Avamys: I updated specifically for you. Because you asked me to.

I don't own the Avengers. I do own Jez, Aiden, and Alex.

Epilogue

Their arrival at the Tower was terrible. Pepper, Jane, Darcy Thor, and Steve Cried. Tony turned away from everyone. Bruce simply sat and stared at his hands. Clint explained everything emotionlessly. Natasha said nothing.

When they called Aiden at college, he was silent. Then he thanked them and hung up.

Then he threw his phone against the wall and fell to his knees, sobbing.

The funeral was held a week after they had gotten back. They had burned her before they got on the quinjet. Her parents were made of fire, she'd proved that she was made of fire, too, it seemed fair that she would be burned. Coulson and Fury both came. There was no priest, just a few people talking about Jez. Some music was played.

After the funeral, Clint and Natasha went to their car. They'd said goodbye, they'd packed. It was time to start over.

"Are you sure we're ready?" Natasha asked.

Clint looked through the windshield. He thought of the day they'd met, that day on the Russian tundra when he was supposed to kill her. He thought of the missions they had gone on, of Sao Paolo, of Budapest. He thought of the day they'd gotten married in a fire fight, witnessed by Coulson and Hill. He thought of the day he'd come back from a solo mission and Natasha told him she was pregnant.

He thought of the day Jezebel was born, and he saw her for the first time. And the first thing he thought was, she's perfect.

He thought of the fear he'd felt when he found out she was missing, of the despair that came with every passing day they didn't find her, of the emptiness when the case was closed. Of the hope when they found her, and the shock when Natasha's bullet hit her.

Through the trees, he thought he could see a dark haired boy staring at the graveyard. Alex, come to pay his last respects to her.

He'd loved her, Clint realized. Alex had loved Jez. In another world, Alex could have become family.

He looked at Natasha. "We're ready," he said. She smiled and looked at the road as she started the car. He looked back at the trees. Alex was gone.

"We're ready."

I'm not going to apologize for the shortness of this because it's an epilogue. I would like to point out that I really liked the two lines when they told Aiden that Jez was dead. I was very happy with that part. I don't know why.

That's the end of this story. Very short story, I know. If anyone is interested, this idea was actually born on New Year's Eve when I went to the bathroom and was taken away by the scene with Jez and Aiden in the bathroom. Most of my stories are born that way, I'll make up a character and put myself in their shoes and imagine my life to be theirs, and see where it takes me. It's effective, actually. Although I think people might think I'm crazy when they see me talking to myself when I'm actually having a conversation with one of my characters.

Well, now that we've established that I am, in fact, insane, I would like to say thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited, or followed this story. And everyone who read it but didn't review, favorite, or follow it (even though you should have).

Thank you!