Chapter 14: All Things Come To An End

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A/N: The final chapter, not including the epilogue. I wanna thank everyone for reading this. It's been a fun ride. I hope you enjoyed it. 

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POV: Nat

Clint and Lila reunited and I knew that with Clint back, she would be able to go back to being a Barton. Y/N and I had taken her in and taken care of her, but her biological family was back and that was what she needed. I flew them both back to the Barton home, to reunite with Laura and the boys. It was a tearful reunion, especially given that we were missing a member of the family. I watched as Lila melted into Laura's arms. My heart broke a bit at the idea that the little girl I had called my daughter for so long, wasn't coming home with me. She would be staying here with the Barton's once more.

"Thank you..." Clint spoke up, knocking his shoulder into mine. "For taking care of her."

"She may not be my blood, Clint, but she is my family." I answered back, finding it hard to pry my eyes off the teen. "I'll miss her."

"You could always stay, you know..." He offered. "I can build you a house on the land... you wouldn't be far."

I shook my head. As much as I would miss Lila, this place was not my home. I would need to find my home once more. I wasn't sure where it would be, but I knew that I would know it when I saw it. I let the tears fall as I thought about all that had been lost to get everything back to where it was before Thanos arrived.

"Natasha... we have to go back." Yelena spoke up from the quinjet. "It's time..."

I nodded, looking at Clint. "You sure you don't want to be there?"

He shook his head, looking back at his reunited family. "I'm where I need to be."

I cleared my throat, brushing the tears off my face. I had been crying a lot lately. I turned to re-board the quinjet only for a very familiar voice to call out.

"MOM!"

I spun back to face Lila. "Yeah?" I answered, as she ran at me. I held my arms open for her.

"You can stay... please stay." She begged, burying her face into my chest. "I don't want you to go."

I held her tightly and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "My place is not here, Lila. You know that. You have your original family back, you can be a kid again."

"But what about you... what about ma?"

"I'll be ok... and you know Y/N would want you to be with your family, Lila. We both loved you with our whole hearts, but you belong here."

"I love you, mom." She whispered, before pulling away and looking me in the eyes.

"I love you, baby girl." With one final kiss to her forehead, I pulled away and boarded the quinjet. We took off, back to the Stark Eco-Compound. There was one last thing I had to do, before I went to search for my home.

It was late evening when we landed. Pepper welcomed Yelena and I in, getting us settled in a guest room. We would need to work on everything in the morning.

"Stay as long as you need, Nat..." Pepper offered, pulling me into a hug. The two of us had suffered a lot in the last few days. "I'm down the hall if you need me."

"Thanks, Pepper." I whispered, before curling up in the bed and falling into a dreamless sleep.

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POV: Pepper

"Everybody wants a happy ending, right? But it doesn't always roll that way. Maybe this time. I'm hoping if you play this back, it's in celebration. I hope families are reunited. I hope we get it back. And something like a normal version of the plant has been restored. If there ever was such a thing. God, what a world... Universe, now. If you told me ten years ago that we weren't alone let alone to this extent, I mean, I wouldn't have been surprised. But come on, who knew? The epic forces of darkness and light that have come into play. And for better or worse that's the reality that Morgan's gonna have to find a way to grow up in. So I thought I better record a little greeting, in the case of an untimely death. On my part. Not that death at any time isn't untimely. This time travel thing that we're gonna try and pull off tomorrow, it's got me scratching my head about the survivability of it all. That's the thing. Then again, that's the hero gig, right? Part of the journey is the end. What am I even tripping for? Everything is gonna work out exactly the way it's supposed to. I love you 3,000."

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