Once Upon an Avenger

Chapter 34: The Captain's heart

"The wanderer returns," Tony joked as Hope entered the main room.

"I have a horse, figured I would go out for a ride."

Tony shrugged, unable to find fault in her thinking. "Morgan's upstairs with Pepper. She was going on about you promising to play with her."

"I forgot about that..." Hope's voice trailed off as she made her way to the Starks' apartment. "Knock, knock!"

"Auntie Hope!" Morgan squealed when she opened the door.

Picking her up, Hope beamed, "Munchkin!"

"You promised we'd play today!"

"That's exactly why I'm here. It's really sunny, why don't we go outside? Only if that's okay with your mom though."

Pepper laughed at how excited her daughter was. "Go ahead!"

"Alright, Munchkin, hold on tight!" Hope made a cloud of mist appear around them, and before they knew it, they were next to the fountain.

"I love magic!" The little girl shouted joyfully.

Hope squeezed Morgan's nose. "Me too!"

"Can you show me more, please?"

"Anything for my favourite Munchkin!"

She furrowed her brows. "But I'm your only Munchkin."

Hope spent the next hour messing around with Morgan, showing her all sorts of different magic tricks. It helped take her mind off things, watching the little girl's face light up every time she did the tiniest bit of magic. Growing up surrounded by it, she'd stopped seeing it the way Morgan did years ago, taking advantage of its uses and seeing it as a burden because of the prophecy, rather than admiring the wonder of it all.

Morgan was sat in between Hope's legs, playing with a feather she'd just made appear when Pepper came over. "Juice pops, honey!" The five-year-old was up and running towards the door in a flash, shouting about juice pops as she went. "Are you coming?" The strawberry blonde asked Hope.

"I'm good, thanks." Hope smiled half-heartedly at Pepper. "I'm not hungry."

"Mommy, are you coming?" The two women heard Morgan shout from the doorway.

Pepper gave Hope a smile before making her way over to her daughter. "I'm on my way!"

*

"Has anyone seen Swan?" Sam asked, as he grabbed a bottle of water each for him and Loki. "We were supposed to do some training together, I was looking forward to watching her kick Loki's ass, again."

"I would have beaten her, again," Loki corrected.

"Of course, you would."

Wanda laughed at the two of them. "You two argue more than an old married couple."

"We do not!" Loki was outraged by her suggestion.

She winked. "Whatever you say."

"Back to the point," Sam said. "Swan?"

Just then, Morgan came running into the main cortex, mumbling about juice pops, closely followed by Pepper, who just about managed to hear Sam's question. "If you're looking for Hope, she's by the fountain," Pepper explained. "She didn't fancy joining us for a snack, she said she wasn't hungry. I reckon that this one has tired her out."

Morgan jumped, trying to reach the freezer door. "Can I have an orange one, please?"

"Here you go..." Pepper passed her daughter the juice pop of her choosing.