𝗀 𝗁 𝗈 𝗌 𝗍 | | 𝗌 𝗍 𝖾 𝗏 𝖾 𝗋 𝗈 𝗀 𝖾 𝗋 𝗌

𝖾 𝗂 𝗀 𝗁 𝗍 𝗒 － 𝖿 𝗈 𝗎 𝗋

✧ 𝟤𝟢𝟤𝟥, 𝗎𝗉𝗌𝗍𝖺𝗍𝖾 𝗇𝖾𝗐 𝗒𝗈𝗋𝗄 ✧

THAT EVENING, THE TEAM SAT around in the conference room, discussing where they would have to go in time to retrieve all six Infinity Stones. It wasn't quite time for Steven to go to bed yet, but Marta gave him a bath and put him in pajamas and a sleep sack, cradling him in her arms as he drank a cup of milk holding his dinosaur. Steven was curious about the two bunnies Marta came back with, but she stuffed them in her closet before he could touch them. They were special, too special.

        "Okay, so the 'how' works. Now we gotta figure out the when and the where. Almost everyone in this room has had an encounter with at least one of the six Infinity Stones." Steve said, standing near the holographic screens that displayed the six stones.

        "Or substitute the word encounter for damn near been killed by one of the six Infinity Stones." Tony added, moving towards Steve.

        "I haven't, I don't even know what the hell you're all talking about." Scott said, to which Steven mumbled a reprimand for his language at him.

        Bruce passed behind Marta and Steven, his green hand mesmerizing to the toddler. "Regardless, we only have enough Pym Particles for one round trip each, and these stones have been in a lot of different places throughout history." Bruce moved towards Tony.

        Marta held her baby close. "Our history. So, not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in." she spoke as she ran her fingers up and down Steven's back, soothing him.

        "Which means we have to pick our targets." Clint said, leaning against a glass wall with his arms crossed.

        "Correct." Tony passed him, holding a disposable coffee cup.

        "So, let's start with the Aether. Thor, what do you know?" Steve questioned, his hands stuffed into his pockets.

        Marta turned in her chair to see Thor slouching down in the corner, sunglasses over his eyes, a can of beer in his hand. "Is he asleep?" Natasha asked, Steven a little nerve-wracked at Thor's appearance.

        "No, I'm pretty sure he's dead." Rhodey responded, sparking fear in Marta and Steve's son.

        Steve looked at Marta and she had the same thought. As Thor started talking about the Aether, Marta stood up and walked to the kitchen, setting her wide awake son on the counter. "Mama?" Steven asked, rubbing at his eyes.

        Marta was in the refrigerator. "Yes, angel?" she asked, pulling a container of milk out, pouring it into Steven's cup.

        "Is Uncle Thor okay?" Steven asked timidly. He knew a lot more than an average toddler should, which made it easier for Marta and Steve to explain things to him.

        Marta put Steven's cup in the microwave. "He's just going through a hard time. He's gonna be okay." Marta assured her baby, fixing his messy hair, gently poking the dimple between his eyes, making him giggle.

        Once Steven's milk was ready, they walked back into the conference room, hearing Thor mutter something about wanting a Bloody Mary. Steve offered to put Steven to bed, so Marta kissed their baby goodnight, and Steve was off. When he came back, monitor in hand, the dinner the team had ordered was there. Steve pressed a kiss to the top of Marta's head as he sat down next to her.

        While they ate, Rocket stood on the table, talking about the next stone. "Quill said he stole the Power Stone from Morag." Rocket explained.

        "Is that a person?" Bruce asked, eating ice cream.

        "Morag's a planet. Quill was a person." Rocket corrected with enunciation.

        Scott's eyes were wide. "A planet? Like in outer space?" he asked, looking around the table.

        "Oh, look. It's like a little puppy, all happy and everything," Rocket started petting Scott's head. "Do you wanna go to space? You wanna go to space, puppy? I'll take you to space."

        They had been discussing for hours, and they took a break to get some sleep. The next morning, Bruce, Scott, Rocket, Natasha, Steve, Clint, Marta and Nebula sat in the living room, Marta on the floor building a block tower on the coffee table with Steven. Nebula stood, about to talk about the next stone. "Thanos found the Soul Stone on Vormir." Nebula said, Steven adding another block precariously to the tower.

        Natasha was writing notes down and occasionally messing up Steven's tower for fun. "What is Vormir?" Natasha asked, Clint reaching out to center Steven's tower so it didn't fall. His fatherly instincts were natural, and Marta saw the hurt on his face when he realized it wasn't one of his children he was helping.

        "A dominion of death, at the very center of Celestial existence. It's where... Thanos murdered my sister." Nebula revealed, and Steven's tower fell as an awkward silence filled the room.

        Thankfully, Steven didn't hear what Nebula had said. "Not it." Scott muttered as Steve sighed quietly.

        The conversations continued until well into the night, but Steve and Marta went to their room after putting Steven to bed. When Natasha, Tony and Bruce discovered that in 2012, there were three Infinity Stones in New York, they called the whole team into the conference room. "Three teams?" Marta suggested as everyone tried to figure out who was getting each stone.

        "I'll go with Thor to Asgard." Rocket said, and Natasha wrote that down. They would be going to 2013.

        "I'll get the Power Stone." Nebula said. That stone and the Soul Stone were in 2014.

        "Well, I'll go with you." Rhodey said with a shrug, and Nebula nodded.

        Marta looked at everyone who was left. "If there's three stones in New York, the most people should go there." she said, her anxious nature constantly checking on her sleeping son in his room.

        Tony nodded. "New York's our territory, and Scott can be useful to get the Tesseract." Tony gestured to himself, Steve, Bruce and Marta.

        "Then we can go with Nebula and Rhodey to space and split off to get the Soul Stone." Natasha said, and Clint nodded in agreement.

        They had their groups, their places and times, so they all retired to their rooms to sleep before they left the next morning. Marta checked on Steven once more. They were bringing him to Pepper in the morning, as she had offered to watch him while they were gone. Marta kissed his sweet head, tucking him in before she left his room.

        Marta joined Steve in their bed, laying on him as she always did. It was starting to feel real, like they could actually bring everyone home. Marta had never been able to have everything she wanted at the same time, and maybe now she could. Maybe things would finally go her way. Just maybe.

✧