I Can't Help It - Steve Rogers

Chapter 75

Steve, Rachel and Nat explain to Scott what happened with Thanos five years ago and Scott congratulates Steve and Rachel on the wedding and the kids before he starts pacing back and forth, processing the information while muttering to himself. Rachel glances at Steve from where they both stand behind the kids as they play on the floor before looking over to Nat. "Scott, are you okay?" Steve asks. "Yeah. Have any of you ever studied quantum physics?" he answers nervously. "Only to make conversation" Nat answers while Steve shrugs and looks at Rachel. "Briefly" she answers.

"Alright so, five years ago, right before... Thanos... I was in a place called the quantum realm. The quantum realm is like it's own microscopic universe. To get in there, you have to be incredibly small. Hope. She's my um... She was my... She was supposed to pull me out. Then Thanos happened, and I got stuck down there" he explains as simply as possible. "I'm sorry, that must've been a very long five years" Nat apologises sympathetically. "That's just it. It wasn't. For me, it was five hours. See, the rules of the quantum realm aren't like they are up here. Everything is unpredictable. Is that anyone's sandwich? I'm starving" Scott continues before getting side-tracked and starts eating Nat's leftovers.

"Scott, what are you talking about?" Steve tries getting him back on track. "What I'm saying is, time works differently in the quantum realm. The only problem is right now we don't have a way to navigate it. But what if we did? I can't stop thinking about it. What if we could somehow control the chaos and we could navigate it? What if there was a way that we could enter the quantum realm at a certain point in time and exit the quantum realm at a certain point in time? Like before Thanos?" Scott suggests, practically in one breath. "Wait. Are you talking about a time machine?" Steve questions in disbelief. "No. No, of course. No, not a time machine. It's more like a... Yeah, like a time machine. I know, it's crazy. It's crazy. But I can't stop thinking about it" Scott admits defeat when he realises Steve's right. "There's gotta be some way... It's crazy" Scott sighs in defeat once again.

"Scott, I get emails from a raccoon, so nothing sounds crazy anymore" Nat states calmly. "So, who do we talk to about this?" Scott asks and everyone looks at each other, instantly thinking of one man.

---

The drive to Tony's cabin was quiet. They take two cars since Steve and Rachel have to bring the kids with them. Steve glances over his shoulder at the kids sitting quietly in the back before looking over at Rachel in the passenger seat, only to see her lost in thought. He reaches across the centre console and rests his hand on her thigh, pulling her from her thoughts. "Are you okay?" he asks when she looks at him. "I don't know" she sighs in defeat. "It's just that I know how I reacted last time I saw him and I just froze. All the memories and hurt came back and I don't know if it's gotten any easier in the last five years" she explains as she wrings her hands together. "I know, but it's gonna be ok. I'm right here. All you need to do is grab my hand and I won't let go" he assures her as he takes her hand in his. She smiles at him gratefully as they pull up outside the cabin, beside Nat and Scott in another car.

Rachel takes a deep breath before climbing out of the car and opening the back door to get Natalie out while Steve gets James. They all watch Tony walk onto his front porch with a little girl in his arms. He looks at everyone and returns a nod to Nat before entering his house.

They all gather on the front porch and wait for Tony to come back out. He eventually does and looks at everyone. "Pepper said you can take the kids in to meet Morgan if you'd like" he suggests politely to Steve and Rachel as they stand with their kids between them. They share a look before Rachel leads Natalie and James inside the house. She sits down beside Pepper and they introduce the kids to each other but Rachel finds herself glancing over her shoulder, back to the door. "You can go back out if you'd like. I'll watch them until you leave" Pepper offers with a smile. "Are you sure?" Rachel asks unsure. "Of course, go ahead" Pepper insists. "Thank you. Natalie, James, Mommy's going outside for a few minutes ok? You stay here and play with Morgan" she says and they both nod before she leaves.

Rachel enters the porch to Steve asking Tony if anything is really impossible. Tony answers with a bunch of scientific terminology before passing drinks out to everyone as Rachel stands beside Steve. "In layman's terms, it means you're not coming home" Tony summarises. "I did" Scott argues. "No, you accidently survived. It's a billion to one cosmic fluke. And now you wanna pull a... what do you call it?" Tony replies before taking a seat. "A time heist?" Scott suggests with a grin. "Yeah, a time heist. Of course. Why didn't we think of this before? Oh, because it's laughable. Because it's a pipe dream" Tony questions as he looks around at everyone, his eyes stopping on Rachel briefly.

Rachel takes a deep breath before reaching out and taking Steve's hand like he told her to. The memories are starting to flash back in her mind and she can feel her heartrate increasing. He gives her hand a gentle squeeze, letting her know he's here. "The stones are in the past. We could go back, we could get them" Steve suggests to Tony. "We could snap our own fingers, we can bring everybody back" Nat adds quickly. "Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?" Tony replies pessimistically. "I don't believe we would" Steve replies with his optimism. "Gotta say it. I sometimes miss that giddy optimism. However, high hopes won't help if there's no logical, tangible way for me to safely execute said time heist. I believe the most likely outcome is our collective demise" Tony concludes.

"Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel. Alright? It means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events" Scott argues as he takes a seat beside Tony. "I'm gonna stop you right there, Scott. Are you seriously telling me that your plan to save the universe is based on Back to the Future" Tony questions and Scott replies 'no'. "Good, you had me worried there. Cause that would be horseshit. That's not how quantum physics works" Tony replies seriously.

"Tony. We have to take a stand" Nat states pleadingly. "We did stand, and yet here we are" Tony replies, clearly not changing his mind. "I know you got a lot on the line. You got a wife, a daughter. But I lost someone very important to me, a lot of people did. And now, now we have a chance to bring her back, to bring everyone back and you're telling me that you won't even-" Scott argues, getting worked up. "That's right Scott, I won't even" Tony interrupts calmly. Morgan runs out to Tony saying Pepper told her to come save him. Natalie and James follow out behind her and run over to Steve and Rachel. They both lean down to pick each of them up while Tony lifts Morgan into his lap.

"I wish you were coming here to ask me something else. Anything else. I'm honestly happy to see you guys, I just... The table's set for six" Tony says as he stands and walks by Steve and Rachel. Steve stops Tony. "Tony, I'm happy for you, I really I am. I get it" he says looking at Morgan as Natalie wraps her arms around Steve's neck. "But this is a second chance, we could bring everyone back" Steve tries. "I got my second chance right here Cap. I can't roll the dice on it" he replies before leaving, saying they can stay if they don't talk 'shop'.

They all leave and head back towards the cars. "He's scared" Nat states. "He's not wrong" Steve argues. "Yeah, but I mean what are we gonna do? We need him. What, are we gonna stop?" Scott questions helplessly. "No, I wanna do it right" Steve answers as he puts Natalie in the car. "We're gonna need a really big brain" Rachel states as she puts James in the car as well. "Bigger than his?" Scott questions unknowingly before they all leave to try option number 2.