Five Years
“I lost my kid”
“We all lost, Tony.”
“I lost mykid, Steve. Is - is Pep?”
——
“Tony, I’m... I'm pregnant.”
——
“Morgan Hope Stark. She’s beautiful, Pepper.”
——
“Peter would have loved her, you know? He would have been the best big brother.”
“I know, Tony.”
“I can’t stop thinking about it. About him.”
“I know, Tony. Me too.”
——
Five years went by. Five long years. Five years of nightmares, and regret. But it also late nights with a new daughter, who lit up any room she was in. Five years of chasing her around their new lake house. Three of those years spent wondering how much Morgan was like his son at this age.
Those thoughts weren’t fair to Morgan, and he repressed them as much as possible. His son had deserved so much more than Tony had ever been able to give him. Morgan, at least, would never have to know those failures. He had to do right by Morgan.
He had to.
Tony kept in touch with some of the other Avengers since he’d been brought back. But distantly. Natasha was the only one that came by for visits, to check in on them. She had taken it upon herself to keep track of everyone, for reasons Tony didn’t quite understand. But Morgan liked her visits, and if he was honest, he did too.
The first few months were rough, and he’d taken out his grief on the team. Especially Steve. So it wasn’t that surprising that the others didn’t stop by to chat. Tony hadn’t exactly been sending open invites either.
So when Steve, Nat, and Scott showed up talking about a time heist, Tony initially thought they were crazy. And told them as such. And then Scott acted like there wasn’t someone important to him that had vanished just because Tony had Morgan and Pepper and he nearly lost it on all three of them.
If Morgan hadn’t been standing just a few feet away, watching through the window, he's sure he would have.
“You’re not the only person who lost someone, Scott. But this is dangerous, and I can’t - I can’t fail again.” He snapped, glaring at the three of them before stalking off, just as Morgan came running out to “save” him.
“If you want dinner and not to talk shop, you’re more than welcome,” his voice calm again once Morgan was in his arms.
Unsurprisingly, they didn’t stay. Surprisingly, Steve apologized, but asked him to think about it.
And Tony did.
He couldn’t stop thinking about it. There was a possibility he could bring Peter back. How could he stop thinking about it?
——
“I figured it out.”
“And so we’re talking about the same thing...?”
“Time travel. I figured it out.”
“Are you going to do it, then?”
“Do you think I shouldn’t?”
“I’m done trying to stop you, Tony. I know what’s at stake here, and I know you do too.”
“I have to do it, Pep.”
“I know.”
——
They did it. They had a couple hiccups. The biggest being their loss of Natasha, which was a pretty big hit to the team. But they succeeded in getting the stones.
Banner in his new hulk form, snapped, but of course, before they had the chance to find out if it worked- the compound was being destroyed, and Thanos was there. Again.
This time he didn’t have the stones.
They just needed to keep it that way.
Easy peasy, right?