Little Star // a Steve Rogers, Captain America, Avengers story

He's Gone

Autumn had arrived. She could feel it in the air and see it in the colors of the sun setting across the river. She focused on finding happiness buried within her and giving it to JB. He rolled gently inside her. Thankful that she could still give her son the benefits of her gifts, she smiled and made her way back up the dock to the house.

Anna was in the kitchen, working on one of her curious but always delicious dinners while Kate and Luke played with Legos on the large hand-me-down table that Morgan had insisted be sent to them via jet the week before. Ellie made a mental note to call Pepper later that evening. They hadn't spoken for a few days and she needed to give and receive the empathy that they alone in the universe could share.

The days after Steve left, while he and the team fought as no one had ever fought before were, thankfully, a blur in her memory. She suspected that her own brain had dulled them in order to stay functioning. The world had not ended. The lost were returned. Others were taken from them.

Her first memory after the battle was, however, indelible in her mind.

*****

She had been sitting in the sun on the upstairs terrace, reading and re-reading the last text she received from Steve, 'We've got the glove. Be strong. I love you, both, always.'

The sound of a jet landing on the tennis courts pulled her from her thoughts, her fears, and her sadness. 

Descending the stairs, belly leading the way, she saw Anna standing, wide eyed, in the living room, pointing to the conservatory.

She almost didn't recognize the man standing by the windows overlooking the lawn. She hadn't seen him, this version of him, in over a year. A very human Bruce Banner, looking battle worn, with a terribly burned arm and nearly dead on his feet. It must be very bad.

"Ellie," he said, his deep brown eyes sadder than usual, "Ellie sit down."

Usually she would have refused, but on that day she knew she must.

He sat on the arm of her chair and took her hand. She was struck by the change in their roles.

"I'm not good at this, but everyone who was there agreed that I should come. It's bad Ellie. Worse that any of us could have imagined. Tony's dead. He took Thanos with him. We're safe because of him."

She began to cry, for Pepper and Morgan, for all of them, and for what must be coming next.

"It couldn't have happened without Steve. But Ellie, he's gone. Steve's gone."

"Dead." Not a question, just a reiteration of Bruce's statement.

"The thing is, we don't know." She looked at him, not understanding.

"When Tony snapped Thanos out of existence, Steve... went. Not snapped, though. He was next to the van, Scott's van, and there was this wave of energy and it looked like he was pushed into the quantum realm. We just don't know."

"Bruce, when did this happen?"

"Four, maybe five hours ago. As soon as we could find a jet I flew to you. Pepper wanted to come but we wouldn't let her. It would have been too much."

"She was there? She fought?"

"She did. She rescued a lot of us, and she was with Tony at the end. So was Peter. He was so happy."

"Peter? Peter Parker? Wait, did it work? They came back?"

"It did, they did."

"Oh my god, I have to find my family, they must be so confused and frightened. Bruce can you drive me? No, you're too tired. Kate will take me. I have to go. Now."

Bruce could see that she was on the verge of hysteria. He knew that feeling. "Take a deep breath Ellie. You need to get your heart rate down. For you and the baby. Listen to me. Bucky Barnes will be here in a day, maybe two. He's being debriefed and then he'll come down. Everyone, including Bucky, wants him to be here with you.

"You'll like him. He's damaged. A good project for you while you... make it through this. We'll try and have more answers for you soon, but it's going to take a little time to find a new facility and get up and running. Thanks to Tony's forethought, though, it'll happen fast enough."

"New facility?"

"It all happened at the compound. Most of it's gone. We'll be able to salvage a lot of the gear and information, but we need a new location. We'll find one. Soon."

"Bruce, you're a very good person for taking this on, for telling me, especially after Nat..." Her voice cracked, and she she swallowed hard before she could continue. "I'm really glad it's you. I'm pretty sure I'm in shock, or denial, something. But I absolutely have to find my family. They'll keep me focused and moving ahead for now. Will someone keep me posted? I can't bear the thought of not seeing you all."

"Ellie, what are talking about? You're part of the team, even if you're sidelined for a while. We were fighting for you and the next generation of our family as much as for anyone else. We all love you. You. Not because you're Steve's wife, because you're you. Ok?"

"Thank you, Bruce. Thank you so much. Now go home and sleep for three days, ok? I have a family to find. Oh, Jesus, when they see me!"

Bruce left and Ellie explained all that she could to Kate and Anna. "They don't know if he's dead?" the young woman asked.

"No. He disappeared, into the quantum realm. Oh, you don't know what that is... it's a little bit like time travel, but you can get stuck there like Scott – Ant Man – but he came back, and so did his girlfriend's mother. That took a while though.

"But I can't think about Steve right now or I'll fall apart and Mom and Dad and Charlie are out there wondering what the fuck is going on. I have to go. Anna, you stay here with Luke and Kate will take me. Having her there will help."

Twenty minutes later they pulled up in near silence to her parents' home in Steve's Mother's Day gift. He wanted her to be driving something safe, she wanted something eco-friendly, and Tony got a bulk discount from Audi, so an e-tron SUV was the obvious choice. If her parents were in the house they certainly wouldn't recognize who was arriving.