Infatuation | Bucky Barnes

Chapter Fifty Three

A/N: You might be able to tell, but this story is starting to come to an end. I do want to tie in the Falcon and Winter Soldier series, but it hasn't been released yet and I don't want to leave the story unfinished. Like I've said before, there are going to be small changes to the movies in the story. Thanks so much for reading.

Five Years after the Snap

"Very good!" Catherine told William as he finished reading his book aloud to her. "I think you might be the smartest kid ever."

Her little boy beamed up at her with the same blue eyes as his father. The two looked up at the door as Steve walked in from leading his therapy group.  William jumped up from the couch and ran to him.

"Uncle Steve! I read Brown Bear, Brown Bear all by myself!" The four year old said excitedly.

Steve knelt down next to him. "That's great! You'll have to show me tonight before bed."

"Can we go outside and play catch?" William asked.

"Of course. Go get the mitt from your room and I'll meet you outside." Steve said.

They watched him run into his room and Steve leaned down to kiss Catherine. They had been dating for a while. They decided that night after Tony and Pepper's wedding that they didn't want to be alone anymore. Catherine felt guilty at first. She felt like she was betraying Bucky, but he was gone. They took things slow, not wanting to push any boundaries. Although they were a couple, they both made sure that William knew who his father was.

"How was your group?" Catherine asked standing up to wrap her arms around his neck.

"Good. Some of the people are starting to progress." He told her.

"That's great Steve. You should be proud." She told him with a smile.

William came running back into the room with his mitt and ball in hand. The three of them walked outside. Catherine sat on the chair on the porch and watched the two of them play. Steve was an amazing dad. Although William didn't call Steve 'dad,' he was still his father figure. The two of them had talked about getting married and eventually having kids of their own, but every time they thought about it, neither were comfortable with the idea. They loved each other, but neither would admit that they were still stuck in the past.

The sound of tires against the gravel road caught Catherine's attention. It was an older, beat up van that she didn't recognize. Steve and her both traded confused glances and Steve moved to stand in front of William protectively just in case. They were both surprised to see Natasha and then Scott Lang step out. Her eyes widened slightly. They thought Scott had been snapped by Thanos. How the hell was he standing in front of them?

Catherine quickly walked down the stairs to see what was going on.

"There's been a development." Natasha said.

What do you two know about Quantum Physics?" He started off.

Catherine shrugged her shoulders. "I know enough."

"I know...absolutely nothing." Steve admitted.

"Okay. So... five years ago, right before Thanos, I was in a place called the Quantum Realm. The Quantum Realm is like its own microscopic universe. To get in there, you have to be incredibly small. I was suppose to get pulled out by my...anyways. And then Thanos happened, and I got stuck in there."

Catherine raised her hand to stop him. "I'm sorry. You were stuck in floating in some realm for five years?"

"No, it wasn't five years for me. More like...five hours." He told her. "See, the rules of the Quantum Realm aren't like they are up here. Everything is unpredictable. 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 to enter the Quantum Realm at a certain point in time but then exit at another point in time? Like... Like before Thanos."

"Like, time travel?" Steve asked confused.

"No, of course not. Well, yeah. I guess you call it time travel. I know it's crazy, but it's possible. We'll need help of course." Scott said.

"We need help though." Scott told them.

"You need Tony don't you?" Catherine asked.

"Yes. I know he has a whole new life, but we can't do it without him." Natasha told her.

Catherine sighed. "We can try, but I don't think he'll be on board."

"Wait," Steve stopped Catherine. "You understood all of that?"

"I mean mostly. It isn't that complicated." She told him.

Steve chuckled. "I would say time travel is a little complicated."

****

Catherine sat in the seat of her car outside of Tony's house. She couldn't think straight. Her emotions were everywhere. She wanted Bucky back, but how would it alter the future? What about William? She was technically pregnant with him before the snap. She also didn't want to get her hopes up.

"Hey Will, why don't you go play with Morgan." Catherine told him softly

She watched as he ran towards Morgan who was on the porch with Tony. He gave them all a grim look knowing that the conversation they were about to have wasn't good. The five of them stood on the porch while Scott explained the realm.

"Tony, after everything you've seen, is anything really impossible?" Steve asked.

"Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck Scale, which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition. Can we agree on that?" Tony explained and Steve, Natasha and Catherine all looked at each other confused. "In Layman's terms, it means you're not coming home."

"I did." Scott spoke up.

"No, you accidentally survived. It's a billion to one cosmic fluke. And now you wanna pull off a... What do you call it?" Tony asked.

"A time heist?" Scott told him.

"Yeah, a time heist. Of course, why didn't we think of this before? Oh, because it's laughable? Because it's a pipedream?" Tony said sarcastically.

"Tony..." Catherine trailed off. "We could go into the past, get the stones and fix everything."

"Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?" Tony told her. "I would think you of all people wouldn't want to take that risk. It won't work. I'm not willing to test it either."

Catherine watched as the others tried to plead with Tony. She could feel her heart breaking again. She just wanted Bucky back. She wanted him to meet their son. Morgan and William came running back out to save Tony.

"Mom! Aunt Pepper let me put the Iron Man helmet on!" He said excitedly as the Steve, Natasha and Scott started heading back to the cars.

Catherine raised an eyebrow up. "T-That's great. Why don't you tell Morgan and Uncle Tony bye. I'll be right down to the car."

Catherine watched her son hug his cousin and Uncle and then run back to Steve.

"I can build him his own suit if you want." Tony joked.

Catherine laughed and shook her head. "Absolutely not. I want him to have a normal life. For the record, I told them you would say no."

"Then why did you come? Moral support?" Tony asked.

Catherine shrugged her shoulders and leaned against the railing. "I don't know Tony. I was hoping you would say yes."

"It's impossible Cat."

"But what if it's not? You haven't even looked at the information Scott presented. I know you don't want to lose Morgan. I don't want to lose William, but Morgan has two parents. Most kids aren't that lucky. Some of them lost both of their parents. I just want him to know his father."

"You're wasting your time Catherine." Tony said.