I Thought You Were Different: Part 3

Dissolution

"Mama!" Anthony squealed with delight, waking from a perfect sleep when the connection with you was finally made again, and the world was right as far as he was concerned. He stood up in his crib and slapped his hands on the railing until Brooklyn woke too, standing just as he was to look back with a laugh that matched his. Grant was soon behind, and the three of them were interacting together in a way that no one had yet to witness. Brooklyn nodded her head towards Anthony, and the side rail of his crib began to slowly lower; she then released hers and Grant's as well, each of them now carefully climbing down over the side and to the ground, taking care to not make too much noise in the silence of nighttime.

Anthony teetered over to his sister, putting his chubby little hand on her cheek and closing his eyes as he appeared to be concentrating with every second of his attention span. "Mama," he whispered. "I finded Mama." Her eyes brightened with the wide smile that was growing into a tiny laugh at the feelings he was sharing with her in her mind. It was the only way that he knew how to reassure them that you were still there.

"Me too! Me too!" Grant insisted, grabbing his brother's hand and slapping it to his own cheek. "My turn!"

When the connection was made and he began to giggle too, he let his focus slip and one of the teddy bears that had been tossed haphazardly on the floor suddenly caught fire in a bright flash of light and heat. "Uh oh," he groaned quietly, "Chalala gonna be mad."

The room filled with squeals and screams again when the cold sprays of water began shooting down on them from the ceiling, and the piercing screech of the fire alarms sent them all into a huddle together with their hands slapped tightly over their ears. "You did a bad thing," Brooklyn scolded over the noise, staring past her guilty brother and watching the door intently. "Chalala and Wanna here."

The door flew open to allow their guardians inside, the two of them nearly tripping over each other in their panic to get to your kids and to make sure they were safe. When T'Challa saw the now smoldering and charred bear dying a slow death under the shower of water, he tried to not laugh and to keep a stern expression, but this trio had quickly become his weakness.

"Grant," he began calmly while working to turn off the sprinklers, "I don't believe that Mr. Fluffagus deserved that, do you?"

"No, Chalala, I'm sowwy."

"It's alright, little one. Sometimes you can't help it yet, I know. But Miss Brooklyn," he paused and knelt down in front of her, "why did you help everyone leave their beds, Princess?"

"Ant found Mama!"

"He...he what?" he gasped, turning back to look at an equally shocked Wanda. "What do you mean?"

"Here," Anthony offered, pressing his palms to T'Challa's face before he could stop him. It was a strange sensation to have the young boy in his mind, and after a small flash of confusion dizzied him, it was replaced by a reminiscence of you, and a wave of relief from the boy. "See?"

"Remarkable," he murmured, closing his eyes to just take it in before it was lost, "I've never experienced something like this. She's so tired, but she's...she feels...safe."

~~~

"What did you just say?" you whispered cautiously, pulling your hands away. "Buck, please tell me that I heard what I think I heard."

"You heard right."

"Oh my god," you gasped, covering your mouth as you tried and failed to choke back tears. "But I watched him die. I felt him die under my hands."

"Yeah, well, I'm starting to believe that Tony Stark is never gonna die."

Standing on wobbly and uncertain legs, you pushed away from the table and crossed the room, holding yourself up against the countertop to look out the window, trying to clear your mind. It wasn't like you could actually see anything outside anyway, with the lake of tears in your eyes that stung with each blink, creating a thick haze over your vision. It was how you had seen the world in the last days since you left him; cloudy and muddled, colors swirling together until they lost their vibrancy in the mess and confusion. Without Tony, you were lost and couldn't see clearly to find a way out of it all; but now, as you came to the acceptance of what Bucky had told you, the tears slowed and you wiped them away, letting the world around you come back into focus.