Steel Hearts

- 36 -

Bruce had decided that he would at least try to help us and would meet us at the Compound the next morning to run trials with Scott's van. Steve and I had dropped Natasha and Scott off at the Compound so she could get him situated in one of the spare rooms for the time being.

The two of us put the car seats back into his car and drove to pick up the girls. I had left my car at the Compound; I could drive it home tomorrow if this worked.

The tires crunched on the gravel driveway as Steve pulled the car to a stop, putting it into park. My knuckles rapped on the door as he got the car seats situated in case the girls were asleep.

Andrew opens the door quietly, "Hey! They both fell asleep like an hour ago."

"I know it's really last minute, but do you think you could watch them again tomorrow and possibly the next day?" I ask, hoping for the best because our neighbor wasn't our favorite babysitter. We also didn't want them anywhere near the Compound if anything went wrong.

He steps back into the house to glance at the calendar on the wall, "I only have a few errands I've got to run, but yeah I can. Is everything okay?"

Running my fingers through my hair, I sigh, "Uh... we think we might've found a way to get everyone back from the blip."

"What? How?"

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you," I grin at him as Steve walks up the porch steps behind me. He and Andrew share a brief hug before the two of us move inside to retrieve our children.

Both girls were sprawled across the couch without a care in the world; a tangle of arms and legs. Steve picks Jane up, wrapping his arms around her and she tucks her head into his shoulder with a deep sigh. If I didn't have my own half of the twins to pick up myself, my heart would've exploded at the sight. I pull Sarah into my arms and she releases a sigh similar to her sister, curling into my shoulder as she did so.

"Thank you! We'll drop them off again tomorrow morning," I tell my brother. Steve had retrieved the backpack we always left with them and said his goodbyes already.

Gently, we both put the sleeping girls in their car seats and buckle them in; careful not to pinch any skin. Both girls were more than likely going to sleep through the night without waking at this point.

After getting both girls tucked into their beds, Chewie was curled in her normal spot at the end of the bed and I found myself in our closet to pick clothes to wear tomorrow. The drumming of fingertips on the doorframe caught my attention and I turn to see Steve leaning against said doorframe with his arms crossed. My eyebrow pushes upward in question.

"Are you happy?" His voice was quiet and unsure.

My face screws up in confusion, "What? Of course, I'm happy, Steve."

"I can tell you don't really want to do this."

Sighing, I look to the floor, "I want to get everyone back, I do. But what if we lose the girls? Steve, those are our children down the hall. If we can figure out a way to get everyone back without screwing everything up and losing the girls in the process, great. But I can't risk the two of us losing them. I just- I can't."

His eyes move to the floor, sighing as he steps toward me and runs his hands up my arms, "I know. I know. It scares me too."

"We have to try though," I breathe, allowing my fingers to dance their way through the hair at the nape of his neck, "We'll never forgive ourselves if we don't at least try to get everyone back."

Wordlessly, he pulls me into him; wrapping his arms around my smaller frame, planting a kiss on my head, and rocking back and forth. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I play Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy and toss it on the counter. Singing along badly, I earn a hearty chuckle from him before he joins me. The two of us dance and sing along to Queen in the bathroom for around an hour before deciding we should probably get some sleep.