Galactic Savior | Avengers✔️

✮ 𝟎𝟔𝟏 ✮

five years later

"SO I, uh... Went on a date the other day. It's the first time in five years, you know? I'm sitting there at dinner... I didn't even know what to talk about," the man began as Marlene leaned on the wall outside of the conference room, hand intertwined with a smaller one at her feet.

"What did you talk about?" Steve's deep, melodic voice asked inside the room, and Marlene smiled despite her sadness. She then crouched next to the small figure as he leaned on her shoulder.

"Same old crap, you know?" the man said. "How things have changed, and... my job, his job... How much we miss the Mets. And then things got quiet... He cried as they were serving the salads."

"What about you?" another guy asked.

The first man laughed mockingly. "I cried... just before dessert. But I'm seeing him again tomorrow, so–"

"That's great. You did the hardest part. You took the jump, you didn't know where you were gonna come down. And that's it. That's those little brave baby steps we gotta take. To try and become whole again, try and find purpose. I went in the ice in '45 right after I met the woman I thought I would spend the rest of my life with. Woke up 70 years later to finally find a way to move on. Now, I have my own version of a happy ending with the love of my life," he said, and Marlene smiled at his words. "We all gotta move on. The world is in our hands. It's left to us guys, and we got to do something with it. Otherwise... Thanos should have killed all of us."

Marlene stood as people walked from the meeting. They waved at her, used to seeing Steve Rogers's wife waiting for him after meetings. Tucking a strand of brown hair behind her ear, she let go of the small hand waiting impatiently... watching him run inside with a loud yell.

"Daddy!" he screamed, jumping straight into Steve's arms.

"Hey, Harry," Steve said, holding him to his chest after throwing the three-year-old into the air once. "Oh, man, you've been good for Mommy today?"

Marlene grinned, walking forward to ruffle Harry's blonde hair. "Poor baby fell and scraped his knee while we were leaving the store. Got him ice cream, and he was suddenly all right again."

Steve laughed. "He played you?"

"I think," Marlene said seriously before she heard her phone ding. Seeing the name, she smiled tightly at Steve. "Give me one second."

"We'll be by the car," Steve called, watching her nod and call someone.

Marlene bit her lip, waiting for the click of the line. When it finally was answered, she heard a gruff greeting. "Hey, I'll pick you up in an hour. Let me get away from Steve and Harry, okay?"

Clint Barton's voice was stoic as he said, "Hurry up. I have a new mission lined up."

"Of course," Marlene murmured, ending the call as she walked outside to see Harry buckled into his car seat. Steve eyed her warily as she smiled timidly at him. "What? Another meeting with Pepper?"

"Yep," she lied. "You can go see Nat, though. I'm sure she's eager to see Harry."

"How will you get there?" Steve asked her.

"Pepper's picking me up," she lied again. "Hey, don't worry. I'll be back tomorrow. I'll probably sleep at Tony's."

Marlene leaned over to kiss Harry's nose, in which he giggled at. "Play nice with Vision," she warned the baby. He stuck his tongue out, and she grabbed it teasingly, her own nose scrunching up playfully. "I'll cut it off and feed it to Rocket." Harry gasped as she let his tongue go. "I love you, Hare-Bear," she said, kissing him again.

Backing up, she saw Steve eyeing her warily. "You just had a meeting the other day. I thought they were weekly?" he asked suspiciously, one hand resting on her waist.

"Don't ask questions, honey. I can't explain it all to you right now," Marlene teased, pinching his cheek. "I love you, Steve. Don't worry so much."

"I love you more, Marls," he replied instead of the question running through his head. "I always worry about you," he said as if he knew. He kissed her on the lips, her smiling into the kiss when Harry groaned. She placed two more kisses to reassure him before smacking his bottom once when he turned. "Not in front of Harry."

"He's three!"

Steve gave her a look as he got into the car. With a final wave, he watched her blow a kiss to them.

Marlene smiled tightly as she watched him drive off. As he turned the corner, she pressed the button on her Stark-Watch, watching it beep four times before she was alerted that a Quinjet would be landing soon in the normal area. Walking two blocks over, she grinned as the Quinjet landed just as she was told. Getting on it, she made sure it was in stealth mode, even though it was smaller than Quinjets usually went. Placing Clint's coordinates, she had it set in auto-pilot as she changed into a black suit with guns and knived all over her person.

When she neared Clint, she sent him a quick message. Suddenly, a loud band landing on the top of the jet, and she rolled her eyes at his theatrics. Opening the hatch, she smirked as he swung into the jet easily, pulling off his mask to reveal his bruised face.

"Rhodey's catching your tail," Marlene commented dryly as she closed the hatch. "Better step up your game."

"That's why I have you," Clint said with a small smirk. "At least with you, they'll never suspect you to help me. How long you told Rogers you'd be gone?"

"A day."

He made a tsking sound as he took over flying—claiming it relaxed him. "A few at most. Learn to lie better."

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said sarcastically. "It's not like I enjoy going behind his back."

"Then, why do you?" Clint bit back.

"Because," Marlene stressed, "I've told you before. He refused me to help with anything. He won't let me help Nat or Rhodey. He thinks I am nothing without my powers."

"Now, you're being dramatic. He didn't say that. He's the Star Spangled Man With a Plan. He can't be rude." Marlene snickered quietly at his words.

"No, he didn't say it. I just feel that way," Marlene admitted with a frown. "I just felt helpless sitting around. Then, we had Harry—complete accident. I hate to say it, but being pregnant made it worse. Steve was terrified someone would come and ruin it for us. After Harry was born... Steve hated me going out alone. It took me months before he started to let me go out without Natasha. This is what I need. I can't sit around. Ever since I lost my powers, I've felt hopeless. Weak. Depressed. This is good for me."

"Hey, I'm not complaining. It's nice... oddly."

"What? Killing people with me?" Marlene teased.

Clint rolled his eyes. "We're killing bad people. Don't make it sound horrible."

"It is horrible."

"Okay, do you want me to bring you back home?" Clint asked rhetorically.

"Jeez," Marlene groaned. "Aren't you a happy camper? Where are we going anyway, Hawkeye?"

Clint smirked, gripping the handles tighter. "Tokyo."