor and taking the stand.

Her eyes scanned over everybody in attendance, knowing that some of the younger family members were being looked after by S.H.I.E.L.D. "I want to start of by thanking everybody for coming here today to say goodbye. So much has happened in my life. Even though I'm only sixteen, I feel like I truly understand what my dad would have wanted - he would have wanted a reflection of everything that has happened in his life."

"James Rupert Rhodes was born to David and Roberta Rhodes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a US Marine who served several tours in Southeast Asia while studying to become an aviation engineer. He was always telling me that his life as a soldier was blown out of proportion when he met Tony Stark. The stories he told me about my godfather were always amusing- I just cannot see Uncle Tony as a selfish playboy," Arianna let out a little chuckle. She know everything about his past as Tony often boasted. "My dad always showed how delighted he was in the man you've become, Tony, married with an amazing child who has grown up to be - in my dad's words, not mine - 'too much like his old man'. I know how much he treasured your friendship, or brotherhood."

Arianna had to take a second, pulling out her speech - maybe she should have kept it short and sweet... too late now, though. "My dad always told me that his biggest competition in the Avengers was Sam Wilson - they were recruited at the same time, both with different ties. Well, Sam, my dad has beaten you," she smiled at the man's 'what!' exclamation and continued on. "Not only did he get married first, to the most amazing woman ever, but he had a girl - me - and a boy before you."

"That's true, Rhodey's beaten you there," Grace, Sam's wife, commented.

"Thankfully, my dad didn't tell me what else he was beating you at," Arianna added, making all of the adults chuckle. She had to force herself to not shudder - even though it would probably have been a mission count or kill count, she still didn't want to know. "One person my dad looked up to, but never told, was Natasha Romanoff. You could beat him up on your worst days and his best. Nobody could doubt that you were one of the best individuals he had the pleasure of coming into contact with. When I asked to learn how to fight, seriously, I was sent straight to you. There is not a better teacher or more loving aunt than you around. My dad used to tell me all the stories of how you continuously saved his life- I'm still not sure I quite believe them all."

This is a scene which was supposed to link the story back into canon, though, there wasn't a good place to put it where it didn't seem strange. There was just too much going on at the time!

Daisy intercepted Steve on the way to his office. She didn't know him that well, but she knew he was Captain America. She was willing to take the chance that he was the same man in and out of the suit. "Hey, Cap...err...Director. Did Coulson tell you?"

Steve furrowed his eyebrows. "About?"

Daisy shrugged. "Oh, I guess he didn't. I'm trying to sign the Accords. I figured you knew a thing or two about them, so I wanted some advice."

Steve nodded. "Nat and the Avengers deal with that more than I do, since I retired, but I guess I could answer a few questions."

Daisy had to think - she didn't have any questions ready on the spot as she didn't expect Steve to be ready to help right off the bat. She expected to be blown off due to him being busy. "Oh. Okay… Could you be there with me when I go to get certified? I think it would be easier with Captain America there."

Steve chuckled. "You know I don't support…" He stopped mid-sentence. He was going to do this for Daisy and S.H.I.E.L.D, not himself. He let out a breath. "I suppose I could. I'll have Coulson help you with the preliminary stuff and I'll be there when it's time."

E

Another amazing scene and I'm gutted this one didn't make it in! I love Selina's POV, but it was always difficult. Violet wrote this whole piece and I wish it was in - but, this is definitely how Sel felt at one point!

Sometimes, Selina got the feeling that her parents underestimated her because of how young she was. Sure, being seven years old, she didn't have much in the way of real-world experience - however, coming from the background that she did had given her much more understanding on the way the world - and people - worked, a kind of knowledgeability that was rare in children her age. She understood that men could do horrible, horrible things to women, to the mothers of their children. She knew that people could be heartless and only out for their own gain. She knew that sometimes, people did terrible things for no reason at all. Knowing these things had simultaneously been a consequence of and a coping mechanism for her father's unforgivable actions.

She'd been too young to remember or understand any of it when that man had slaughtered her mother, nor could she claim to know what it felt like to be in the room when it happened - sure, she'd been there, found later with her mother's blood-spatter coating the edge of her travel cot (Selina probably shouldn't have convinced Rosa, one of her old foster care friends, who was in her late teens now, to help her access the newspaper articles on the incident, which had included pictures of said bloody cot, but she felt more powerful in knowing more than the vague information her social worker had reluctantly supplied), but, once again, she'd been too young to feel much about it, let alone remember what she felt.

Natasha was open and treated her like she was born hers, like they'd always been family. No topic was off-limits when they talked, even the topic the other women always hated- the collapse of Selina's biological family. She'd just wanted help grasping why a man would hurt the woman he'd supposedly loved, why he would kill the mother of his child, but that always seemed like a taboo discussion with the other women. Natasha didn't care how unnerving it was to talk to a child about the death of her mother at the hands of her father. She told Selina bluntly what had happened and why. And in doing so, she gave her daughter the power to accept it and move forward, leaving it all behind her- after all, her new family was helping her create new memories every day, and she wasn't going to keep her head buried under her father's actions and miss out on it.

End of Scene