Romanogers - What if... nat returned from the dead?

01

It's been two weeks since the war ended, since Tony sacrificed himself, and a little bit more than that since she was gone. After Tony's funeral everyone agreed that they needed some time apart, to be with their loved ones, reconnecting with lost ones from the blip, before they could tie the loose ends and clean all the mess. So they agreed: 15 days. 15 days to go to their families and be happy and thankful, at least that's what most of them did. Sam went to his hometown, to reconnect with his sister, Bucky went in some kind of "mission" to get forgiveness from the victims of Winter Soldier, Clint went home to his family, Bruce went in a quest to find his ex-girlfriend because "life was too short to just wait to do something about it", Scott went home to his daughter, Thor followed Bruce's advice and went searching for Jane Foster. Everyone moved on. Everyone but Steve.

Steve decided, instead, to stay at the abandoned tower, searching for anything that could explain why she left him and why life had to be so unjust. He convinced himself that he stayed because someone needed to take care of the tower, make sure everything was in order, but if he was being honest with himself (which he wasn't btw) he would accept that he stayed to feel closer to her. He even went through her stuff but there wasn't anything that truly felt like her, everything was just blank and boring, nothing remotely personal.

He suffered alone. He stopped eating, and at some point, even stopped showering. He tried drinking, but it didn't matter how much alcohol he consumed, he couldn't get drunk, he couldn't forget.

Than he had an idea: time travel. They did it before didn't they? But after a week of sleepless nights, he gave up on the idea, he knew there was no point on even trying it, he couldn't mees up with the time line. He tried everything. He had the craziest ideas of how to save her, but nothing worked. He would spend days awake trying to figure it out, until he passed out from exhaustion. Than he would wake up again and restart the cycle. After the 13th day and the 3rd or 4th fainting, he gave up, and he hated himself for it. He though about what she had said to him years before, that he should get a life, so he though about following her advice.

Steve had the perfect solution: he would go back in time and be with Peggy. He even planned what to say but he simply couldn't convince himself that he wanted that, and believe me, he tried. It simply didn't feel right anymore, not after her.

The last day passed surprisingly fast, and in the next day all the avengers reunited to return the stones. Steve asked to be the one to do it, he felt like he needed the closure. No one opposed.