Love's New Hope

Rescue and Down Time

Two days later
Natasha shifted uncomfortably in the Quinjet. The silence around her was ridiculously uncomfortable. After finding out about her and James being married, everyone except Clint and Sam were keeping them at arms length. Even Wanda, who had viewed Natasha as a sister, kept her distance. Over dinner one night, Steve and Natasha had told them the whole story of their history together and the rest of the team seemed weirded out by this revelation. Natasha just hoped that once Pepper was back things would become more normal.

"Coming over drop point." Stark said suddenly. The plan was to have Steve, Bucky, and Natasha parachute out and cause the distraction that would allow the rest of them to get into the building to search for Pepper. Tony was going to go where she'd most likely be with Rhodey as backup, Wanda and Vision were a team, Bruce and Tessa were going to stay in the quinjet to hopefully not get involved, Thor and Loki were on outside duty once they landed, and Clint and Sam were going to do whatever they felt like, which was probably annoy the people they came across until they gave up.

"Sweet," Natasha said, hopping to her feet and doing a final check of her gear before twisting her hair into a bun.

"Parachutes are in the back underneath the tac gear." Bruce said quietly.

Natasha gave him an odd look as she opened up the back hatch. "What do I need a parachute for?" She asked before performing a back flip off the edge and plunging down into nothingness.

The Avengers all looked horrified, thinking that she was dying, except for Steve and Bucky. Steve grabbed his shield, clipping it on his back, and his helmet.

"She gets this from your side of the family." Bucky said accusingly as he slid his mask over his face.

"You do know we're not actually related right?" Steve asked as the both jumped off the edge.

"ARE THESE GUYS INCAPABLE OF WEARING PARACHUTES?!" Bruce screamed suddenly, losing it for a moment.

"Yes." Loki said shortly, right before he transformed himself into a Pegasus and flying off the ship.

Thor chuckled. "He always did like that transformation." He commented before jumping off and charging himself with lightning.

"What is wrong with these people?!" Bruce asked, freaking out.

"No idea." Clint said, launching himself off the plane.

"I better go catch him." Sam said shrugging on his wings and flying after his friends.

Bruce repeatedly slammed his head on the side of the plane.
*
All in all, it was a relatively short mission, with Tony finding Pepper fairly quickly and ending with them blowing up the base as they flew away.

"Well," Natasha said, obviously pleased. "That was fun." Everyone else just groaned, nursing their bruises.

"How come you and Bucky are here, Nat?" Pepper asked, breaking through the groaning.

"Tony agreed to let James on this mission to find you and I kinda tagged along." She sat next to her friend and grinned. "They freaked out when they found out we were married."

Pepper laughed. "I can well imagine it!"

"Wait, wait, wait." Tony said, turning towards his fiancée. "You knew?!"

"Of course I did! I was one of Natasha's bridesmaids at the wedding."

Everyone's jaws dropped.

"Clint, shut your mouth. You knew that!" Natasha teasingly reprimanded her friend.

"Yeah, but I figured it'd make a better picture if we all did it."

"No one took a picture..." Bucky said slowly.

"FRIDAY?" Sam asked, grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

"I took a picture and, as requested, it had been posted on Mr. Stark's Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Tumblr accounts." FRIDAY's voice held a distinct note of satisfaction at Tony's humiliation.

"FRIDAY!" Tony wailed like a two year old. "I thought you were my friend!"

"I am. But this is what happens when you decide to insult The Flash."

"For the last time FRIDAY, I'm sorry for saying Cisco needed a haircut!"

"I accept your apology. But the picture stays."

Tony let out a strangled scream and hit his head on the dashboard of the plane.

"Deja vu anyone?" Clint asked teasingly, referring to all the times Tony had done this kind of thing before.
*
Once they got back to the Tower, Tony and Bruce disappeared into their lab with Pepper to run tests and make sure she was fine. The others all went upstairs and began debating what movie they wanted to watch.

"Dude, come on, we have to watch Hunger Games." Clint said determinedly.

"No." Natasha said firmly. "No Hunger Games. I'm not watching that with an unstable assassin."

"Hey!" Bucky protested.

"Oh I wasn't talking about you. I was talking about Clint."

"But Nat..." He said, falling to his knees dramatically and hugging her legs. "Katniss... she needs me!" He started tearing up and his lower lip quivered convincingly.

"What does Laura say when you do that?" Steve asked curiously.

Clint chuckled. "Tells me to let go and suck it up."

"Clint?" Natasha asked, smirking.

"Yeeeessss?" He asked, batting his eyes innocently.

"Let go and suck it up." She told him.

"Ah you're no fun." He complained, getting to his feet and brushing himself off.

"Getting back on topic..." Rhodey began uncertainly. "Do we have any more suggestions for a movie?"

"How about George of the Jungle?" Sam suggested. "That's a classic."

"Yes!" Loki said, pumping his fist. Everyone gave him a weird look. "What? Just because I'm not from Midgard doesn't mean I don't appreciate funny movies."

"It is an excellent movie." Thor agreed, grinning.

Tessa rolled her eyes. "And this is why I left Asgard in the beginning." She muttered, getting out a bottle of scotch."

"Well shall we try this movie?" Vision asked quietly.

"Might as well." Wanda said with a shrug. "We probably won't agree on anything else."

"Yay!" Thor, Loki, and Sam cried at the same time.

Bucky grinned. "This oughta be fun."
*
Two hours later

Bruce, Tony, and Pepper walked into the living room and found the cutest thing ever. The credits for the movie were running and everyone had fallen asleep. Tessa had fallen asleep against Rhodey as both of them had thought the movie was lame. Wanda and Vision has fallen asleep on the couch holding hands. Thor and Loki were laying on top of each other on the floor and Thor was snoring quietly. Clint had fallen asleep holding Natasha tightly on one side and Sam was leaning his back on Clint. Natasha was laying her head on Bucky, who in turn had laid his head on Natasha's head, and Steve had laid his head on Bucky's shoulder.

Tony grinned and snapped a quick picture. "Payback." He whispered before the three of them quietly creep out of the room, leaving their sleeping friends alone.