Epilogue

It was sometime later before things finally calmed down back at the tower.

Steve was immediately collared by Director Fury demanding some kind of explanation for his inexplicable and unnoticed absence. He complied with good grace having first made sure that Tony's arm would be treated as a priority. Subsequently, the team all spent some considerable time removing copious quantities of snake goo from their persons.

Eventually, it was a substantially cleaner and more presentable group that gathered in the kitchen, drawn in by the smell of bacon and coffee for a belated, but nonetheless welcome, breakfast.

Tony, his arm in a sling and fortified by some hefty painkillers, looked about as close to happiness as you'd ever see him when he clutched the large mug of coffee Steve placed carefully in his left hand. From the rambling and slightly out-of-sequence version of the story with which the genius was regaling everyone, casual observers would imagine his brain to mouth filter was completely offline but Steve noted the judicious nature of the details he chose to disclose – he was relieved but not surprised given what he'd learnt about the man over the past couple of days and appreciated his discretion.

He carefully monitored the condition of his team: Bruce was exhausted and the Captain was sure it was only his curiosity about what had happened that was keeping him awake; Thor was unusually subdued and rather guilt-ridden - although that didn't stop him eating enough for a small army - Steve felt bad for the man and made sure he emphasised the Asgardian's efforts in uncovering and relaying the truth to the Time Council when asked to fill in the details of what had happened at the hearing; Clint was obviously just pleased to be getting a decent cooked breakfast and appeared to accept everything Tony said at face value, preoccupied as he was with shovelling as much food into his mouth as possible; Natasha, on the other hand, had the look of someone who knew when they were only getting part of the story...

When Steve turned back to the stove to deal with yet another pan of bacon and eggs, Natasha focussed on Tony's expression while he continued talking: He looked irritated?...No…more frustrated she decided.

Tony was indeed frustrated, though not for any reason Natasha suspected. He'd never noticed before ("Be honest Stark, you were as bad.") that the team did tend to treat Steve like he was the emotionless automaton of the comics and stories and could almost see the man he'd grown to like and respect so much over the last couple of days disappearing back into the Captain's shell again before his eyes.

"Time to change the status quo" he decided smoothly shifting what he was saying to:

"….and later on, Steve's going to enlighten us about his time with the USO."

There was a brief trade of confused glances at the unanticipated change of subject before inquisitive heads turned so fast you'd have sworn there'd be multiple cases of whiplash among the assembled. The speediest of them caught a brief glimpse of a quirk to the corner of the Captain's lips before he turned and deadpanned straight back at the billionaire:

"….and Tony will tell us about his most recent car journey." He flipped a piece of bacon with unnerving accuracy onto the man's plate as punctuation.

Utterly delighted with the speed with which Steve had cottoned on…and the stunned reaction of the others (even Bruce was now fully awake) Tony wriggled his fingers and said with mock-offense:

"Exactly how am I supposed to cut that Mon Capitan?"

Steve gave an exaggerated sigh and leaned over to cut the offending rasher into bite size pieces while Tony whined, his eyes twinkling salaciously…

"It's my right hand Steeeeeve….I do all my favourite things with this hand…."

Calmly piling his own plate high as he finally took his place at the table, Steve nonchalantly tapped his ear and evenly stated:

"Oh I'm well aware of that and don't think for one moment I'm giving you any assistance in that regard."

It was probably for the best that no-one was sitting opposite Clint at that moment as half a mouthful of chewed breakfast almost hit the wall.

Tony sniggered mischievously: "That reminds me. Jarvis, get me the name of a good soundproofing contractor."

Steve chuckled and continued eating with only the lightest of blushes dusting his cheeks as he glanced apologetically at Natasha (it still ran against his nature to be even remotely bawdy in front of a lady even though he'd had it well drilled into him that 21st Century females despised being treated like delicate blooms).

Unexpectedly, although only because people tended to assume (erroneously) that his abundance of muscles equated to a paucity of intelligence and intuition, Thor reacted fastest to this exchange, guffawing loudly and elatedly at the turn of events.

"Ah my friends, I cannot wait to inform my brother how his malice has not only failed in its intentions but has improved the bond of camaraderie between teammates. It will infuriate him greatly." He looked genuinely happy for the first time since his return. Steve grinned happily at his revived spirits, Tony just winked at him – it wouldn't look good for his image to be too enthusiastic.

Natasha wasn't far behind Thor in catching up to the implications of what had just happened. She smiled reassuringly at Steve, reaching to squeeze his arm lightly and saying with genuine sincerity:

"We did miss you Cap, even if we didn't know it…" then more softly so only his enhanced hearing could detect it, "…and it's nice to finally meet you Steve."

Having only picked up on the first part of what she said, Clint – subtlety not being his strong suit - decided that was something he could run with:

"Too right we missed you. Should have seen us the other night – we gave headless chickens a bad name."

The breakfast table descended into a cacophony of banter and teasing – Steve smiled, reminded for once of happier memories and a sense of belonging.

Hope you enjoyed it.

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