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“This is a nightmare,” Steve sighed.
You watched as the counter on the screen rapidly approached three and a half billion.
Natasha leaned in and watched as “Kenya” lit up on the board, “I’ve had better nightmares.”
Almost all of the nations had been scanned and you anxiously awaited the time it would stop. Thanos had said, “half of all life,” and as the number climbed you feared it was true.
You reached over and placed your hand over Steve’s, giving it a small squeeze. Both of you had gotten little to no sleep over the last few days. Watching Bucky disintegrate before your eyes was something you couldn’t forget; every time you closed your eyes it replayed in a horrific loop.
Steve looked at you and scanned your face, the desperation turning into defeat. You wished there was something you could do, something you could say to bring him some relief. But there wasn’t. You knew that.
The sound of footsteps accompanied Rhodey’s voice, “Hey, so that thing just stopped doing whatever the hell it was doing.”
Stepping to the side you made a point to hold onto Steve’s hand, “What do you mean “Stopped?” you asked Bruce.
He let out a lengthy sigh, “Whatever signal it was sending finally crapped out.”
That felt like a punch to the gut. Fury had this, this thing and you thought that it was gonna help, somehow. Yet here we are.
Steve took a step forward, pulling you with him, “I thought we bypassed the battery?”
“Well, we did. It’s still plugged in,” his voice sank, “it just stopped.”
“Bruce, can we try rebooting it? It looks like a pager… it should be simple enou-”
He cut you off, “Y/N, we don’t even know what this thing is-”
“Fury did. So just do it and tell me when you get a signal. I want to know who is on the other end of that thing.” Natasha’s tone was firm and almost scary.
You let go of Steve’s hand and turned to walk away to help Bruce when you stopped dead in your tracks.
There was a tall woman in a red, blue, and gold suit standing in front of you, “Where’s Fury?” She asked you, ignoring the others who were on guard and ready to fight.
You searched her face a moment, unable to place where you knew her from, “Carol?”
Her eyes narrowed slightly at her name before changing her stance, “I said, where’s Fury?”
Her hands began to glow, and Steve stepped up to push you aside.
“Who the hell are you? How do you know Nick?”
“How do you? Where is he? He called for me.”
Natasha’s tone was laced with venom, “Called you? Who the fu-”
You watched as Carol raised her hand, ready to attack the blonde who stepped up to her.
“He’s dead!” You yelled out.
“You killed him?” She released an energy orb and you pushed Nat aside, taking the brunt of the attack.
Steve ran at Carol and had her on her back, ready to land a punch right to her face. Her entire body lit up and you knew you needed to do something.
Sitting up against the wall, you held your abdomen, “Stop! We didn’t kill him! Something terrible happened! If Fury called you he must have thought you could help us!”
Carol pushed Steve off of her and she stood, taking a step back. Steve moved over to you and helped you to your feet, standing with the others.
“How do you know Fury?” She turned Steve’s earlier question on you.
“We worked for him. We help save people, like you.”
She eyed you suspiciously again, “You act as though you know me, but I don’t recognize you.”
You let out a breathy chuckle, but it was cut short by the pain blossoming in your chest, “No, you wouldn’t. I know you though. You’re Carol Danvers. I read all about you in one of Fury’s old files. I thought you were gone. Any trace of you disappeared back in ’95. That was 24 years ago, why are you here now? You said Fury called you… how?”
She moved around you and to the pager, “This. I gave him this before I left. I left earth to help the Skrulls find a planet they could call their own. Somewhere the Kree wouldn’t hunt them to extinction.”
Carol placed her hands on the glass that contained the pager and let out a small pulse of light until the glass shattered around it. She reached in and grabbed the device, examining it thoughtfully, “How did he die.”
Bruce spoke up for the first time since Carol arrived, “Some nut named Thanos! He took the Infinity Stones and somehow erased half of the universe!”
“What did you say?”
Bruce began to repeat what he said but Steve cut him off, “No more questions. We don’t know if we can trust you yet. We need to do a few things first.”
She laughed, “Yeah? Well I was thinking the same thing.”
**
You walked with Steve towards the elevator, away from the room where you had left Carol.
Once the doors closed you turned to him, “Steve, I’m not saying that you’re wrong in doing this, but don’t you think that this is wasting time?”
“Y/N, wasting time? They’re gone. It’s been almost a month. We’re sitting here helpless, no clue how to bring them back or even knowing if we can! I don’t think that me being cautious with some girl Fury met almost 25 years ago, who might I remind you doesn’t look a day over 25 herself, is going to hinder us any more than having nothing already has.”
The doors opened to the lengthy hall that led to your room and you stepped out, “All I’m saying is, Fury seemed to trust her. I read about her in his files before I joined you guys. Hell, I even heard Coulson talk about her before. He met her when he was new at S.H.I.E.L.D. Apparently, she’s a good guy and I think we can trust her too. If Fury had her on the equivalent of speed dial, maybe she’s important.”
He sighed, “If that was the case, Y/N, why is she showing up now? There were plenty of other times we could have used someone else. Why didn’t he bring her up?”
“Because he thought we could handle ourselves, Steve. “Earth’s mightiest heroes,” does that ring a bell? Because that’s what we’re supposed to be. Anything that came our way, we handled. After the Accords,” it was your turn to sigh, “I don’t know, okay? Yeah, it would have been great if she was here in the first place, before the snap… But in her defense, she was waiting for a signal. Fury didn’t know about what we were going through. I’d be really fucking surprised if he knew about Thanos or any of the shit we went through. If he did, I’m sure he would’ve gotten help.”
Steve was silent a moment and looked to you curiously. You expected him to say something, but he didn’t. He simply walked into your bedroom, leaving the door open for you to follow him.
He pulled off his suit as you shut the door, “Does this mean we’re done talking about this today?”
He continued to strip, ignoring you. You moved to sit on the sofa that was beside the bed and just watched him.
His back was to you and you watched as he meticulously folded his suit and placed his gear on top of it. It was only about three in the afternoon but it may as well have been the middle of the night with how exhausted you were.
You had pulled your phone out and texted Thor on the phone you had insisted he take with him before he left you all. The gravity of the situation was the hardest for him to accept and he felt he had to go and find a solution on his own. “Y/N, it’s my fault. All of this,” he motioned around, “all of this, this pain, is my fault. You heard what he said to me. He said I should have gone for his head. If I had… well then, all of our friends would still be here. No one would be suffering. I need to find a solution.” Your breath caught in your throat at the thought of that conversation. All of you had felt that way, and you knew you couldn’t stop him from leaving. So, you gave him a Stark phone and said your goodbyes.
Stark. You wondered if he was still out there somewhere. You hadn’t heard from Tony or Peter since before, not that you were on the best terms. Tony felt you betrayed him choosing Steve and Bucky that day in Bucharest, but you had touched base a few times after that. You let him know how things were going and asked how Pepper was, that you had seen he had proposed. That was the last time you heard from him or the kid, and you learned shortly after returning home that Pepper had been among those who disappeared.
For his sake, you secretly hoped Tony had been too, just so he wouldn’t have to come back to see Pepper gone. He’d lost so much, you didn’t want him to suffer anymore.
A small vibration pulled you from your thoughts and you looked down at your phone, Y/N. I will be there soon, my friend. Thor.
You chuckled to yourself, of course he signed his name. He must have thought a text was like a letter, despite showing him he didn’t have to do that.
You looked up to see Steve laying across the bed, watching you. His features seemed almost calm, but they were rough with other unspoken emotions. He always felt he had to be strong, for everyone else, for you.
“What is it?” you questioned him.
He lifted his arm up, an invitation for you to come join him, “Nothing, it’s just been a long time since I’ve seen you smile.”
You nodded slightly and got into bed beside him. You were facing him and moved just close enough that your noses were touching.
You exhaled slowly as you felt Steve lift your shirt enough to rub the skin on your hip. You stayed like that a few moments before either of you spoke.
To your surprise, it was you who broke the silence, “I miss him, Steve.”
His fingers stopped their ministrations and he stayed completely still. You opened your eyes to look at him, but his eyes were closed and you could have sworn he wasn’t breathing.
You shifted, becoming alarmed now. He must have realized this because he let out a breath and held to closer to him, “I know. I miss him too, so much.”
A small sob escaped his lips and you wrapped your arms around his head, holding him into your chest.
“I couldn’t save him, Y/N. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t save him. Why did this happen again? I just got him back.”
Running your fingers through his hair, you let him cry. As far as you knew, this was the first time he did since it all happened and honestly you were relieved. He needed to let it out.
You tried to be strong for him, but the tears came of their own accord. Steve felt your tears on his head, so he adjusted so you could hold each other.
Once the tears had dried, Steve kissed you several times, each kiss getting longer and more passionate.
He pushed you onto your back and moved above you to keep kissing you. You held onto him before pushing him back so you could sit up.
Pulling your shirt up over your head, you unbuttoned your pants and laid back once again.
Steve sat back and took the rest of his clothes off before returning to you and sliding the fabric down your legs. He grabbed your panties in the same motion and climbed back on top of you.
Wrapping your legs around his waist, you did the same with your arms. Steve continued to kiss you as he thrust into you.
There was a desperation that presented itself in his motions. You knew it was because he was relieved you were still with him, you felt the same. You also felt the anger, the pain, the self-blame that came with being a survivor, helpless to find a solution to what Thanos had done.
Each thrust was a reminder that you were still here, and though you had each other, most of your friends were gone.
Steve sat back, pulling you with him. You rested your legs on either side of his and let him move your body up and down his length.
His arms were wrapped around you so tightly you felt slightly panicked, but with your hands in his hair and his in yours, you felt alive.
Only when he bit your neck and held you down were you reminded everything you were feeling was natural. You both were grieving, brought down by the loss of the man you loved.
You felt Steve still below you and he let out a breathy moan, his grip impossibly tightening around you.
Your breathing increased as he throbbed inside you, finally forcing you over the edge. You pulled back slightly to kiss him, breathing into his mouth in ecstasy as you both came.
Leaning your forehead against his, you stayed on top of him a few moments longer wanting to feel nothing other than what you were just then.
As your breathing slowed, Steve breathed out, “I love you.”
**
You all sat in the common room, waiting for Thor to get there. He told you he would be there soon, and all you could do was wait.
You watched as Scott paced back and forth, watching the monitor you had been staring at not 24 hours before.
You sat on the couch tucked in the corner, watching him, “Hey, Scott, how exactly did you get here again?”
He stopped pacing at the sound of his name, he looked at you like you had three heads before sighing and moving over to you. He picked up your legs and swung them to the ground.
You raised your eyebrow and looked to Steve before scanning back to Scott. He didn’t acknowledge your glare, instead he sat down beside you and rested his hands on his knees.
“Listen princess, I get that you’re not happy about me missing out on all the fun stuff that went down back there, but neither am I. I went through some crazy shit myself. Starting with being stuck in the quantum realm.”
You saw Carol, who was standing in the middle of the room reading off the names of the missing, look over in curiosity.
“What the hell were you doing there?!” you shot.
Steve stopped twirling the pen he had in his hand and spun in his chair to meet your eyes, “Quantum realm?”
“Yeah, one of two places where the laws of time don’t exist an-”
“And it is scary as hell, man! I was training with Doctor Pym, his wife, and super hot daughter, whom I’m dating by the way, when “The Snap” as you call it happened. I was in the Quantum Realm and they all disappeared. I had to find my own way out since they weren’t there to help me anymore.”
“Right, but how did you get here, Scott?”
He glared at you, “I was getting there, princess.” You rolled your eyes, if he called you that one more time you would flip out.
“I had to find a time vortex,” he continued, “It was insane. Honestly, I didn’t think I was gonna make it. Felt like I was gonna be ripped into a million pieces and ya know, I probably shouldn’t have made it. But, here we are. I just pushed my handy button, became normal sized again, and made my way home. Everything was in shambles. It was quieter. I saw the missing posters. I had no idea what was going on, but I knew I had to find Cassie. But,” he paused, “I couldn’t. So, I came here to see if my hero could help.”
He motioned to Cap and you watched as his face fell.
You hated how broken everyone was.
Sitting up, you wrapped your arms around Scott and rubbed his back. He held you into his side and smiled, “Hey now, I’m with my friends. And boy, am I sure glad you guys made it.”
There was a loud crack outside and you knew that meant that Thor had finally arrived. He walked into the room, surveying all of you.
Spotting you across the way, he put Stormbreaker on the floor beside you and immediately pulled you into a hug, “I’ve missed you, my friend.”
“Yeah, I missed you too Thor. You should have come back sooner.”
He pulled back and eyed you slightly, “You know I couldn’t have.”
Nodding, he patted your shoulder and let you go.
Thor turned to Scott with a look of confusion, “Who are you?”
“Oh, wow. Are you? Holy cow, I can’t believe this is happening. I’m talking to Thor. Y/N, do you see this? Thor. Wow.” He stuck his hand out for Thor to take, “Scott Lang.”
Thor eyed his hand suspiciously before pulling him in for a hug, “A friend of Y/N’s is a friend of mine.”
“Hey thanks, man. A friend of Thor. Can you believe it?”
He saw Bruce next and immediately hugged him, “Good to see you, old friend.”
“Yeah, you too buddy.”
He made his rounds before stopping beside Steve. You made your way over and stood behind Steve’s chair, placing your hands on his shoulders.
Thor saw Carol standing in the middle, staring at Stormbreaker.
She turned around and made eye contact with Thor, holding her own.
The tension in the room was so thick it made you sick as Thor summoned Stormbreaker into his hands.
Carol didn’t flinch and Thor let out a chuckle, finding your gaze, “I like this one.”
She smiled but turned back to Scott, “Your story, it’s cute, but it doesn’t make much sense.”
“Excuse me?” He stammered, “Do you guys hear this? The hot chick, who I haven’t formally met yet, doesn’t believe me.”
You stepped up to her, “What do you mean it doesn’t make sense?”
Bruce stood up, “She’s right! Time vortexes are extremely unpredictable. The odds that he would have ended up here in our timeline as though nothing happened, are astronomical to none.”
Scott recoiled slightly, he looked to you for help.
Instead, you moved to stand in front of him, “Scott, how did you get here.”
“I told you, a time vortex.”
You eyed him, “No. You’re lying. Bruce is right, the odds of you falling in one and coming out the other side just a month later…. It doesn’t seem possible.”
“Well like I said, Y/N, me surviving in the first place doesn’t seem possible. Sooooo.”
“Scott, tell us where you went.”
“Here!”
“Scott!” Nat yelled.
“I can’t! I can’t even tell you how I got here! It would mess things up!”
You took a deep breath, “You didn’t go back into the Quantum Realm to get back here, did you. You found something, wherever you went, that helped you.”
He looked at you sadly, “I can’t tell you what it is. I don’t even know, and I used it.”
You looked to Steve, excitement coursing through your veins. If Scott had a device that could allow one to travel through time, then maybe you could use it to go back and defeat Thanos.
Steve seemed to be thinking the same thing, and for the first time since Wakanda, you would get to see Bucky again.