Longing •Bucky Barnes•

•Twenty Eight•

"Tony?" I said softly as I knocked on his door.

The sun had gone down and possibly even him by this hour. I waited patiently at the door and I started to think he wouldn't answer even if he was awake. I let out a sigh and turned away heading back down the steps before I heard the door unlock. I looked to see Tony opening the door with a calm expression.

"I just put Morgan down, I was about to call you, come on." He said nodding his head inside.

I silently followed him and he shut the door behind me. Most of the lights were off and a fire was crackling in his fireplace. Pepper was no where to be seen and the place seemed to be cleaned up from dinner the dinner that we ended up not attending.

"Interesting visit today." He said softly and I didn't even know how to reply. "I was never a fan of that Scott guy."

"Tony." I said in a small but hesitant voice.

"Here this is for you and Robo-bitch." He said holding out a pile of something.

I took it in my hands as he passed it to me unexpectedly. I didn't even know what it was as I examined it. However, after a moment I realized it was clothes. Suits to be exact. One for Bucky and one for me. They looked like what we used to wear, but lighter yet sturdier and without all the holes and wear. I looked up to him who was kindling the fire casually.

"What the hell is this Tony?" I asked flatly.

"Your new suits." He said not even looking up at me.

"Why do you have these? Why are these even made?" I asked almost angrily as I threw them onto the coffee table.

"You told me the day I came back from Titan after the snap that if they called you and needed you, you'd answer." He said standing up. "You needed a suit when that day came."

"Tony, you knew and all this time you never told me. If you new I was communicating with SHEILD why didn't you confront me?" I asked.

"To do what? Tell you to stop? Tell you that you couldn't?" He asked and I could tell he was upset. "You're 28 Valerie, I may be your dad, but I can't control everything you do."

"I didn't want anyone to know, I just wanted to be in the loop Tony. I wasn't exactly planning on this, I didn't even know about this until this afternoon." I said a little louder than I had intended.

"Maybe it's not what you intended but you knew, even before, that I'd they called you asking for help that you'd do it." He said calmly. "Thus, why I made you the suit. You needed it."

"We need you." I said softly. "I need you."

"That I can't do. She's 5 Valerie, I can't abandon her and Pepper. Don't you dare think about even pulling the Peter card again." He said pointing at me.

"They just want help. They need your brains to make this work, you've always been the brains behind the Avengers." I said hugging the clothes in my hands instinctively.

"Don't think I've put the idea of this down for the last 5 years. I've ran the numbers, I've planned out every scenario, none of it works out." He said gently.

"Strange said there was only 1 reality that we'd win in, what if this is it?" I asked feeling a tear fall from my eye.

"I'll count my blessings in this reality Val. I don't want you to go, I want that on the record. I lost Fury, Strange, and the kid. I didn't want to lose you too, but I knew you'll still go. That's why I made that." He said sitting down on the end of the kitchen table.

"The world needs the Avengers." I said firmly. "All of them, we have to bring them back."

"Consider this my formal letter of resignation." He said and I just looked down at the floor.