Frostbite: The Time In Between// Book 6 of the Frostbite Series

Epilogue

~One Year Later~

"Have a nice walk, tell Pep I say hi!" I called to Tony as he was heading out the door.

I grabbed the bag of cat food from the top of the fridge and kneeled down in front of James' bowl as he wailed for breakfast.

"Next time you should not sleep in and join us," Tony called back. Well don't go on walks at 7 am and expect me to join you as soon as I wake up.

"Tell me in advance so that I know!" I replied. "See you later!" The door shut as I said that, he probably didn't even hear me.

I put away the cat food and James' wailing was replaced with the quiet crunching from his mouth as he ate. I made myself breakfast, yogurt and granola, and sat at the table quietly eating in peace. James finished his food and joined me, rubbing against my legs and batting at my feet. Two years of having him and he still was a playful, mischievous cat, only slightly bigger. I finished my breakfast and cleaned up my dishes, wondering why Rhodey was sleeping in, he was usually up by now. Perhaps he had a long night.

~~~

"Long night?" I asked as Rhodey walked down the stairs an hour later. I was stretched out on the couch, book in my hand and James curled up on my thighs.

"Trouble sleeping," he replied, walking into the kitchen.

"I'm sorry," I closed my book and sat up, careful not to disturb James' comfort.

"It's alright," Rhodey got out the orange juice and a glass. "Did Tony stop by? He was going to show me some wedding plans."

"Yeah, he wanted to see if I would join him and Pepper for a walk," I replied. "And he hasn't updated me on any wedding plans!" I nudged James and he hopped off my legs, allowing me to stand up.

"I think that the best man should have some privileges to seeing the plans," Rhodey smiled.

I joined him in the kitchen, grabbing myself an apple as a quick snack to sustain me till lunchtime. "I still want some insight."

"You'll just have to see it all at the ceremony," Rhodey finished his orange juice and walked into the living room, turning on the TV to check the news.

I put away the juice carton that Rhodey forgot on the counter, clicking my tongue at his habit that I have pointed out so frequently.

"Hey, you left the carton out again," I announced. "I expect more from you, Rhodey."

When he didn't respond to my playful lecture I glanced over at him to see why he was so silent. He usually had some sort of come back for me. Rhodey's eyes were fixated on the TV screen, his mouth hanging slightly open from shock, his brows furrowed.

"Rhodey?"

"Ellie, come here," he finally spoke.

I set down my half-eaten apple on the counter and briskly walked to the living room and looked at the TV screen. My mouth dropped open like Rhodey's had, vapor left my mouth and I blinked, hoping that I was hallucinating.

"Oh, shit," I muttered.

I was snapped out of my gaze when my phone began to vibrate on the coffee table next to the couch. I picked it up and read the contact on the screen. "Tony Stark."

"Shit," I said a bit louder as I slid my thumb across the screen and held the phone to my ear. "Tony?? Are you okay? Are you actually in a spaceship? What's going o-"

"Ellie, it's Bruce."

My mouth went dry and I let out a croak instead of words. My heart pounded in my chest, my breathing was heavy, more vapor clouded from my mouth, a lump in my throat formed from hearing the voice of my friend who had disappeared. I had so many questions, so many things I wanted to say to him. I blurted out the first thing that came to my mind.

"Where the hell have you been?!"

A/N: Here we go, children! It's time for the electric boogaloo part 2! Time to get really fricken sad because you all know what's coming next!
Ice and Defenders: Infinity War.
Yes, I'm keeping the title, I couldn't find any other that would fit, and it's a big part of the MCU, I can't just change the title like that, but I'm keeping Ice and Defenders so that people know my girl Frostbite is in it.
I'm so excited to get started with the next book, I have so many ideas for things, so many stuff that I wanted to write but couldn't! I don't know when I will be publishing, I've got to figure out a cover and of course that means making Ellie's new suit and getting into costume and taking pictures, see how much I can edit something to make a really, really good cover. So, thank you for reading! I love seeing comments, so if you have something you'd like so say about this series, go ahead! I will be back soon!