You hadn’t seen Ava in three weeks. She’d gone on her last mission, which was good, but it seemed to take too long for your liking. So when the lock turned just after midnight, you were already on your feet. The door slammed open—fast, heavy, deliberate—and Ava stormed in. Her suit was torn at the shoulder, her hair blown in the wind, and wild, dried blood smeared along one cheek. Her expression was unreadable. Until her eyes found you. Your jaw clenched. “I told you to reset the security grid, some stranger might break in.” You ignored that. You simply stepped forward, almost jumping into her and hugging her. “I was worried, you hadn’t been back in days and—” “I know,” she said quickly, quieter now. “I wanted to. I couldn’t. I just needed to get somewhere safe.” Your throat tightened. “I’ve been checking the news every day. I saw the footage. I thought you were—”

“I wasn’t,” she cut in softly. Her hand closed over yours. “I wasn’t. I’m sorry I scared you.”

Ava exhaled slowly, trying to steady herself as her thumb brushed against her knuckles.

“We lost. We got our asses back. Everything fell apart. Sentinel scattered us.” She glanced over her shoulder. “I needed somewhere off the radar. Somewhere safe to regroup.”

Then, more clearly: “I didn’t plan on dragging the circus behind me.”

And they came.

Yelena went in first, holding her arm out like she was half-detached. “I’ll never trust Alexi’s plan again.”

John followed—covered in dirt, his suit scuffed, his shield slung across his back and bent like a bat.

Bucky stepped in next, looking like he was done with life as he hugged his vibranium arm to his chest. Alexi was last, smiling and bleeding from his eyebrow. “It smells amazing in here. Is that vanilla? Do you live like this?”

None of them noticed you at first. It wasn’t until Yelena turned to throw her gear on the couch that she blinked.

“Wait. Who the hell is that?"

Ava didn’t flinch. She just growled, “Back off.” Then, with extreme reluctance and a heavy sigh, she turned to the team and said

“Everyone, this is my wife.” That silenced the room.

John froze with one hand halfway to his snack cabinet.

Yelena’s eyebrows reached her hairline. Alexi squinted as if he couldn’t quite make out the sentence.

Bucky just looked between you and Ava like someone had told him dogs spoke Latin now. “Are you dating anyone?” Bucky said first.

“She’s a woman,” Alexi added, as if that were somehow more shocking.

“She’s too pretty for you. That’s offensive,” Yelena muttered.

“I thought Ava didn’t live anywhere,” Bucky muttered, gesturing to his soft lighting and blankets. “She barely has a backpack.”

John slowly opened the nearest cabinet. “There’s actually branded cereal in here.”

Ava held out her hand with a frown. “Don’t touch her stuff. No one bleeds on the carpet. No one touches the picture wall. And if anyone breathes too hard near her books, I’m putting you through the drywall.”

“Love you too, Ava,” Alexi boomed, mouthful of dry cereal as she stood behind John.

The team exchanged glances, Then back to you—still standing there, still speechless, still trying to process Ava’s hand, now resting firmly on her waist.

Across the room, Bucky sat up and held up his severed arm like it was a dead plant. “I’m not going to fix this until someone feeds me.”

You cleared your throat. “So… this is the team?”

“They’re not always this messy,” Ava muttered, clearly lying.

Yelena smirked. “So how long has this been going on? You never mentioned you were married, Ava.”

Ava just rolled her eyes and smirked like she knew something. “Wait until you meet our kid then.”

Everyone froze.

KID?