Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“I. Am. Iron Man.”

~.~

Stephen Strange had been there, he had been the one to give the motion to Tony, just as he knew that he would. He helped hold up the rest of Thanos’s minions until Tony could make his play. He watched it all play out. Thanos’s failed snap, then Tony’s successful one, and watched Thanos’s army go up in ash.

Letting his arms fall, Dr. Strange turned to look at Tony as the man was barely able to make it to the rubble he could lean against, but as something fell to the ground his attention was taken elsewhere.

There was one way to win, but after that the variables changed.

Others were looking around, some cheering and some hugging each other in victory looking around to the others before they noticed who was missing, coming to their own realization of how they had won.

Still only a few feet away, Dr. Strange didn’t look at Tony. For a few seconds, his feet were firmly rooted to the ground as he stared at the two stones that had fallen from the makeshift gauntlet that Tony’s suit created for the final Snap when his hand had fallen to his side to help him move. The two stones that had no damage to them and shone even in the low light of the post battle. He was unsure of this part of the ending, it had all depended on if they came out or not, and which ones it would be if they did.

But now, as he stared at the stones, the orange one glinting beside the blue, he knew.

He knew before the other man began walking up closer as Rhodey flew down to the scene and soon the crowd was slowly circling to regard the fallen triumphant hero.

~.~

Bucky Barnes stared walking his way around the battlefield, the ashes of their enemies still twisting in the wind. He felt exhausted, probably too exhausted for one who apparently just stopped existing for five years. He still didn’t completely understand that since that Dr. Strange man, and didn’t that name fit him, had said, but in a way he felt that something was different too. That’s why he needed to find Steve, to make sure he was okay and to help him understand everything that had happened.

He walked past warriors giving each other claps on the backs, others giving hugs and having excited reunions, all with smiles on their faces.

Or at least most of them.

As soon as Bucky came over one small debris hill, it was like the atmosphere changed, like he went through a doorway to another world. No one was smiling here, everything was still with a sombre cloud over the sky. Maybe they had smiles on their faces before, but slowly the sombre stillness spread to each soldier and fighter when they realized that the one next to them weren’t smiling anymore and their eyes were turned.

Steve’s back was to him, his shoulders moving like he was breathing hard, but in his stance Bucky knew that Steve wasn’t deathly injured. As he began to walk more towards him, he slowed as he realized everyone else along this side of the hill were still, all looking in the direction Steve was. Walking a few steps closer, he takes a few to his left as well to try and see past everyone and catch what has captured everyone’s eyes.

In a way, through the feelings in the air, Bucky knew it would be death slowly encircling the space. Rejoice didn’t just collapse into stillness and sombre. It was the matter of who.

Taking a few steps forward, Bucky was able to get at an angle where he could see down into the pit the person was sitting in and the red suit even looked like blood against the dull and broken greys and blacks of the debris he was leaning against.

His eyes stay frozen on Tony. Now that he saw the suit, he could see the familiar side profile of Tony. Even at a bit of distance Bucky could see the face had aged slightly, looking even more like Howard Stark and that made him feel a whole other pang in his chest.

So it had been Tony who snapped Thanos and the others away. Bucky had been there when Thanos had snapped his fingers. That part of his memory was increasingly weary, but he was sure that he remembered that it seemed to cause damage all up his arm as well as significant energy and pain. He didn’t know how strong Tony’s suit was, but he guessed that same energy couldn’t handle all of it.

He watches as the shoulders of a strawberry blonde he recognized, Pepper sag slightly as she pulls away from him. He hadn’t seen her in the suit before, but he knew who she was, and who she was to Tony. He also recognized the black man with his back to him that was in a similar suit. What did he call himself again? War Machine? But he definitely recognized the suit of the spider kid, he looked as small as his voice sounded back in Germany. The way he curled into himself reminded Bucky of a child’s grief and heartache.

Bucky’s eyes trailed back to Tony again, at least what he could see past War Machine.

Even though he had been afraid, and even though Bucky knew that Tony would never want to see him ever again, Bucky always wished just to talk to Tony once, to apologize for what he had done. Winter Soldier or not. He wanted to apologize for what happened in Germany. Bucky had been so desperate for freedom, to be with something that felt safe, and Steve was safe. Bucky just wanted his long, horrific nightmare to be over no matter how much he deserved it for what he had done.

Above him the clouds move slightly with the wind, allowing the sun to stream through a slightly thinner cloud. Bucky’s eyes catch the glint of the sun against something on the ground. It shone against some of the metal rubble as well, but this was brighter, and almost created a blue or orangish hue. The super soldier raises an eyebrow before he walks the few steps forward as conspicuous and quietly as he can, not wanting to interrupt the peace that was beginning to fall further along the battle area.

Taking some steps forward, walking past Dr. Strange and seeing Tony and the group a little more clearly, he looks down again to what he saw before his brows furrowed. He wasn’t too far of a walk away from them now, but he wasn’t as close as some of the others and Bucky thought it might be best to keep his interest. It was two stones on the ground in jagged, irregular shapes; one almost a glowing blue and the other a deep orange.

Bucky tried to stretch his memories back to when he was still in Wakanda before Thanos’s army came. Technically that was apparently five years ago, and his memory was still a little dazed from vanishing out of existence, but he could’ve sworn that these were some of the stones that was discussed while Steve and the others were on their way with Vision. During the wait and while their armies gathered and prepared, T’Challa had been sent details about Thanos’s quest for what were called the Infinity Stones when it was asked if Shuri might be able to get one out of Vision’s forehead.

He had already been fitted with his arm then, and was still adjusting to the feeling and weight of it. He had gotten used to, and even liked, not having his arm.

He remembered being farther back behind T’Challa, Shuri, and Okoye as they all stared up at projections of the stones Thanos was searching for. He can’t remember where they got the information from, or if it was from more than one source when people started to come together. A few were seemingly realistic images of the stones while others were just oval gems to signify a representation with their information below based on what they knew or interacted with already. The princess was avidly studying the mind stone in front of her while looking at a smaller screen in her arms of a layout of a humanoid head.

What was the blue one again? Still staring down at it, he tried to reach far back in his mind. The time stone? No, he was sure that was green. The space stone maybe. He seemed more assured by that name than the other. They were talking about a Tesseract involving it, but he still couldn’t quite remember exactly what it did. Each had their own special power that could be wielded under certain circumstances.

His eyes turned back to the orange stone, and those memories came easier. The soul stone. T’Challa and Okoye had talked about that while Bucky stood silently behind them the entire time.

“Apparently it has the ability to manipulate souls, both dead and alive,” T’Challa mused, as though he wasn’t sure if he believed it but that he was weary of the power all the same. “They don’t know if he already has it or not. Apparently it is on a planet guarded in another system.”

“I don’t want to think about how many people throughout history would kill to try and get that stone if they knew it existed,” Shuri commented almost absentmindedly as she continued to look over the anatomy on her screen.

“Something with that kind of power has to come with a price,” Okoye comments quietly.

Maybe so…

Bucky stared back up at Tony and the others gathered around him. The sense of death boring deeper into the wind, reaching farther.

Tony had paid the price, knowing they would win but knowing what it would cost him.

Tony had saved the universe. It was because of Tony that they won and the world wasn’t destroyed over again. Tony had stopped multiple enemies. Bucky had been taught to keep up with some of the most prolific fighters against Hydra, Tony included. Tony Stark had stopped a missile from blowing up New York as collateral damage. Tony Stark had fought against Ultron and Tony Stark did everything in the interest of helping others. Tony Stark had lost his parents.

Tony Stark was right about him.

They won because of Tony. He didn’t deserve to die. Tony deserved more.

Before the thought, the idea, had completely gone through his head, Bucky was already leaning down and he carefully picked up the orange stone. Standing up straighter again, he looked down at it.

It was light, though he wasn’t sure if he expected it to be heavy. It was much smaller than his imagination made it seem these stones were when they talked about them back in Wakanda. But the orange reflection in his metal hand made him feel more assured.

He already felt something in him stir, maybe even the air around him shift. He didn’t know how to activate it, how to wish it, but somehow whatever was around him did.

He lets out another breath, white noise vibrations slowly creeping in his ears and it feels like he is alone, no one around him, just him. Time stills, but his heart is calm.

His heart is calm.

Still looking at his hand, the hand that held an arm that had murdered thousands. It, he, had even killed Tony’s parents. Their faces, all of them as he slowly remembered, would haunt his dreams. Howard had recognized him, Howard knew him, and Maria was gasping for breath and staring at her husband. No witnesses.

The Winter Soldier had killed more than Bucky would ever know.

He could bring one back.

“Something with that kind of power has to come with a price.”

Bucky didn’t feel fear.

He lets out another breath, eyes falling closed in almost peace, and slowly closes his fist, the back of his metal fingers feeling the harness of the stone. He thought of only it, of what he wanted.

101 long years was enough.

Another breath out. For a second it feels like he is sinking, almost like he was falling inside of himself while he could feel his body planted on the ground below him.

Lightening.

It felt like he was being electrocuted in the chair again, but instead of coursing through his veins it was only in his chest. He lets out a loud, strangled gasp as it feels like he’s taking a sledgehammer to his heart. He leans over slightly, feeling his chest start to cave in. Leaning down, he sees orange light trying to break through his finger tips. The thudding stays at his chest.

“James?!”

Shuri’s voice wasn’t too far away from him as the orange light grew in his palm, a tone of light concern but with more confusion. He stared down at it for a few moments, letting it burn his eyes as he heard the metal of his hand begin to crack. Then, slowly, the airy tentacles began to form as they were being molded into the air like energy, a string that twisted and flowed in the air with its own mind, wrapping around his metal hand before twisting and growing up his arm. His gaze didn’t watch for that though, it was watching the airy, almost translucent like vines reach out forward into the air as it gravitated towards who Bucky was thinking of. Bucky stared towards the crowd, wishing that he could see Tony Stark one more time, to let him speak to him once more.

The sudden jab into his chest made him grunt, eyes widening only from the shock. He had felt worse pain then the hand held sized knife that fell like it was swimming in his veins, ripping them open by the inch as the multiple veins went straight towards his heart.

He didn’t notice how Steve turned around the second that Shuri said his name. He didn’t see how many people were now beginning to turn towards the growing orange glow in curiosity while beginning to bring up their defences again of the unknown source.

There were hands holding his side by the time he felt his legs buckle from below him. Every nerve ending felt like the sensation of needles lightly pricking him in every cell. It wasn’t painful, but it was like a fuzzy sensation of peaches, except it was his own skin. The hands that tried to hold his sides were the same, no real feeling, just the light prickles.

Bucky didn’t exactly know when Shuri was kneeling in front of him. It was like he blacked out but only for a few seconds where he couldn’t see or feel anything. It was blurry, only for a few seconds, and his ears began ringing in such a high pitched tone that Bucky’s thought that they would burst his eardrums. Like stepping out of a cloud, he blinks a few times to see Shuri’s concerned face in front of him, her hands on his one shoulder to help try to hold him up as T’Challa began to kneel down as well, his hand out but unknowing where to place them as they hovered over his body. As his vision became more clear, giving him an ability to see further away, he saw the dark blue, tall figure he already knew was Steve running towards him.

“…mes? James?!” Bucky heard Shuri again, like a quiet echo over a fog. It felt nice that her lips weren’t moving slowly anymore.

“Careful, Shuri,” T’Challa seemed to warn, leading her shoulder back ever so slightly as it leaned closer to the flow of light from the stone in his hand.

“….shouldn’t touch him!” Someone else called, getting closer. “The energy will feed through you too!”

“I don’t feel anything,” Shuri looked over Bucky’s shoulder to answer the other man back before she regarded him again. By then, Steve kneeled down so fast that he almost tripped and fell straight into him.

“Buck?!”

The worried voice didn’t even sound like Steve. Bucky didn’t know whether Steve took in what Shuri said about not feeling the stone’s power or if he already had his mind set in and couldn’t care less, as his hands took Bucky’s other side to help hold him up. His face was so deeply etched with worry and paralyzing fear as one hand reached to hold his front steady to keep him from falling to his face while his other arm moved to hold his back to help support him. Steve’s breaths were in pants, and Bucky recognized the look in Steve’s eyes he made when the blond’s mind was racing a mile a second.

“Bucky?” Steve asked again, his eyes glancing down to the stone. Steve’s eyes widened more than they likely ever had before when he saw the stone, clutched tightly in Bucky’s hand and the words Clint had told them in his debrief of his mission echoed in his mind like a battling ram. His front hand went to grab for it, but Bucky tightened his grip on it, wincing slightly as the sharp pain in his chest stabbed through close to his heart now.

“No!” His voice was hoarse through the pain. The other man was barely able to pant out before his voice went softer again. “No. Let me do this.”

Steve stared at Bucky, his eyes now widening in horror. But Bucky’s focus was beginning to turn back to his chest, as though it was bound so tight that his lungs were being constricted. Every breath felt like the rope around his lungs were getting painfully tighter. He felt like he couldn’t breathe.

~.~

Peter Parker stared at his dying mentor as he began to take his final breaths, his fists clenched as he brought them close to his body, holding himself lightly as he regarded his mentor, getting limp even as the people he loved dedicated themselves to his final moments. Underlying everything, he felt something charged in the air, like a new energy in a thunderstorm, but he barely acknowledged it.

He watched Rhodey and Pepper grieve, sitting close by. Their lives were completely changed too. Peter had just woken up and had no idea what was going on, especially when Dr. Strange tried to explain things to him. For him, he just got Tony and got close to him. And now he was gone.

He tried to even his breathing before something caught in the corner of his eye. His gaze turns towards light that started through the corner of his eyesight and that’s when he sees the branches of light almost swimming in the air, moving forward towards the group. Peter gapes for a moment, unsure what he is seeing before he is sure that it is moving the group of three not too far away.

“Mr. Rhodey?” Peter asked in a small voice, “what is that?”

Rhodey barely turned his head to look towards Peter when he noticed the waved vines of orange light stretching towards them. He wasn’t sure if it was stretching forward as the vines intertwined a bit more the closer they got, or if they were materializing in the air, but either way in his shock the older man immediately took a step back from the light before watching it twist around him, moving straight towards someone else. At first he thought it was going to Pepper before he realized it was twisting to get through on a new angle.

“Pepper,” he warns, now moving bak closer to her.

Pepper was faintly aware of the light bursting over her shoulders, how more voices were talking to each other, bit it was background noise as she gave Tony her presence. She felt like she couldn’t breathe but she forced herself to smile. No matter how much her body shook, or how the dam holding the water in her eyes was leaking with every second, or how she felt like her heart was collapsing in on itself like a dying star, she wouldn’t let Tony’s last images of her be when she was upset. Even if her smile quaked, she gave him everything that he could. All that mattered now was him, giving him what he needed in his final moments.

He was her everything, Morgan’s everything, their everything. How could she explain this to Morgan? How could she bare to come home without him? Their world, their happy little secluded world had collapsed.

She knew there would be no pain in comparison to this.

The world behind and around her was just white noise. It didn’t filter past to her ears or through her pain. She didn’t notice, didn’t even care, if things were going on around her.

Not until she felt arms suddenly wrapping around her, at least as much as they could with the thick layer of armour around both of them, jerking her back slightly. Pepper’s eyes immediately shot open in full alert as she looked down and around her, only needing a second to recognize Rhodey’s black and dark grey metal suit.

“Pepper, stay back,” he warns her again, still gently pulling her back.

Turns her head to question him, almost ready to rip at his face for pulling her back from Tony, but her gaze catches on something else.

The orange transparent rope like vines continued to twist and grow forward, to her horror, her husband who was now limp against the rubble. She stares in both wonder and confusion, wondering where it came from and what the hell it was in the first place.

“What is that?” Pepper asked almost breathlessly, trying to lean forward but Rhodey held her in place.

Peter stared at the vines as well, his face twisting past the hurt to transform into confusion. He, like many of the other heroes of the battlefield, were now becoming aware that something else was now happening. A few were bracing in case of a new threat while others just stared in weary confusion. Peter’s eyes followed the vine back towards the source, squinting his eyes as though to get a better look than his already perfect vision to make sure that what he was seeing was real.

Once the lighted tendrils reached who the source was gracing them to, the three watched as the tendrils grew slightly thicker and begin to wrap around Tony’s torso before their eyes. Pepper felt her breath hitch, watching in slight panic as the tendrils wrapped themselves around Tony.

“What is this?” She asks, her voice still a little hoarse from battle and her goodbye.

After a few seconds, the tendril vines still wrapping themselves lightly around Tony began to grow a little thicker and glow. Her already panicked mind made Pepper leap for the edge of her anxiety faster watching as the vines changed around her husband.

“No, no!” Pepper’s voice got louder and more hoarse with every word. She tries to launch herself forward and this time she feels Rhodey struggle to hold her back. Her arms free themselves as they flail in her attempt to go back to Tony as the vines glowed brighter. “What are they doing?! Get it off of him!”

Peter’s eyes still looked towards the group that was now forming around the Winter Soldier. Rhodey looked over at him when he heard his name come from the younger boy, the boy Tony had talked about so much, the boy that Tony practically considered family. Then he sees Peter’s gaze and looks back as well, brows furrowing at how Bucky seemed to be coming from the other end of the vines.

As others realized that something else was happening, Peter remembered the man who was running up behind where the Winter Soldier fell to his knees as Peter Quill when Quill said something about the others trying to touch him. Despite what seemed to be happening to the larger man though, and the confusion surrounding it as others gathered, Peter didn’t feel like what was going on was threatening.

“Miss Potts, I don’t think it’s going to hurt him,” Peter says, a his voice still a little weary from Tony’s death, although he did not completely understand what was going on.

“I want them off him!” Pepper continued to flail against Rhodey, desperately and aggressively trying to grab at the light vine-like ties around her dead husband.

The vines glowed brighter, first steadily, then all at once until the light was almost blinding. Most of the heroes had to look away or close their, taken aback by the brightness that almost scorched their eyes. It halted Pepper’s efforts as she looked away as the light got so bright it still blinded her even beneath her closed eyes because of how close she was to the source. Rhodey’s face fell almost into Pepper’s shoulder to try and shield his own eyes. Those immediately around Bucky had to look away, but their hands never let go of him while Bucky embraced the immediate pain across every nerve of his body and the bright light blinding his vision.

The light vanished faster than it came. When Pepper would remember that moment, it was like the fall of light from an explosion that came down from its brightness in three step layers. Since her vision was still bright with red spots from the light past her closed lids, it wasn’t the absence of that light that made her open her eyes. For any of them around Tony Stark, none of them opened their eyes when the light had fallen.

It was the sudden, violent gasp that she instantly recognized that made the blonde turn her head and her eyes snap open despite how her corneas burned.

Tony gasped awake with no sense of pleasantness. The pain in his body came instantly. The gasps for air made his damaged and strained lungs burn, and the entire one side of his body was in such a sharp ache he was sure he’d feel better going through an airplane’s propeller. He strained to take in the breaths, but it felt like his chest wouldn’t expand enough for it, yet his lungs refused to not take it in. Not this time, at least. There was no feeling

He remembered Pepper, he remembered Rhodey, the kid. He remembered the pain, the endless striking pain in his arm that sent his nerves on fire yet he couldn’t actually animate anymore. Then there was the feeling of his lungs slowly getting smaller, tighter, the sinking feeling like he was slowly dropping lower in an ocean.

Darkness.

He wasn’t sure what else there was past the darkness. All he knew now was that it felt like he had pierced through a wall, like a lining or fabric between the darkness and where he was now. He ripped through it, and not with kindness.

In the shock of suddenly being back, like he had been slapped suddenly awake, he tried to move only to find that somehow, that pain coursing through his body ignited further fire in his nerves and he let out a grunt, closing his eye. He could barely move, and certainly not at all with the pain he was feeling. He almost missed the way that it numbed when he felt himself sinking faster into that ocean, when he knew that his body was shutting down.

Now though, he was thrusted back into that pain, and his body was refusing to let him go, forcing it to keep going despite how damaged it was.

He looked around, blinking rapidly as his vision came through how his breath had gotten knocked out of him in the initial wake. His heart was pounding hard in his chest and he looked down slightly, cringing against the pain in his neck and spine as he saw the blue glow against his chest rise awake as well. Trying to breathe felt like he was trying to expand concrete. Everything hurt just as much as it did before the Darkness, but his body wasn’t weak to it anymore. It was refusing to be despite everything up against it. He had to feel it with the full force of what was going on.

And Tony had absolutely, positively, no fucking idea what the hell was going on.

As his brain finally began to process what was in front of him, as though it had to be rebooted from being unplugged from the electrical source for so long, he remembered his surroundings looked exactly like they had been before the Darkness, before his vision was slowly tunnelling until he saw only Pepper’s face.

And now, as his vision slowly cleared as though he was now resurfacing from the tunnel, Pepper’s face came through with more and more clarity. The vision in his right eye was still pretty limited and blurry, but he could still easily read the pure shock that was on her face the instant she turned to look back at him. He could tell that she had been crying too, and that gave him a new sense of ache.

Pepper could only stare back in nothing short of panicked shock, her mouth open as it gaped open slightly in shock and as an unconscious way to help her breathe. Only a few minutes ago she knew that Tony was dead. She had watched him slowly fade and his heart give out. But the blue light had resurfaced almost brighter than she had ever seen it. His eyes were alert and and the pain that was in them was no longer weak-dying pain but rather complete shock that was overriding the way he exerted his own pain.

As his sight increased, even with his bad eye, he saw Tony behind her, staring back at him with just as much shock and confusion. Rhodey’s eyes set hard in looking directly at him as his best friend suddenly animated from death in front of him. Rhodey’s mind was suddenly racing, trying to make sense exactly of what was happening, but he could only feel like his mind was spinning around so fast that there could never be an end.

Pepper slowly leaned forward towards her husband again, her now suddenly alive husband. She went slow, still in shock and not completely sure that she could believe what her eyes were seeing.

In his own shock, Rhodey’s arms slackened enough so that she could easily break through them and crawl back towards Tony. As his arms were falling back to his side, Rhodey realized that he was loosing his balance and had to quickly bring his arms back to his side to avoid falling onto his bottom, though all it really did was just help cushion the fall when he fell back anyway.

He wasn’t the only one losing his balance. Peter swayed on his feet as he truly began to process what he was seeing. He swore that his eyes were playing tricks on him, that what was in front of him was a lie. He had watched Mr. Stark die. There couldn’t be a way that he was now sitting there, gasping in pained breaths.

“Tony?” Pepper whispered, slowly coming closer. Now it was her heart that wasn’t beating.

The man in question’s head whipped to her again, eyes wide, mouth open as he tried his best to breathe and in his shock. Hearing her voice only proved to Tony how awake that he was. Nothing could truly simulate Pepper’s voice. She was here, he was awake. Rhodey and Peter were really behind her. It proved that the pain was real, that he was awake, when he knew that in the time he couldn’t remember, the Darkness, he was dying. He remembered struggling to breath, how he knew his heart was slowing.

The blonde moved closer, her hands moving to come up to Tony as he stared wide eyed at her.

“Oh my God,” her breath was shaky and airy in her shock.

Tony stared at her, blinking a few times. The longer he was awake, the more painful his right side became.

“Pep?” Tony asked, his voice was hoarse and barely anything came out. He tried to gulp, but with the searing pain in his neck and jaw, that was not the easiest of tasks.

She moves closer, letting her hands gently come up, one carefully taking the unscarred side of his face while Theo there moved to gently form over his heart. It was still glowing, but she wanted to be sure. His skin colour was coming back too, the grey was disappearing. “Oh God, Tony,” she breathes out, tears coming to her eyes for a whole new reason now. She moves forward, almost launching herself forward before she stops when her eyes trail to the damaged skin around the right side of Tony’s face again. She stops almost mid launch before slowing down just to gently hug him again, hug him closely as much as she could with his damaged side.

“Pepper?” Tony tries again, his voice scratching his throat, wincing slightly as her arms move around her, but taking in the feeling of her arms around him. He looks around at his surroundings again and notices the kid again. So it wasn’t a mirage, Bruce really brought the others back. “Peter?”

Hearing his once dead mentor say his name, even if in the rough voice, Peter felt weak on his legs again. He stepped forward a bit, but he was unsure of his footing and his legs felt unstable. The others around him that stood close enough to watch Tony’s resurgence of life had the same feeling in their legs and look of bewilderment in their eyes.

He used the stones didn’t he?

“Did…did it not work?” Tony asked, looking back to Pepper as she finally forces herself to pull away. She wipes her eyes again but moves to squeeze Tony’s good hand.

Letting his brain slowly come back to life again, his thoughts halting in their processes for a few moments now, Rhodey leaned forward again towards Tony and moved to lean up more on his feet.

“No Tones,” he said gently, moving forward a bit on his knees closer to his best friend. The tension in his shoulders were gone, and his face relaxed slightly as his loss melted away. Tony was really there in front of him. “You did it. Thanos and his army are gone.”

Tony was sure that he had seen that himself, but…

He looked down at himself as much as he could, wincing slightly as he moved his neck. He tried to shift himself but it only led to him groaning in pain. Pepper was immediately moving her hand off of his cheek to place along his body to help him or offer comfort, but they froze just above his chest and stomach when she realized that she didn’t know exactly how bad his injury was on that side.

Still confused, his mind still slowly waking up, he takes in a breath, or at least as best as he can with his impaired lungs and chest that felt like it was solidly cemented. He looked down at himself, cringing slightly as the pain soared through his neck again as he strained it. Lifting up his good arm, he tried to glance down at himself. He winces as his body moves slightly, but moves past the hand Pepper tried to use to keep him down to prevent further injury.

“Tony, I don’t think you should be moving,” Pepper tells him.

“Then how—” Tony barely lets the last syllable before his eyes catch something that was in the air wrapped around his wrist. He stared at it for a few moments, rolling his wrist from side to side slightly to watch how it interacted with him. It didn’t move, but it still hovered around his wrist.

The orange light had now transformed into thin lines that glowed in a darker orange then the translucent wider light had been. It was like orange, thick strings that hung in the air around his wrist. As his eyes trailed up, he saw the thin light wrapped in large spaces up his entire arm and when his gaze moved to the side he saw that it went up his chest as well.

Tony recognized  the colour of light instantly, and knew exactly what stone it was emitting from. He had studied the stones for days with the others. He knew every stone and colour and title by his slowly strengthening heart.

Slowly, the pieces started to place in his mind. His memory was correct, the pain made sense, he had stopped Thanos. What was it that Clint was telling them when they asked them about Natasha? One soul for another?

There was still one piece missing though.

Setting his hand down, Tony looks around for a new reason. His vision is still not to par with what it was, but he tried to focus more on his surroundings. Peter, the light didn’t lead to him, thank God. There was Clint, the antennae woman that was with Quill, Thor, and Wanda, as well as various Wakandan soldiers past the teen. But they didn’t have lines of the Soul Stone around them either. His eyes looked down at him again until he sees the line of orange move past him and lead outwards. His eyes follow it until he sees it twisted around past Pepper and Rhodey.

“Who…?” Tony asked breathlessly before he tried to turn his head to the side and winced at the sudden sharp electric pain in his neck. He twisted it as best he could before Pepper could stop it and he tried to gaze as best as he could to his left. He gazes over Rhodey’s shoulders, narrowing his eyes and straining them as he tried to see as far past his friend as he could.

He sees the familiar blue of Steve’s uniform kneeling, but his back was to him. Shuri was beside him, her hand on Steve’s arm with who he assumed was T’Challa on the other side of her. All of them had their backs to him too. Even though it was very faint, he could see the soft glow of orange on the other side of Steve. He could see Quill not too far away with Nebula, looking down towards Steve and saying something to the group of three.

Tony blinked a few times, his heart beating a little faster as he makes out the scene so far away from him. Steve had the stone. Steve was using the stone.

“Lay him down,” he barely heard Shuri’s voice. Immediately, T’Challa hurried to the other side of Steve and kneeled down as well.

Finally turning his eyes away, he looked back to Pepper and Rhodey before telling him, “Take me to him.”

Rhodey looked over his shoulder as well, quickly looking to what Tony was before he turned back.

“You shouldn’t move,” Pepper insisted, panic almost driving her voice again. She couldn’t lose him, she couldn’t risk him getting hurt. He needed to get back to the Tower or Compound. He needed medical help.

“I need to see him,” Tony insisted, gritting his teeth in pain as he moved his head back. Despite Pepper trying to keep pressure down on his one good side, Tony carefully pushed himself forward. Despite using his good arm to help give him balance and lean forward, he let out a small grunt and the lightest cry as an entire lightening strike seemed to run all the way up the right side of his body.

Both Pepper and Rhodey immediately move forward, Peter also finding strength in his legs again as he ran back towards Tony as well.

“Tones,” Rhodey started, but Tony just shook his head and let the pain in his neck move in with the rest of his body.

“I’m going,” Tony gritted between his teeth, wincing again as he tried to lean forward a bit more, “with or without you.”

Peter kneeled before his mentor again before looking to the others for guidance. Pepper still had a worried determined look on her face, but Rhodey’s was softening slightly again.

“Yeah, okay,” Rhodey agreed.

“But-” Pepper tried before Rhodey shook his head.

“Pepper, let him say goodbye,” Rhodey replied. So he had placed the pieces together too. The man turns to Peter as well and nods slightly, “Peter, can you help me with him, Pepper, you take his good side.”

Pepper didn’t look convinced, but Rhodey was already on his feet, moving to his other side where Peter was. Pepper stared at Tony and knew that determined look in his eye. She sighed before moving to lift Tony’s good arm over her shoulders before looking over at Rhodey from the other side.

Rhodey looked to Peter and told him, “help me get his arm around me,” he instructs gently before looking over at Pepper, “we’ll fly him over.”

That was a good idea, Tony considered, because he wasn’t sure he’d be able to walk. And as Peter gently lifted Tony’s arm as Rhodey crouched smaller so that it would be easier to bring over his head, Tony also considered it a good idea since he was sure that in this position with his arm and shoulder raised up so high that after a few minutes in this position he might pass out. He sucks in his breath, determined to hold in the small scream that was burning in the back of his throat in an effort to not scare Pepper. He only lets out a small grunt between his set jaw as his arm is finally placed over Rhodey’s shoulders. Once set, Rhodey carefully holds Tony’s side ever so slightly before he turns to look over at Pepper.

“Make sure to hold that side steady to help keep him upright. I don’t want to put too much pressure on this side,” he tells her.

Pepper nods and sets her other hand on the front side of Tony’s chest close to her side. Looking back up at Rhodey, both nod again before setting their thrusters up again. Carefully and together, they slowly rose as the thrusters lifted them a foot in the air. Peter steps back to give them room, his eyes still tight to Tony as his mentor winces ever so slightly as he is lifted. Now that he was in the air, there was more pressure on his shoulders to keep him up. He felt Pepper hold his one side steady and hold him up a bit so his shoulders wouldn’t be bent so much, but his injured side still shuddered and screamed with pain.

Both with grace and with speed, Pepper led the pace and Rhodey followed closely with her as they lifted Tony a bit more off of the ground. The light rope followed Tony, still swirling around him. Rhodey and Pepper turned in sync so that when Tony looked up again, he could see the scene before him getting closer within seconds. The three moved quickly, but still slow enough that it wouldn’t sway Tony and put more pressure on his injuries.

As Tony got closer, he slowly became more confused. Steve wasn’t laying down like Shuri had suggested. He was bent over, and it was then Tony realized that he was obviously leaning over someone. So was Shuri, who was on the other side of whoever was on the ground.

But who was below then? His next thought was Sam, but he saw Sam walking slowly over to stand beside Steve. He looked around, trying to figure out who was missing. Dr. Strange was standing not too far away from the scene, a frown deeply embedded on his face. The Hulk was now walking towards them with Valkyrie. As a few of the others moved to follow Tony, he still tried to figure out who was missing on the scene. Not only that, the closer he got to the glow of what was obviously the stone, the dimmer the light was becoming.

Within a few seconds, Rhodey and Pepper were carefully lowering themselves and Tony to the ground. Turning after he heard them approaching, T’Challa stared for a moment in shock before he moved so that Tony could get in closer and beside Steve. Shuri looked up with just as much surprise, but Tony wasn’t focusing too much on her. Since Steve was sitting so close to the person’s head, it was hard for Tony to see at this angle.

Once Tony was placed on the ground, Pepper and Rhodey stopped their thrusters and carefully help Tony lift his arms over their heads again so he could get down again. Tony almost fell forward, but he braced himself with his arm while Rhodey helped his other side. When his hand was held out and Tony looked down at it when he braced himself, it was then he realized that the light that was wrapped around him was now no thicker than a needle. He breathed heavily, his lungs still both fighting with their injuries and to keep him alive. But he still moved forward.

  Grunting the entire way, his entire side screaming in electric pain that Tony would look back and wonder how he didn’t pass out just to get there. Once he had managed to drag himself beside Steve, Rhodey and Pepper helping him as best as they could along the way, Tony could finally see who was laying on the ground, the soul stone gripped in his hand with light wrapped around his hands and chest as well. Steve didn’t need to look at him to see that Tony was there, alive. There was no shock left in Steve’s heart because he knew what was being sacrificed.

Tony, on the other hand, could only stare down at the other man in horror.

Barnes?

~.~

To Bucky it didn’t feel like he was dying. To him, it felt like his body was slowly halting in it’s course of function. It wasn’t painful, not anymore at least. Or perhaps Bucky had moved past that feeling now. The main that stung his chest or thrusted the air out of him like getting punched in his stomach was gone now. Now, he felt nothing but odd sensations. It was like his body was deflating but at the same time hardening into stone.

He was vaguely aware of those around him, but it was like a bad connection coming through a phone; some filtered in, other was just white noise. He was grateful for their hands helping to hold him up because he wasn’t sure he could hold himself up on his own. He felt dazed, everything slowly beginning to decade.

He saw Shuri’s mouth move before catching her voice say ‘down’ softly like a whisper over the ocean. His eyes turn to look towards Steve’s increasingly worried face. There was a sadness in it so deep that Bucky hadn’t seen in person in years. Just in his dreams or memories before they were forced away by Hydra. The heartbreak and desperation in Steve’s eyes and face, the same as he saw briefly as he was falling.

He doesn’t completely realize they are moving him until how they are holding him shifts. He almost stumbles as they manipulate his body, but with the three set of hands, they manage to get him safely to the ground. He doesn’t feel awkward with how they twisted his back and hips slightly so that he was laying on his back, but he knew his legs were still at their before kneeling angle.

The only thing he refused to relax was his grip on the stone in his left hand. Even as he could feel his senses decaying, that would be one of the things he would hold on to until it was over.

Bucky’s gaze is what is above him the second he is set down. He couldn’t find the strength to move his head, he was sure that his mind didn’t have the capacity to process movements anymore. He was decaying, his senses slowly crumbling, and he was loosing abilities with each passing second. Perhaps that was why it wasn’t painful anymore.

Looking up at Steve, Shuri, and T’Challa moving was like watching a mirage at some points, where they would be directly over him and then moving back in slow motion or like a shuffle of one image over the other. It had been like that ever since the burst of light that came from the stone and its reach, one that he let envelop him completely.

He could tell that they were saying something by the way their mouths moved, but between the shuffles and how the sound seemed to actually reach his ears a few seconds after it was hard to distinguish exactly what they were trying to say. He saw Sam appear slightly in the corner of his gaze behind Steve, looking both sad and yet with something akin to a relenting peace while he was sure it was Okoye that was almost completely past his eyesight behind her king. Bucky almost smiled to him, but his gaze tried to focus on the others, Shuri and Steve kneeling so close to him, T’Challa behind Shuri with a hand on her shoulder.

He tried to breathe, but it felt like the more that he tried to breathe in, his lungs refused to expand a little less each time. His chest felt heavy and solid, like it was turning to stone. His sense of feeling was beginning to dissolve too. He couldn't feel the texture of Shuri’s hand on his shoulder or Steve’s hands holding his, but he could feel the pressure and that was comforting at least.

It was coming, and it was coming soon.

His gaze trails to Shuri and T’Challa and he lets out a shaky breath as he tries to speak. His mouth opens up a little more in indication, but at first all he could get out was a sound almost like a soft gasp. Seeing their worried faces startle up again, Bucky takes in a breath and desperately tries to project out his voice. He needed to say goodbye. He needed it. They deserved it.

“Th—” his voice barely manages to rasp out. It was like finger nails were clawing up through his chest and up his throat. He grimaced briefly at the pain before he tries again.  “Thank…y-you.” He barely manages to rasp out.

He wanted to say more. Thank you for believing me in the end. Thank you for taking me in helping to deprogram me. Thank you for being an ally and supporter in a time where I could count all of those on one hand and still have fingers left over. Thank you for giving me a somewhat peaceful and secluded place to heal. Thank you for being someone safe, for making me feel safe, and for being someone he could talk with and have carefree discussions he hadn’t had since before being recruited. Thank you for helping to save me.

But when their eyes and body language softened, he knew that they understood. T’Challa gave him a direct, wordless nod while Shuri smiled softly to him. Bucky gave her one back, or at least that’s what he intended to do, but his mind was starting to get a little more foggy.

His gaze then flickers over to Steve and feels a clench in his chest. The blonde’s face didn’t seem as illuminated anymore and Bucky wondered if his vision was starting to dull, but that didn’t seem right. But even in a duller light, he saw Steve’s face clearly. Once upon a time Bucky’s greatest fear was that this exact look would be on Steve’s face, and that he wanted to make sure that level of desperate need and engulfed sadness would never reach his features. He never realized just what life would throw at them to make new ultimate fears for Steve top that list. But still, to see the look in Steve’s eyes made something in Bucky sink. At least he knew that Steve would be safe, that he would live.

Bucky took in another breath, reaching in himself again to keep going.

“To the….” He takes in a small breath, “end of….” He struggles to take another breath, feeling like his lungs were beginning to crack.

Steve nods, pursing his lips slightly as he rapidly blinks his glossy eyes a few times.

“To the end of the line,” Steve agrees and it’s like a whisper through the leaves of the trees, but with Steve’s stern presence Bucky knew it was real.

Bucky takes in another small breath. It’s shakier this time. His chest was so tight as it slowly decayed to stone.

“Not,” Bucky shudders out, “…not the end.”

Steve’s pursed lip smiles brightens slightly and Bucky sees something draw down Steve’s cheeks before seeing that it was a tear.

“Yeah,” Steve agrees mournfully, but smiling ever so slightly.

Bucky lets out another breath before realizing that someone else…many people, had now come into his view. The thing beside Steve was red and was something both large and small. There was something, like white string or maybe hair that was adoring the red though…no, Bucky realized, it was orange. He thought he saw a shade of purple behind Steve, but his gaze was still focused on the red. It was leaning over, but not like Steve was. It was as though it couldn’t sit up unless with restrictions.

But as Bucky began to focus on it more, the shape of the red blotch and how its face became clearer, relief swelled into Bucky as he stared at the shocked and physically hurt, but still alive Tony Stark. Bucky had hoped that he would see Tony before the time came. It proved to him that it was working, that it did work.

Looking at Tony, he takes in the man’s shocked face Bucky lets out another shaky breath. The amount of orange hairlike thread was slowly disappearing around their bodies.

“I-I’m…s-sorry,” Bucky tells him. Or at least that’s what he thought that he said. Tony’s face twists as much as it could in its damaged state as he stares back down at him. Bucky’s breath catches now for another reason.

The pure fear in Bucky’s eyes was starting to startle Tony far more than the words that had. He sways slightly, both in pain from his arm and being in this position. In this position, however, he could see that the floating lines around him were slowly shrinking, a few almost had spaces between them. He was still in slight shock, trying to understand what was going on as he stared down at the man that was tangled on the ground, orange light barely able to make it through his palms, and his skin growing increasingly grey.

But the fear in the other man’s eyes struck Tony, as were the words he was struggling to say. Tony watched Bucky’s mouth almost shudder as it tried to open wider again.

“Sorry,” Bucky was barely able to strangle out again as he stared as best as he could at Tony in his position.

The orange light was fading and more of the lines floating around Tony were breaking apart as they thinned out.

In the corner of his eye, he saw Pepper turn to look at him, but Tony’s eyes were glued to Bucky. The man’s breaths were getting shallow and almost with shudders to his chest, but they were also getting quieter.

Bucky stared up at him desperately, and Tony took in a small breath.

Long ago he had hated Bucky, was haunted by his mother’s gasps for air as his hands went around her neck. He hated Bucky, vehemently, for a long time. He killed his parents, took his family away from him. But time broke down his walls and made him more eager with research into Hydra’s practices.

“I’ve already forgiven you,” Tony tells him gently, honestly, with his own voice as rough as it scratched up his throat. He could forever hate the Winter Soldier, but any hate for James Barnes had melted away.

The words seemed to take a second for Bucky to register, but then a smile rose to his lips. It was as though his entire body relaxed. His shoulders immediately fell away from their tension. His face showed nothing but relief. Steve hadn’t seen him so at ease and so free of his own emotions since before the war.

Bucky lets out a few more gasps of air, almost wheezing as he takes his breaths. His eyes move back to Steve. His chest was heavy, and the air was in short supply. His vision slowly began to tunnel, the light of Steve’s face getting smaller and smaller and he smiles lightly again as Steve gives him a sad but comforting one back.

It was that smile, and the pressure of Steve squeezing his hand that made Bucky live in those last moments.

After Bucky’s eyes closed, the light in his palm slowly faded away, as did the light energy around Tony. It was as though a whisper and blanket fell over the battleground. Not everyone knew exactly what was going on, or knew who James, Bucky, Barnes was, but the heaviness of a fallen soldier was thick in the air. It didn’t matter how well they knew him. He had fought with him, and their hearts would never forget that.

Tony looked over to Steve a few moments after Bucky’s body had gone completely still. The super soldier was still in his leaned over position, but his eyes were now closed, tears gently trickling down his cheeks. Leaning over a little more, Tony reaches out his able hand and gently sets it on Steve’s thigh. The blonde turns to look at him, not ashamed of his tears, and Tony gives him a sympathetic look as Sam walks closer to Steve and sets his own hand on Steve’s shoulder. The blonde gives him a sad, but still reassuring smile back before he turned to look back down at his friend. Tony’s gaze fell back down to him as well.

“Thank you,” Pepper breathed out to James, as though she knew that his spirit would hear her.

Tony closed his eyes, leaning against Pepper slightly, letting his head set on the shoulder of her suit. She leans her head against him as much as she could, her eyes still staring down at James and the scarified that he made.

It wouldn’t be one that Tony would ever take for granted. It wasn’t that he was given a second chance, it was that he would be able to stay here and be with Pepper and Rhodey, to watch his daughter grow. A thought of realization came to him then; He never knew about Morgan.

His gift was so priceless, and Tony would never forget it.

Chapter Text

Tony and Rhodey were in the kitchen putting the food supplies in boxes so it would be easier to carry out when FRIDAY signals to Tony that someone came up the driveway with a loud pitched beep from the security camera and sensors that he set up. The sound was almost drowned out by the music and chattered laughs that came through the open doors in windows from the yard.

Tony was still chuckling at something Clint called to them before they stepped inside, his hands moving to put more boxes of various burgers, sausages, and hotdogs into the larger cardboard box for him to carry out to the barbecue that was next to the box of carefully stacked napkins, egg salad, coleslaw, as well as veggie, meat and fruit trays. Rhodey was packing in hotdog and burger buns into another box as well as the paper plates and larger plastic trays and large plates of various colours they would put the cooked food on. Placing another bag of hamburger buns in the box, he leans back slightly from the kitchen table and takes one step back so that he could see the driveway from the front window. Watching a dark grey Audi come up the driveway, Rhodey went back to his spot by the table.

“Sam’s here,” he reported to Tony as he placed the last two packs of buns in the almost overloaded box.

“About time,” Tony replied jokingly, picking up the box of frozen foods in his arms and beginning his way to the back door, “The buns and stuff can stay in here for now, but can you take the other box?”

“Sure thing,” Rhodey replied behind him.

“And be careful, that box is heavy,” Tony called back, using his foot to open the screen door.

“Then why the hell am I carrying it if you’re the one with the bionic arm!” Rhodey called after him.

“Cuz you’re the one with the bionic legs!” Tony called back, laughing slightly as he heard the screen door slam behind him as he walked through the doorway. The sound of music was much louder out here, but not so loud that people couldn’t converse at a comfortable volume. He sees most of the other guests sitting in either the lawn chairs that he and Pepper had or in the camp chairs they brought themselves; all of them in a circle sitting closely to Pepper.

He takes a glance at Pepper before he turns, smiling again as his eyes instantly fell to the bundle in her arms before his back turns to her as he walks the box out to the hot barbecue further along the deck while Rhodey walked down the steps from the deck before walking across the yard to a table set under a large beach umbrella.

“Tony?” Pepper called to him as he set down the box, “did I hear someone come in?”

Looking over his shoulder as he began to lean up again, he replied back, “yeah that was Sam!”

He takes the pair of scissors he placed in the box and began to tear at a pack of hotdogs. In the corner of his eye he sees Laura get up from her seat before walking to Rhodey at the table. Once the pack is open, he turns again to open the lid and begin to place hotdogs on the grills. He is about to open a second pack when he hears someone walking down the deck. He turns his head to see Rhodey walk up beside him and take the package from him.

“Go greet Sam, I’ll get things started here,” he tells him.

Tony nods and gives Rhodey a pat on his shoulder as a silent appreciated thanks before making his way down the wrap around deck. He glances up, looking around the yard. He sees Clint passing a baseball to Cooper and Lila a little further down the yard while Laura was walking back to her chair beside May and Happy. Bruce and Peter were by the edge, yet still safe distance, from the lake kneeling down with Morgan between them and Nathaniel on Bruce’s other side while Nebula was standing only a foot away staring down and whatever Bruce and Peter seemed to be showing them.

Tony smiles softly as he walks, taking in one last glance at Pepper, who was now avidly talking to her mother beside her before looking in front of him as he stepped off of the side porch and began going down the driveway. Looking out towards the grey car, Tony raised an eyebrow as he saw that not only was the driver’s side door wide open, but that Sam seemed to be leaning over just outside of the wide open passenger’s side. Tony was taking the few steps through and past the other vehicles that were parked in his driveway before he noticed Sam helping someone out.

Even though the hair was more white than golden blonde, Tony knew that hairstyle anywhere before Sam even shut the door to the passenger side so he could see who it was.

“Rogers!” Tony called with a happy surprise, “you made it!”

The older Avenger looked up at him, a smile coming to his face as he sat patiently in the wheelchair while Sam quickly walked to the other side of the vehicle to get into the back seat, putting a camp chair’s sling over his one shoulder before shutting the last two doors.

“What? No greeting for me? I’m the one who brought him over!” Sam called back to him before moving back to stand behind Steve.

Tony made a brushing off hand gesture.

“Yeah, yeah hello to you too Samuel,” Tony grinned to him jokingly.

Sam just rolled his eyes but began to push Steve forward and the three of them met each other halfway.

Tony looked down at Steve, who looked small as an older man but even smaller sitting in the wheelchair.

“I thought that you said you’d still be in the hospital,” Tony told him, crossing his arms.

Steve shrugged slightly.

“After I told the nurses that my good friend Tony Stark was having a gathering today to celebrate the birth of their new baby the nurses said that I was far along enough in my recovery that could be discharged this morning as long as I stay in this thing,” Steve explained, patting the arm of the wheelchair.

“And even if he doesn’t, we have life alert on speed dial,” Sam remarked as he grinned down at Steve while Tony snorted in amusement.

The older man turned his head slowly to look back up at him, chuckling slightly before he turned back to Tony.

“Tony, would you mind going into the car. I brought my cane just in case. I think I could use it at the moment,” Steve told him.

“That’s why I locked it,” Sam replied.

Tony shook his head, his smile still wide on his face before Tony gestured behind him, “Come on, I’m sure everyone would be excited to see you.”

Steve nodded and Sam pushed him forward as they began to walk back along the driveway with Tony.

“Was Nat able to make it?” Steve asked, looking up at Tony.

Tony shook his head. “She’s still in Russia. She called us this morning though to send her well wishes, and she visited when Pepper was still in the hospital last week.”

“Yeah, she came to visit me then too,” Steve replied as Sam carefully moved him between two vehicles.

When they made it through, Steve could start to see past the large lake house to the lush green yard. He felt himself settle in the warmth of the feeling as he heard the music and voices of laughter. He smiles as more people begin to come into focus, all of them with nothing but smiles.

As they got closer, a few heads turned to look at them. Clint turned his head after getting the ball from Lila and one his eyes focused on them, Steve and Tony saw his smile.

“Steve! You have come! And with an escort!” Thor’s voice booms across the field. If anyone didn’t see him come in, they definitely knew that he was here now.

Steve laughed and shook his head and called back to him, “hello, Thor,” though his voice wasn’t as loud as it once was.

Sam called out his greetings back to the god with his own beaming smile and a slight wave. Pepper looked over her shoulder as Sam slowly brought them over to the semi circle, Tony trailing close behind them as Sam placed Steve beside Scott and a rounding Hope, Cassie sitting on the grass below Scott with her back to him while he braided her hair. Sam looked to Scott and gave him a greeting as well while Pepper leaned more towards the two that just came in as Steve gave his quick hello to Scott and Hope as well.

“Oh Steve I’m glad you were able to make it,” she smiles to him as she speaks almost with warmth and relief.

“Managed to sweet talk some of the nurses,” Steve told her as Sam began to set up his chair on the other side of him. “I didn’t want to miss this.”

Pepper gave him another warm smile before shifting slightly in her chair. In the corner of his eye Steve saw Clint pass the ball back to Cooper before he turned back to Steve and Sam and gave them a quick wave. The two responded back, Sam moving to sit in his own chair while Tony stood slightly behind him on Sam’s other side.

“Good to see you again!” The god boomed in a voice as loud and joyous as ever as he advanced on them. Thor’s hand came to pat Steve’s shoulder with just as much excitement and promise as he always had.

“It’s good to see you too,” Steve told his friend back, his body jolting slightly from the weight of Thor’s hand.

“Careful big guy, just because he’s here doesn’t mean he isn’t still recovering,” Sam gently warned Thor.

“I’m fine,” Steve promises the blond, just as eager to see him too.

“Gods age too, and they still have just as much strength and power,” Thor grins, taking his hand off of Steve’s shoulder. The older man smiled, feeling warm. “Though you’ve certainly changed much faster.”

Steve chuckles lightly again and asks, settling in the chair a bit more, “how are the Asguardians doing?”

Thor smiles widely as he reports, “they are doing well. Valkyrie is an amazing leader for them. Everyone has gone back on their feet. Many are trying earthling jobs.”

Scott smiles from beside Steve, looking up from his project, “that’d be interesting to see. You’re just going to pick up your dry cleaning and see a god there.”

The others smile and chuckle lightly as well before Steve looks over at Scott, Hope, and Cassie and gives them a smile.

“It’s good to see you too, Scott, Hope,” he nods to them. The two give him a smile and Steve asked, “how far along are you?”

Hope smiles and touches her stomach slightly before answering, “just hit five months this week.”

Steve smiled, going to ask them something else before he notices Wanda hurriedly coming up to him in the corner of his eye. She slows slightly just enough to be able to hug Steve without hurting him. Steve wrapped his arms back around her and the two held the hug for a few seconds before Wanda finally willed herself to pull back.

“It’s good to see you too,” Steve understood, giving her a last smile before she moved back to stand beside Thor so everyone could see him.

“How was the surgery?” She asked, crossing her arms as Clint slowly made his way up as well, clapping a hand on Sam’s shoulder as a greeting before standing on the other side of Wanda.

“Not as bad as the first few,” Steve explained. “And I actually feel better now with it done. I just got to stay in this for a few days and take a bit of physiotherapy.”

“Old age hitting you hard,” Clint smirked.

Steve laughed lightly and shrugged before explaining, “yeah, almost as though over 150 years of unchecked old scoliosis treatments and being an Avenger finally caught up with my spine and hips.”

“Probably didn’t help all those times that you fell from 50 stories up to the ground like an idiot,” Sam commented, making Tony snort and the others laugh while Steve just grinned and rolled his eyes.

“Probably not, but considering you followed me you better watch and prepare for your own surgeries, Wilson,” Steve told him.

The other man rolled his eyes, but couldn’t stop the smile on his face as everyone else hooted and laughed. Just as Tony looked up to check the pond again wondering where Bruce was for this little reunion, he sees Pepper carefully walking up to them. Even though it had been a week since they left the hospital, and it wasn’t her first time doing this Tony still stood up straighter and moved to go around the group to walk with her in case she needed help, but all Pepper had to do was give him a pointed look and he relaxed again.

Holding the bundle safely swaddled in her arms, Pepper reached the group and gave Steve a smile. Looking back up at her, Steve gave her a smile.

“I’m guessing that is the new co-owner of Stark industries that will push Tony out of the top 5 smartest people in history,” Steve grinned.

Tony snorted.

“I can only hope,” Tony agreed with a smile before looking up and towards the pond and noting the empty space that had been filled by four people before. “Speaking of children that will change the world, where is our future rebel leader….and our friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man?”

Shifting the little bundle in her arms ever so slightly to bounce him a bit, Pepper answers, “Bruce and Peter wanted to show her something along the wooded area. Something about how shade and water levels change ecosystems, or at least that’s as much as I understood before Peter began using words that I’ll have to look up again. Peter was excited though. They’ll be fine.”

Tony pretends to be thinking about that before he nods, “Morgan does know how to swim at least. And Peter can punch out a bear while Bruce runs with Morgan.”

Pepper almost snorts.

“Nebula will be there to make sure nothing happens,” she told him.

Tony made a joking, pointed face towards Pepper that still somehow clearly marked a smirk going on underneath the skin.

“That does not confirm a safe option, remember when she went through Morgan’s closet telling her what shoes to wear that would make the biggest impact in a fight,” Tony grinned.

“Well now she knows how to beat up mean stuffed animals,” Pepper replied, making Tony snort. Yes, that and the girl that happened to keep pulling on Morgan’s hair.

“Anyway,” the strawberry blonde gave Tony a small pointed grin before turning to smile down at Steve again, “I thought it might be best if I came to you.”

Steve smiled, his eyes going to the bundle in her arms as she drifted it closer to him.

“Would you like to hold him?” Pepper asked.

Steve’s eyes immediately flickered to look back up at her, a look of soft surprise on his face.

“I’d love to,” he replies warmly.

Pepper’s smile was just as warm as she moved closer and kneeled down slightly so that it was easier to transfer the blue bundle. Steve carefully cupped the baby’s head while his other arm curved in a V so that he could hold him. The others almost held their breath as though worried that the baby would begin to scream, but all it did was coo softly a few times.

Once the baby was comfortable and in his arms, Steve relaxed into the chair again, letting his arms relax a bit. Pepper pulled back slightly and smiled down at both of them. Even though he knew that everyone’s eyes were on him, Steve was completely transfixed by the tiny new born curled up in his arms. It had been a while since he held a baby this small. Natasha had described him to Steve but it was nothing in comparison to looking at the slightly pudgy, tiny baby in his arms. He had whips of brown hair on his head and little red cheeks like someone had lightly dabbed them with strawberries.

“I’m sorry for your loss, Pepper, but he looks like a Stark,” Steve remarks, bringing the others into laughter.

“That’s what I said!” Tony replied in a tone between excitement and exasperation.

Steve gave him a grin before he looked down at the little baby again. His soft features, how his tiny fist moved slightly in his sleep, and the soft rise and fall of his chest was mesmerizing.

“What’s his name?” Steve asked. Natasha had left out that part, saying she should ask them himself. Steve had an idea, but he still wanted to know for sure.

Pepper and Tony gave each other a quick glance before Tony him answered in a soft voice.

“Jamie.”

Steve blinked a few times, quiet before looking up at Tony with shock.

“Really?” Steve asked, his voice soft with surprise.

Tony gave him a reassuring, soft smile back.

“Yeah, after two people named James that saved my life,” Tony told him.

Steve stared up at him a little longer, something tightening in his chest. The gentle warmth and hope that spread to everyone was like a circle around Steve. He blinked a few times again before looking down at the tiny person in his arms, Jamie.

As Bucky’s face came into view, Steve had managed to always steer the memories to those back in the forties, or after he had completely broke from Hydra, memories of times where Bucky was actually smiling. For Steve it had been decades since Bucky died, and thinking about him still gave Steve a slight ache in his chest. It wasn’t until the past couple of years that he could actually visit Bucky’s gravesite and know that his body was now laying there beside his parents, in the same place where his sisters were buried not too far away. He had now lived more of his without his best friend than he had with him, and there wasn’t a day that he didn’t miss him.

“I would’ve thought….well I know Howard is a bit of an older name these days, but maybe ‘Howie’,” Steve commented.

Tony chuckled and shook his head, “Howard is his middle name, but I thought that the world only needed one Howard Stark and that was more than enough.”

Steve chuckled himself before he heard footsteps coming up behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Rhodey walk over to them, a large plate of burgers and hotdogs in his hands.

“Food’s ready!” He calls out for everyone as he makes his way to the table where the rest of the food was.

She gave him a smile and nod with an appreciated “thanks”. About to go past Steve, Rhodey slowed and gave him a smile, patting the older super soldier’s shoulder.

“Hey, it’s good to see you, man. I wasn’t sure if you’re going to make it because of you surgery,” he commented.

“I didn’t want to miss seeing everyone, and the new addition,” Steve smiles, looking up at Rhodey for just a moment to give him recognition before his gaze goes back down to the baby sleeping soundly in his arms. “I didn’t know the next time would be when everyone would be here together.” That much was true too. Between Clint being on the farm in another state, Scott being across the country, and Thor being in space get togethers were not as easy as they used to be.

Rhodey clapped Steve’s shoulder, smiling and unbothered that Steve’s attention for the moment seemed to be elsewhere. Jaimie had that affect on him too. Looking up, he told everyone, “grab a plate and dig in. And vegetarian hotdogs and burgers are on the right side of the plate!”

Wanda gave him a thumbs up and a small thank you before leaving. The others slowly got up or moved towards the table to get their fill.

Looking up, Steve turned his head to look at Pepper.

“Would I be able to hold him a little longer?” he asked.

Smile widening, Pepper nodded. “Yeah, that’s fine Steve. Actually that would give me a chance to eat so that would help a lot.”

Smiling back, Steve nodded before Sam got up from his chair. “I’ll get your plate ready at least. Any dietary restrictions you need? Do you need to work on lowering your cholesterol or are their pills for that back in the car.”

As Tony and the others snorted in laughter around them, Steve looked back to a grinning Sam, “Wilson, you are lucky that I am holding a baby.”

Still grinning, Sam called back as he followed the others to line up by the table.

“Why do you think I held onto that?”

Steve shook his head, a smile still tugging at his lips before he heard Tony say something about ‘getting a notification to the pond scientists and bodyguard’.

But Steve was already looking back down again, bringing a hand up so the tips of his fingers could draw down the tiny boy’s stomach. Steve watched as he twitched in his sleep before settling again and Steve continued to smile as he regarded little Jaimie.