Avengers: Some Assembly Required

After a very long and very detailed debriefing, Dean finally was permitted to go home. As he walked along the side of his house- a cozy old Victorian nestled in a suburb just outside of New York- he reached into his bag and drew his cell phone out. It had occurred to him that he hadn't even looked at it since he'd been awakened about the Tesseract. Powering it on, he soon discovered that there were at least twenty missed calls from both of his parents.

Before he could even begin to call his parents back, the phone rang in his hand.

"Hey, Tony," he answered as he slid his house key into the kitchen door and walked inside.

"Just checking in. You are still going to dinner with us tonight, right?"

Dean sighed and laid his bag on the kitchen counter. His cat- a portly orange male named Biscuit- leaped onto the counter and vied for his attention.

"Yeah, just need to shower off all the alien guts."

"Good deal."

Taking a deep breath, he called his mother. The phone only rang once.

"Thomas Dean Allen," his mother fumed. "I saw you on the news."

"Yeah...about that. Sorry I didn't let you know. Things were pretty touch and go there for a long while. Thank you for feeding Biscuit, by the way."

Rosie Allen cleared her throat. "Well, I suppose saving the planet from an alien army is a good enough excuse. So how many did you kill?"

Dean laughed and began to walk through the hallway, past the dining room, and into the den. He was about to sit on the couch but thought better of it. "I lost count," he said with a smile in his voice.

"You sound like your father always did after a mission."

"Is he around?"

"Jack," Rosie called out. "It's your son."

Jack hastily answered the phone. "I can't wait to hear all about this one."

"Trust me, I plan on telling your everything. After I've slept for a week."

Jack's voice took on a serious tone. "I'm proud of you every day, son."

Dean couldn't find the words so he simply told him he loved him.

"Well, there's a very insistent young lady here who is eager to speak to you," Jack said, his voice taking on a lighter tone.

Dean grinned and walked up the stairs, Biscuit trotting along behind him. His niece, Samantha came onto the phone with barely concealed excitement. "Uncle Dean, you didn't tell me that you knew actual superheroes! What were they like? Is the Hulk really that big in person? Does Captain America miss the 1940s?"

As Samantha assailed him with questions, Dean did his best to keep up with her. The precocious ten year old had gravitated toward him at a very early age. Similarly to how he had always longed for his parents to tell him stories of their S.H.I.E.L.D. missions, Samantha now did this with him.

"I will tell you all about the whole thing when you come and stay the night at my place. We'll do movies and pizza."

"And Resident Evil?" Samantha added.

"Yes, definitely. Just don't tell your parents."

"What are they going to do? You're a highly-trained operative," she spoke in a matter-of-fact tone.

Dean found it hard to argue with her logic. "Now...I am completely wiped out and I've got alien entrails all over me."

"REALLY? You have to save some so I can see!"