fiction | Part of the journey is the end

10. Ronin - 2

Clint was at Grills' apartment feeding pizza to the dog.

Steve's face melted into adoration at seeing the dog.

"Wow, that dog really loves pizza," said Rhodey.

Clint asked Grills if he could look after the dog since his hotel didn't allow them. Grills couldn't believe that Hawkeye would stay at a hotel for Christmas and told him to take his couch or even his bed.

"Well, I appreciate it," said Clint.

Clint said the couch was fine. Grills said Missy dropped off Clint and Kate's new outfits and asked if he wanted to see them.

Clint's heart clenched at hearing about Kate's new outfit. She would've been so excited, but it was best if she stayed away from him.

Everyone else lit up.

"I would like to see them," Thor said, delighted.

Clint said he did but not right now.

"Yeah, it's probably not the best time," said Scott.

Meanwhile, Kate got out of the penthouse's elevator to find Jack in handcuffs with the police behind him.

The Avengers' eyes widened.

"So, Eleanor made him take the blame," said Sam.

"Or maybe he volunteered to take the blame?" Tony suggested. "Jack has money; he won't stay in jail for long."

"I promise you this is all a big misunderstanding," Jack said, completely calm. "I've never worked a day in my life."

Everyone narrowed their eyes.

"There's something off about this," said Steve. "He's too calm."

Kate hugged Eleanor and apologized. Eleanor said she looked into it, and Kate was right.

All of them scoffed.

"Eleanor just wanted the suspicion off of her," said Clint.

Jack didn't blame Eleanor for calling the police since he had obviously been framed.

All of them raised an eyebrow.

"Um, I think we were wrong," said Wanda. "I don't think Eleanor and Jack were doing this together."

"Eleanor framed Jack for everything," Natasha realized. "Armand's murder and CEO of Sloan Limited. I don't think Jack did anything."

"How were we that wrong?" Sam said in astonishment.

"Jack was being pretty suspicious, though," said Peter. "I mean, what's with all the swords?"

Tony shrugged. "He likes swords and thought it was cool. It was an underground auction anyway."

"Does this mean he offered Kate the butterscotch just to be nice?" asked Rhodey. "I think he just thought his stepdaughter was upset and gave her the sweet to make her feel better."

Everyone else cringed.

"He was also reading books on how to be a good step-dad," Scott pointed out. "He knew Kate didn't like him that much and read the book to try to relate to her."

"And now he's being framed by his own fiancée," Steve added.

Clint rubbed his temples. This meant that Eleanor was solely the one behind everything, which somehow made this even worse. He didn't want Kate to get hurt, but it looked like she would get hurt anyway, and he couldn't do anything to protect her because she deserved to find out the truth.