Epilogue

It was over a week since the building had collapsed on himself and Tony, he reached up and touched the small scar on the side of his head, and it itched like crazy. He'd needed stitches for the cut and was told he would have to take it easy, his ribs would take the longest to heal. His knee was sore but he found he could still sneak out of the infirmary without the use of a wheelchair. That was a plus in his head.

He sat on the roof looking out over the city. It always helped him feel safe, being in the open, breathing fresh air. He hadn't told his dad or any of the others that he had woken up at one point while trapped under the building. It was still a bit hazy but he remembered the pain and the panic he felt. It was one of his biggest fears, he knew millions of people probably shared that fear. Being buried alive.

Clint's shoulders slumped as he was reminded of the terror he felt, the feeling of suffocating because of all the dust. And that he was alone, no one could hear him, he barely heard himself. But he knew that could have been because he had been so close to the explosion. His dad told him there were no lasting effects on his hearing, which alone had him almost collapsing in relief.

He heard the side door opening and groaned, he just needed a little space. He wiped away the tear that had escaped and turned to see who it was.

"You know you should probably still be in the infirmary?"

Clint smiled at Bruce as he sat next to him.

"Yeah well, I got tired of looking at Tony. Sue me." Clint smirked.

Bruce chuckled and looked out over the city. "I've been asked to join the team again."

Clint gave Bruce a sideways glance. "And?"

Bruce chuckled and looked down at his hands. "I still think it's a mistake Clint. I could hurt someone. He helped this time but what if next time he doesn't. How do I deal with that?"

The young archer turned to face the young scientist fully. "The way you deal Bruce, is by trusting in us. We're your team, your family and we take that very seriously. We would find a way to stop you if it was needed. But I think your being a little hard on the big guy."

Bruce arched an eyebrow at Clint in question. "How?"

"Well, he did save us Bruce. You said so yourself. You didn't need to convince him to help us, he was doing it already. That alone makes me think he wants to be good, he just needs a little nudge." Clint smiled at Bruce's expression.

"A little nudge?"

"Okay, a big nudge. Look Bruce we will figure something out, but you can't say you don't want to be out there with us. Who the hell is going to mess with us when we have a Hulk?"

Bruce chuckled and gave Clint a gentle squeeze on his shoulder. "Thanks."

"What are friends for?"

Bruce headed back to the door. "Don't stay out here too long Clint, you really don't need to be catching a cold on top of everything else."

Clint nodded and gave him a small wave before turning back to the lights of the city. He figured he should take his own advice, he had friends willing to help him and he was out here pushing them away. Clint started to pull himself to his feet and groaned when his leg almost went out from under him.

A hand reached out and caught him before he fell. "I should have known you'd be up here."

Clint gave his dad a small smile and accepted his help, maybe he had sat there a little long.

"Sorry. I just needed some fresh air." Phil accepted his answer and guided him back towards the door.

"I understand Clint." Clint looked into his eyes and realised even if he hadn't told his dad what happened, he already knew. Phil had already though about the aftermath of what Clint and Tony had been through, they had been buried alive under the rubble. And he knew that was Clint's biggest fear.

They stopped at the door and Phil suddenly found himself with an armful of Clint, his boy buried his face into the crook of his neck and let it all out. Everything he'd been hiding for the past few days, he finally let it all go. Phil squeezed the back of Clint's neck and didn't bother trying to stop the tears that fell from his own eyes. It had been an emotional week and he was just glad it was over. Everyone was back in one piece.

Clint pulled back after a few minutes and gave Phil an embarrassed smile. "Sorry."

Phil was already shaking his head. "How many times do I have to tell you, there is nothing wrong with crying? Sometimes you just need to let it all out. Do you feel better?"

Clint nodded, he did actually. It wasn't all gone, he knew it wasn't that easy. But it did feel like a weight had been lifted.

"Thanks dad." Phil smiled and helped him back inside, they'd get through this the way they did with everything. Together.

It was almost a month later that Thor returned, he had found out what happened and vowed to return and fight by their sides as part of the Avengers. They could tell he was feeling guilty for not being there in the first place but the team had assured him that they didn't blame him and that they had managed to get Bruce out of hiding.

Tony was fine now, any injuries he had received were gone. He was back to his usual annoying self which everyone found to their annoyance. Pepper seemed to be the only one that didn't mind his antics, probably just glad he was still here to do them.

While his friends were recovering Steve had managed to get some time away from SHIELD, his first stop had been Peggy who he hadn't been able to spend as much time with as he'd wanted. Now they were thinking about moving in together and Steve couldn't be happier. Things were finally starting to look up.

Bruce was working on elasticated pants so that when he hulked out, as Tony called it. He wouldn't be left in his birthday suit when he finally changed back. He was starting to feel like one of the team again, none of the other Avengers seemed remotely bothered by the fact their friends was a giant green rage monster. They actually seemed happy with it. Bruce shook his head, his friends were nuts, which was the only explanation. But he was happy they were.

Natasha and Clint were working on getting the archer back to 100% fitness, at the moment she was sure he was roughly at 80%. Her boyfriend was incredibly talented in everything he did. Clint would make sure he was back to full fitness by the time they were called on their next mission. Fury had given them six weeks, she already knew Clint would be ready in five.

"You're going easy on me Tasha."

Natasha arched her eyebrow at Clint as he stood in front of her, a frown on his face but she saw the twinkle of humour in his eyes.

"I don't want to hurt you. Your ribs are still giving you some pain."

"Only when I take a deep breath." He stated with a grin. She shook her head at him.

"Fine. You want me to wipe the floor with you I will. But don't come crying to me when you're back in the infirmary." She got into her fighting stance and waited.

"I'd like to see you land a hit." He told her smugly. That got the reaction he was hoping for, he just hoped he could keep up. Her fist came at his head and he ducked and moved back before dropping into his stance. He motioned with his hand for her to come at him. She glared, he smirked and cocked his head. Then they were fighting. Natasha aimed a high kick at his head which he blocked and returned a hit of his own. She managed to flip back just as his fist skimmed the air in front of her face. She arched an eyebrow at him, he shrugged. She didn't hold back just threw punch after punch, then tried to swipe his legs from under him. She was secretly pleased when he blocked or dodged everyone and then vaulted into a back flip and landed lightly on his feet. She saw the quick flash of pain in his eyes though, then it was covered with the cheeky grin. He was telling her he was alright.

They carried on for another twenty minutes before they both went down in a tangle of limbs, Natasha pushed herself up off the floor and glared down at the chuckling archer. He grinned up at her and using his right hand reached up and tucked a stray hair behind her ear. Natasha's glare turned to a shy smile when he touched her cheek, his eye's shone with nothing but love for her and she melted. His lips crashed against hers just as someone cleared their throat.

Clint groaned and glared at the interruption. It was his dad, standing at the doorway with a file in hand and looking a little flushed. Natasha stood up easily and held her hand out for Clint, he was still a little stiff when moving, especially after sparring with her.

"Thanks." She gave a small nod and smiled at Phil.

"Is that a mission?" She asked.

Phil nodded and held the door open for them as they followed him to the briefing room. Everyone was already there waiting, Tony took one look at the two of them, then at Phil's flushed face and laughed. The rest of the team looked at him in confusion. Tony just shook his head and pointed to the two assassins.

"Did Phil walk in on you two? You're all looking a little flushed."

Everyone looked back at Clint and Natasha. "We were sparring Tony, that's why we are flushed, dad just happened to walk in as we were kissing." Phil shot him a glare and sat at the head of the table.

"Can we please get down to business? Or is that too much to ask?" Phil glared at Tony who raised his hands in defence.

Phil proceeded to talk them through their next mission which they would be sent out to in the next five days. He just wanted to make sure they were well-informed beforehand. They all had plenty of time on their hands at the moment, so there was no harm in being extra prepared. Once the briefing was finished everyone stood and grabbed their files and headed out.

Phil was packing the rest of his papers away when he noticed Clint still sitting at the table. He looked up and was surprised to see a very serious expression on his son's face. He was immediately on alert.

"What's wrong? Is it too soon? I can speak to Fury." Phil told him.

Clint smiled and shook his head. "Dad I'm fine. And we have another few days to train, so you can calm down. I'm good, okay?"

Phil nodded. "Then what is it? I've never seen that serious face before, caught me off guard."

Clint stood and made his way around the table to stand in front of Phil. He took a deep breath and searched for the right words. He'd been thinking about this for a while now and really didn't know why he hadn't brought it up already.

"I've been thinking…" He started. Phil looked at him with something close to concern in his features. "You're my dad….." He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Phil placed a hand over Clint's and frowned. "What's this about Clint?"

"I've been thinking about this for a while now, and I'm not sure why I haven't already done it. You're my dad, my family and you've always been there for me. I trusted you right from the start, more than I ever have with anyone in my life, even Barney." Clint looked down at the hand squeezing his and smiled. "I love you dad and I want to change my last name to Coulson."

Phil looked speechless for a moment then smiled at Clint. "That's what this was all about?"

Clint nodded. "Yeah, sorry if I was freaking you out a little there."

Phil chuckled. "Just a little, yeah." He pulled Clint into a hug. "Of course you can, I would love it if you did."

Clint looked relieved. "Good. I still want to keep Barton. It is my birth name after all. But now I will go by, Clint Barton Coulson. Sounds pretty good don't you think?"

Phil laughed and nodded. It sounded damn good.

"Come on let's get back to the others."

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

Clint looked away, suddenly looking a little shy. "You made me into the man I am today, and I wanted to thank you for that. I still don't know what you seen all those years ago in that orphanage but I'm glad you picked me, that you gave me a chance to be better. I got told for two years that I was nothing but a waste of space and useless. I even started to believe it, until you showed up."

Phil swallowed down the lump in his throat, Clint had never really spoken to him about anything to do with the orphanage, now he seemed willing to spill it all.

"So…thank you." Clint finished, he looked directly into Phil's eye's willing him to see the truth in his words and the trust he felt for the man.

Phil wrapped his arm around Clint's shoulder and pulled him close. "You were never a waste of space, and you were never useless. But I never made you into the man you are Clint, I may have helped, but you were already on your way there. You are an amazing kid Clint, I am a better man for having you in my life."

Both men stood silently for a second, digesting everything the other had said when they were interrupted.

"Jeez, what a chick flick moment or what?" Tony laughed and started running down the hall towards to cafeteria.

"TONY!" Clint shouted and after giving Phil an apologetic look he took off after him. "I'm going to kill you, Iron Ass!"

Phil laughed and closed the door to the briefing room before following in the direction they took off in. He could hear shouts and then a cry of pain from Tony.

Phil walked down the long corridor with a smile plastered on his face. Some things never change, some things never should.

Walking into the cafeteria Phil burst out laughing at Tony, he was currently dodging out the way of food that was being thrown with deadly accuracy at him. He found himself being drawn into the childish activity, well it was Tony.

By the end they were all covered in different types of food and laughing hysterically, Tony looked like a mashed potato man, as he was covered from head to foot in mash. They turned when someone cleared their throat behind them and froze when they realised it was Fury. He glared at every one of them in turn before reaching down and grabbing a handful of Phil's potatoes and hurling them right at Tony's head. The director chuckled and headed back to the door.

"Just had to see what all the fuss was about. Now clean up this mess!" He barked before marching out of the room, a smile plastered on his face.

They all burst into laughter again when they saw the shocked look on Tony's face.

"Is he allowed to do that?"

"Tony, he's the director. He could shove that mash-up your ass!" Clint grinned.

Phil leaned back in the chair and smiled, this was his family, and he wouldn't change them for the world. Well maybe Tony…nah, not even Tony.

The End.

If the family were a fruit, it would be an orange, a circle of sections, held together but separable - each segment distinct. ~Letty Cottin Pogrebin