stark, peter parker

xii. i cannot keep myself from crying for five damn minutes

five years later, dakota stood in the kitchen washing dishes. when her phone screen lit from a notification, she looked over, smiling sadly at her wallpaper of her and peter.

time, they said, healed all wounds. now, maybe dakota was on the wrong timeline, but time was certainly not healing the scars of losing peter. maybe it was true that time could lessen the damage, and even help people to forget things. but, time could never take away how disappointed she was in herself, nor could time ever take away the empty space in her heart.

she had been told by so many around her that she and peter were soulmates, and she had believed it with her whole heart. she'd liked guys before, but it was rare that she actually had feelings for someone. when she finally did, she didn't expect that it would be a science nerd with superpowers. and she certainly hadn't expected that he would break her heart.

dakota knew she couldn't be mad at peter for breaking her heart. it wasn't his fault. it certainly was thanos', but the mad titan was dead, and had been killed right before her eyes. even if he wasn't dead, she knew she couldn't spend all her time being angry.

sure, she'd tried to move on. in the years that she'd been by herself, she had gained a little sister. morgan stark looked up to dakota more than anyone ever had, and was a spitting image of her older sister. pepper potts had become pepper stark, making them a beautiful family of four. dakota loved her family, even if they weren't the same as the family she'd had with the avengers.

if she was being honest, she hadn't talked to any of the avengers since they arrived back at the compound. the stark family had moved into a cabin in the woods, and had been avoiding the world since. maybe that was why dakota still had peter as her phone wallpaper; a final refusal to accept the passing of time.

dakota, after finishing the dishes, followed her father outside to where young morgan was playing. she saw them outside the small tent that morgan called her "castle", discussing the lunch that pepper had been preparing.

"are you thinking about lunch?" she heard tony ask. "i can give you a handful of crickets on a bed of lettuce."

morgan giggled, shaking her head at the absurdity. "no."

"that's what you want. how did you find this?" he held up the iron man helmet of the suit he was working on for his wife. 

morgan shrugged. "garage."

tony raised a brow. "really? were you looking for it?"

"no. i found it, though." she replied, looking up as her sister approached. she wordlessly lifted her arms up, smiling as dakota picked her up, letting her rest on her hip. 

"you like going to the garage, huh?" tony asked. "so does your sister. it's fine, actually. your mom never wears anything i buy her."

dakota shook her head with a smile, heading inside. "morganu, you want some sandwiches? i bought some of those chips you like." her sister let out an excited gasp, wrapping her arms around kodie's neck. 

the sound of wheels on the gravel made the three starks turn their heads. a black audi came to a stop a few meters away from where dakota and morgan stood. now, if dakota had learned anything in the past two decades, it was that black cars normally meant superhero business.

hazel, steve, natasha, and scott lang got out of the car, and dakota nearly bursted at the sight of them. she gently set her sister down on the ground before jogging over to where they stood. she'd seen the other avengers very little since their group attempt at stopping thanos, and really only kept in close contact with hazel.

"i cannot keep myself from crying for five damn minutes." dakota admitted as she enveloped her arms around hazel, holding her friend in a tight hug. she opened her arms for natasha as well, holding onto her mentor. she gave steve a lighter hug, smiling at him. expectantly, scott opened his arms for a hug as well, frowning when dakota simply gave him a nod of acknowledgement. "so, what brings you guys here?"

⎊‎⎊‎⎊

"now, we know what it sounds like.." scott said after explaining his plan to dakota and tony.

steve stood in front of them "tony, after everything you've seen, is anything really impossible?"

"quantum fluctuation messes with the planck scale, which then triggers the deutsch proposition. can we agree on that?" he turned to his daughter, eyes asking her to back him up. the rest of the group looked puzzled, science not necessarily being any of their fields. tony handed a drink to steve.

dakota sighed. "he's suggesting that this is one thing that is impossible." she explained to the group in simple terms. "that, if you went into the quantum realm, you're not coming home." she looked to her father. she knew that tony didn't want to be a superhero anymore. even though dakota loved her life with tony, pepper, and little morgan, she was willing to do anything to bring back peter.

"i did." scott pointed out.

"no," tony disagreed, "you accidentally survived. it's a billion to one cosmic fluke. and now you wanna pull off a.. what do you call it?"

scott attempted to hide his pride. "a time heist."

tony nodded. "a time heist. of course, why didn't we think of this before?" he dramatically turned to dakota. "oh, because it's laughable?" he turned back to the group. "because it's a pipedream?"

"the stones are in the past." scott said. "we can go back and get them."

"snap our own fingers." natasha added. "we can bring everyone back."

tony sighed. "or screw it up worse than he already has, right?"

steve spoke up, a determined look on his face. "i don't believe we would." he told tony.

tony smiled at him. "gotta say, sometimes i miss that giddy optimism." he said. "however, high hopes won't help if there's no logical, tangible way for us," he gestured to himself and his daughter, "to safely execute said 'time heist'. i believe the most likely outcome would be our collective demise."

scott shook his head. "not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel. that means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events-"

dakota chuckled. "so you're telling me your plan of saving the universe is based on back to the future?" scott shook his head, clearly embarrassed, and dakota laughed again. "good, i was worried there, that would be complete bullshit. that movie isn't how quantum physics works."

"tony.." natasha said desperately. "we have to take a stand."

"we did stand." tony countered. "and yet, here we are."

scott looked down at tony, who was sitting in a chair. "i know you got a lot on the line." scott said. "a wife, two daughters." he gestured to dakota. "but i lost someone very important to me. a lot of people did." dakota bit her lip as she looked down and thought about peter. "and now we have a chance to bring her back. to bring everyone back. and you're telling me that you won't even-"

tony shook his head. "that's right, scott, i won't even. i have to take care of my kids." morgan then ran outside, heading to dakota, who picked her up.

"mommy told me to come and save you." she said to her sister, watching as kodie smiled fondly.

"good job," dakota said, standing up and holding morgan in her arms, "i'm saved."

tony turned to the group. "i wish you'd come here to ask me something else. anything else. honestly, i missed you guys. oh, and table's set for six."

dakota walked over to steve, hazel, and natasha, morgan in her arms. "you were unusually quiet over there." natasha commented, watching as morgan played with the necklace on kodie's neck. "what do you think about all this? you think it's a death trap?"

"i think.." dakota said, looking at her friends, "i'm going to be pulling an all-nighter tonight to work on this."