Falling for the Winter Soldier

The Aftermath

Depression Warning ⚠️ 

         I fell into a deep depression after losing everyone I loved; especially from losing Bucky. I laid down in my old apartment in the States and barely had the motivation to go back to work, and there wasn't a whole lot of clients of mine left because they had succumbed to the Snap. I was getting through one day at a time, and I was barely pulling through. Losing Bucky was like losing another part of me, because as husband and wife we were connected in a way no one understood. It's hard losing someone so close to you and who you loved with every ounce of your being. People often asked me if I considered remarrying, and my answer would always be a resounding no. Bucky was my happily ever after, and no one else could fill that. There were times where I would have to spend alone time in my office and just cry until I couldn't cry anymore.  I wanted to find Thanos and kill him slowly and painfully. Turns out I didn't have to, because the rest of the Avengers had found the planet that Thanos was on and Thor had killed him. We had come to terms that fifty percent of the planet was gone. 

Five Years Later... 

      All the Avengers had gone their separate ways to get rid of the depression of losing the battle. We didn't know where Thor went, but I did know that he took the loss the hardest. He felt that it was his fault that we lost, because he didn't kill Thanos right in that moment. I offered to take him as a client to help him feel better, but he said he didn't want to waste my time. That broke my heart. Tony and his wife Pepper moved to a cabin in the woods and they had a daughter named Morgan. She was the sweetest little girl I ever met, she loved playing Barbies and playing with anything she could find in their garage. Steve started a support group for people who were affected by the Snap. I attended a couple times a week when I wasn't working. I would also drive down to Tony and Pepper's house to babysit Morgan when they would want to have date nights or when they would need to run errands. 

   On one of the times I was babysitting Morgan, we were sitting at the kitchen table coloring. We had just baked chocolate chip cookies and we made sure to leave some for Tony and Pepper. She was drawing a picture of her father in his Iron Man suit and her in a pink Iron Man suit. It was adorable to see, and it was so nice to see how much she looked up to Tony. I was drawing a picture of me and Bucky dancing together at our wedding, and in the background of the picture I drew a sunset around us using a variety of colors. 

        Morgan looked over at my picture and her brown eyes were full of curiosity, "Who's that?" I decided to tell her, because I thought it would be good to show her how important love is. "That's me and my husband Bucky, and that's us on our wedding day." I showed her the drawn figures of us. "He looks very nice,"  she said approvingly. I smiled at the little girl,  "He's very nice." "Where is he?" she asked curiously. "He got taken away from me, a bad man appeared and made half the people in the world disappear." I said in a way that wouldn't scare her. "The man must have been very mean," Morgan said sympathetically. "The man was mean, but he didn't take away the love that I have for my husband. Do you see your Mom and Dad say tell each other that they love each other?" I asked in a motherly manner. "Yep," she replied happily. "That's how strong love is. I bet your Mom and Dad work together to keep your family happy because they want you to grow up happy. Right?" I told her. "Yeah! It makes me happy to see Mommy and Daddy happy," her eyes were full of wonder and happiness. She looked back at me, "I hope Bucky can get away from the bad man and come back to you," Morgan hugged me like I was her best friend. "Thanks Morgan." I hugged her back. We got done with our pictures and put them on the fridge for Tony and Pepper to see, but when I realized that Tony was still probably mad at Bucky for killing his parents I took my picture off the fridge, went into the living room, and put it into my notebook in my backpack. 

     Morgan came skipping into the room and said "Wanna go in the backyard and swing on the swings?" "I would love to." I smiled happily. We went outside to the backyard and I pushed her on her swing-set and she giggled excitedly the higher she went on the swing. When she was high enough, I ran to the other scene and swung high enough to match her speed. "We're flying!" we both squealed happily. "I'm Iron Girl!" Morgan yelled in excitement. "I'm Iron Woman!" I called with a grin on my face. It felt nice to be carefree again after having five years of depression and sadness. 

   "We're home!" Tony called and Pepper bent down to hug her daughter and kiss her on top of the head. "How was your day?" Pepper asked the two of us. Before I could answer, Morgan began rapidly telling her parents about our day, "Sadie colored pictures with me, we made cookies, we played dollies, she told me a story, and we swinged on the swing set!" I had never heard a four year old girl talk so fast in my life. Tony chuckled, "I'm glad you two had a good day, and I'm glad you were nice to Sadie." hearing Tony say that was comforting. We had worked on patching up our friendship the past couple of years and we were getting to a good place. "Thank you for watching her," Tony told me gratefully. "Of course, we're like BFF's now." I smiled at Morgan and then at her parents. This made Tony smile, "Would you be available to watch her tomorrow morning? Pep and I have more errands to run and it may take all day." "Of course, I'll come over after I see my client." I agreed. "Great," he approved. I typed that I was babysitting Morgan again into my phone so I wouldn't forget it. "I'll see you tomorrow," I picked up my backpack and started to walk out the door. "Sadie, I hope you're doing okay," Tony said before I could get outside. "I really do," he told me genuinely. "I'm surviving one day at a time." I honestly told him.   "Things will get better, we'll figure something out." he assured me. "Thanks Tony." I walked to my car and started my drive back to my apartment.

     In all honesty, I was dreading going back because it was so lonely without Bucky. I missed him everyday and it was getting harder with each day that passed. I wondered what Tony meant by 'we'll figure something out soon'? What was he working on?