Chapter Text
After being married to a Shield agent for well over a decade and now being an agent herself for over a year, Laura has seen a lot of crazy stuff. However, having her estranged husband show up unexpectedly in her apartment at the Avenger compound was not something she was expecting at all.
It was mostly because of the teleportation aspect of it. One minute Laura was alone, and the next, he was standing in front of her and attempting to hug her. It was very disconcerting.
There’s also the fact that this Clint was covered in tattoos and had ridiculous hair. She hasn’t seen Clint since he picked up Nikki for his time with the baby back in February. Laura is pretty sure one of the kids would’ve mentioned dad’s new tattoos after their numerous video calls with their father. They talked to the man almost daily during their trial separation.
The constant crying also makes her extremely suspicious. That alone is why she text messaged Tony. Ok, the fact that he said he is from the year 2023 and asked why she is not at the farmhouse made her message Tony and send out an Avenger alert. Her real husband knows full well that she hasn’t been back to her former home since Ross arrested (kidnapped) her from it almost 2 years prior. Something was obviously wrong.
Thankfully, years as a mom and a guidance counselor made her an expert at typing one-handed while cuddling someone crying. You’ll be amazed at how often she had to utilize this skill before.
Counselor Laura: So not to alarm you, but a version of my estranged husband just popped up in my living room with a new tattoo that covers most of his arm and midlife crisis hair. He also says that he is from the year 2023.
Counselor Laura: He also won’t stop hugging me or crying.
Boss Tony: That is concerning. Ana says that Clint is currently sitting on the couch of the new Malibu house with Nikki. Apparently, they are now blueberries on the ceiling because lunch went badly.
Counselor Laura: Yet he’s here, and he says he’s from five years in the future. Is this Leopold all over again?
Boss Tony: He could be an imposter. It wouldn’t be the first time because, apparently, shape-shifting aliens exist.
Counselor Laura: Are you saying that this Clint could be an alien imposter like the “Ian Quinn” that turned out to be an alien imposter?
However, right as Laura pressed the send button, she saw a flash of light and felt as if her whole body shrinking. Moments later, it was over, and she found herself in the lab section of the Avenger compound. Except it didn’t look like the lab space now. One, there were nowhere near as many teenage friendly science experiments. The kids had their own space.
Instead, there was a van parked in the middle of their usual lab space, and standing next to it was Scott. Although she hasn’t met the man in person, Sharon has given her many updates on her charge, complete with pictures, so she instantly recognized the man. What was he doing on the East Coast? His house arrest wasn’t up for a few more weeks.
Laura also recognized Simmons and May in the room. Of course, this Simmons was dressed in all black and seemed colder for some reason. She also saw Steve. Thankfully there was a wedding ring on his finger, so at least that was reassuring. At least it was reassuring if Laura did not acknowledge the fact that the wedding was not happening for another month. Also, his beard was gone, and he was back to being blonde.
She also sees Bruce on the platform, except he is now Hulk size and staring at her in complete bewilderment. The fact that he’s there at all surprises her because he hasn’t been seen since about two days after he and the rest of the Avengers crashed her old farmhouse back in April 2015. She was starting to believe that maybe this was 2023. This was all very weird. What the hell was going on?
“You weren’t supposed to bring her back to 2023.” She hears May chastise the not her husband, who might be her husband in the future. Because apparently, she really is in the future. Maybe they were divorced because there’s no way she would allow Clint to have that hair if they were still married.
“Are you okay?” Steve asked her as he pulled her away from Clint. She could see Natasha now. She now had an arm around Clint or at least was trying to. He pushed her away. Of course, this Natasha had red hair again with blonde ends.
“I’m fine. What’s going on?” Laura asked, but nobody answers her. Everybody’s attention is focused on May and Simmons.
“Actually, that was the plan. Our plan, anyway.” Simmons explained, and May’s eyes became filled with concern.
“What did you do?” May asked, the worry evident in her voice.
“Don’t give me that look. Do you really think we’re going to be able to find all the infinity stones and then magically snap our fingers and bring everybody back?” Simmons asked bitterly.
“Yes, actually.” Laura heard Steve respond from beside her.
“Then you’re delusional because that’s just not feasible. At best, your plan was wishful thinking. We are low on Pym particles that we are unable to reverse engineer despite Deke being able to reverse engineer anything. Regardless of Bruce’s help and Deke coming across some old notes on the SI servers, we barely figured out how to create a time guidance system. That’s only because we had the residue energy from the monolith to help. No one else may be willing to admit it, but there’s no way we're going to be able to reverse what Thanos did, but we could at least get Fitz and Laura back.” May looks like she is near seconds from punching Simmons, but Steve quickly leaves Laura to physically hold May back.
“Take a moment.” Laura hears Steve whisper. “She is still grieving.”
“We are all still grieving. However, we’ve learned to move forward, but Simmons hasn’t. That’s not an excuse to be so obsessed about Fitz. You're being very selfish. You even risked your own grandson.” Laura mumbles the word grandson under her breath as she continues to look on extremely confused. What the hell is going on here?
“He volunteered,” Simmons argued. “And since Stark won’t help us, maybe Fitz will when Deke brings him back.” Okay, who is Deke? Laura thought to herself. “If anybody can reverse engineer the Pym particles, it’s him.
“Except he’s not here, and neither is Deke,” May yelled back.
“Just because you moved on doesn’t mean the rest of us have. We need Fitz, and I had to take this chance to bring him back.”
“I’ve adapted to our current circumstances, but that doesn’t mean I’ve given up hope. Robin says we can do this. I believe her. You could have Fitz back.” At the name of the six-year-old, Laura almost relaxed.
“Not the one that was blown up by the monolith. Coulson and Yo-Yo died, and Daisy and Mack turned to dust; you married Captain bloody America and adopted two kids.” Simmons yelled.
Laura realizes at those words she is not in Kansas, or rather her own timeline, anymore.
Before she could ask how she ended up in a world where Steve married someone who is not Tony, she heard her phone ping. Laura quickly moved to the side of the room to look at her phone in peace. Steve was too busy calming his wife down to pay attention to her.
Avengers Friday: The number you are trying to contact is no longer a member of the Avengers communication group. I can contact Mr. Stark directly if necessary if this is an emergency. Otherwise, I am not authorized to do so.
Counselor Laura: I think me being stuck in 2023 qualifies as an emergency. Why is Tony not a part of Avengers? Is it because Steve is now married to May? How did that happen? Also, where is Ana? Why aren’t you Afia anymore?
Avengers Friday: I do not know who Ana and Afia are. Mr. Stark left the Avengers for health reasons after being stranded in space for 21 days with limited resources aggravated his heart condition. Therefore, he is not healthy enough to continue being Ironman. Although he occasionally serves as a consultant and babysits Robin when Steve and May need to both go on a mission together especially now that Kamala is at Vision Academy.
Counselor Laura: Please explain to me how that happened. I have so many questions and have no idea where to start
Avenger Friday: They renewed their acquaintance after Agent Coulson died in May 2018 post decimation. They married six months later so that Agent Melinda May-Rogers could get custody of a young inhuman girl named Kamala Khan, in addition to being able to keep Robin. Kamala was the cousin of a Shield agent who also disappeared during the decimation along with the rest of his family.
Counselor Laura: What happened to Polly?
Avenger Friday: Robin’s biological mother was killed shortly before the decimation. Despite the vast number of children orphaned during the decimation, what was left of the infrastructure did not want to give a single woman with ties to a disgraced spy agency custody of two young children.
Counselor Laura: That doesn’t surprise me. I assume that means Steve isn’t a fugitive anymore because the Mumbai agreement went through.
Avenger Friday: VP Rhodes pushed personally for a pardon. I do not know this Mumbai agreement that you speak of.
Counselor Laura: I think I know the answer to this, but how did Tony and Steve’s engagement end? Were they ever engaged or even dating? Did they even start speaking to each other again after the Siberia fiasco?
Avenger Friday: No, they did not until a dying Coulson contacted Tony shortly before the decimation. Tony and Steve were never engaged or even dated for that matter. Tony was engaged to Ms. Potts at the time of the decimation. Although they have yet to have the ceremony, they live in Pennsylvania with their four-year-old daughter Morgan. Technically his last name is now Potts-Stark but I prefer to still call him Mr. Stark. I can only describe Steve and Tony’s relationship as complicated. However, their children enjoy regular play dates despite their age differences.
Laura was now 100% sure she was in a different timeline. For one thing, her May and Steve started talking to each other again in 2016, not 2018. That’s not even mentioning Tony and Steve burying the hatchet the same year and getting engaged. Phil is alive and well in her timeline for another. Laura began to wonder if this was the timeline that James Leopold, a.k.a. other Fitz came from. Yes, she knows about the other Fitz as well as some of things that happened in the other timeline. She knows that Tony and Steve never reconciled there and Tony was about to marry Pepper before Leo was pushed back in time. Phil Coulson was dying. She knows that James Leopold mostly had a psychotic break because he was trying so hard to prevent the events that led to his terminal illness. Laura is also pretty sure she heard Simmons say that her Fitz died in a monolith explosion. That would be way too much of a coincidence to happen in two timelines.
Deke was apparently being sent back to keep that from happening, whoever Deke was. Instead, somehow, she ended up here, and he was missing.
Counselor Laura: Friday? I have one more question for you. What is this decimation that you keep referring to?
Avenger Friday: The Decimation refers to the events of April 28, 2018. Thanos was able to collect all six infinity stones and wiped 50% of all living life out of existence, including plants and animals. Although the Avengers were able to find Thanos and kill him, the stones were destroyed, and they were unable to reverse the decimation.
Clint’s strange behavior from earlier began to make sense. Of course, he would act like that if she was essentially dead.
Counselor Laura: Friday, was I among those lost during this decimation?
Avenger Friday: Yes, along with your 3 children.
Laura would like to argue otherwise that she didn’t lose consciousness while reading that message from Friday, but she would be lying. Wouldn’t you pass out too if you found out you were trapped in a world where your kids were dead?
To be continued