Living Nightmare ~ (Bucky Barnes) COMPLETED

five years later

Nat and Maddie sat in one of the offices in the compound. Holograms of Rocket, Rhodey, Carol, Nebula and Okoye stood round the room, giving their reports. Nat ended the call and went to sit back down next to Maddie. Rhodey stayed on, updating them on the Barton situation. Maddie stayed silent, listening to their exchange until Rhodey left.

"sandwich?" she offered, feeling Nat's stress about to spill over.

Nat took the sandwich offered, taking a bite. It wasn't enough to stop the tears spilling and Maddie placed a gentle hand on her arm. She tried to take the tears away but Nat stopped her and Maddie let it go. As much as she wanted to she couldn't take everyone's suffering; sometimes people needed to be left to feel their feelings, no matter the pain it caused. Maddie had learnt that over the past five years. Nat threw the sandwich back down on the plate and took a shaky breath, the tears falling freely as she raised her hands to hide her face. Maddie rubbed her shoulder, letting her know she wasn't alone.

"You know, I'd offer to cook you dinner but you seem pretty miserable already" Steve joked, leaning in the doorway.

Nat smiled at his attempt to cheer her up, "you here to do your laundry?"

"and to see friends"

"clearly your friends are fine" Maddie chimed in.

Steve sighed, fiddling with his jacket as he thought of something to cheer them up. He settled on whales. Maddie chewed on her lip as Steve told them about the pod he saw on his way there. Whales in the Hudson was a new one.

"you know if you're about to tell me to look on the bright side, I'm about to hit you in the head with a peanut butter sandwich" Nat said.

"not the sandwich!" Maddie protested, smiling when she saw Steve and Nat chuckle.

Steve walked further into the room and sat down opposite the two girls. Nat pushed a plate towards him.

"I keep telling everybody they should move on, and grow," Steve started, "Some do-"

"But not us" Maddie finished sadly.

"If I move one, who does this?" Nat pointed out.

"maybe it doesn't need to be done* Steve tried reasoning.

"I used to have nothing. And then I got this, this job, this family" Nat took a breath, "and I was better because of it. And even though they're gone I'm still trying to be better"

There was a pause as Maddie tried to think of something to say. She wanted to move the conversation to something less depressing, for her own sake as much as anyone else's but her mind was blank.

"I think we all need to get a life" Steve said causing Maddie to scoff.

"you first" she joked.

Just then an alert buzzed and Nat swiped the hologram away as the feed from the front gate played. Maddie almost fell off her chair when she saw who it was.

"... we met a few years ago, at the airport in Germany? I was the guy that got really big. I had a mask on"

Steve jumped to his feet as he registered who was speaking, Nat and Maddie standing up too.

"Is this an old message?" Steve asked, confused as to how Scott could be there. He had been presumed dead, dusted like the others.

"Ant-Man? I know you know that"

"It's the front gate" both Maddie and Nat answered.

***

Scott paced around the room as he tried to process the information that was dumped on him regarding the last five years. Maddie bit her lips anxiously, having to relive the memories of that fight was not something that filled her with joy but she was more worried about Scott at the minute. Having to process everything it had taken her five years to come to terms with in the span of one afternoon would be tough on anyone, let alone Scott who apparently had been trapped in another dimension and missed seeing his daughter grow up. Maddie was a bit fuzzy on the details but Scott explained how he had been in the quantum realm, whatever that was, when Thanos had snapped and that's how he survived. Maddie wondered how lonely that must have been for him, five years completely alone in a quantum realm? It didn't sound fun. She tuned back in hearing them mention something about time travel. Maddie cocked her head, confused as to where this was going.

"What if there was a way that we could enter the quantum realm at a certain point in time but then exit the quantum realm at another point in time?"

"Like, like before Thanos?" Maddie asked hesitantly.

"Wait," Steve interrupted, "Are you talking about a time machine?"

Scott stuttered for a second, trying to think of a way to explain it where it didn't sound crazy. Eventually he gave up and just agreed.

"so who do we talk to about this?" Scott asked.

Maddie, Nat and Steve shared a look.

***

They pulled up in front of the cabin and saw Tony walking across the porch with his kid on his hip. They got out the car, following him to the porch. He poured them drinks as Scott and Steve explained his theory. Maddie stayed back, tired from all the heightened emotions and only half listening. She could already tell what Tony's decision would be and no one was going to like it. Morgan ran out the door, launching herself at Tony who picked her up and hugged her.

"Mommy told me to come and save you" she announced.

Maddie smiled to herself. She was happy for Tony, really. He had moved in, he had dealt with his grief and he had gotten married, raised a daughter. It was everything Maddie wanted for him but it came with the bittersweet reminder that it had once been everything she wanted for herself. Her and Bucky had spoken about their future a couple of times in Wakanda. Nothing too serious, it was just fun to imagine what life would be like for them in five, ten years. Nobody could have imagined this.

"tables set for seven" she heard Tony say and she tuned back in, hopeful she may have misjudged Tony's emotions.

"I got my second chance right here, Cap. I can't roll the dice on it."

Maddie was sad to hear it, but she respected his decision. If Maddie had her happy ending she probably wouldn't risk it either. Tony invited them to stay but they decided against it, not wanting to overstay their welcome since Tony had opted against joing their hail Mary. Steve, Nat and Scott walked back to where they had parked but a little hand grabbed Maddie's arm holding her back. She smiled down at the young girl, wondering what she wanted.

"My Dad said you're sad" Morgan said.

Maddie smiled softly, "yeah, I am a bit sad"

"Is it because you lost people? My Dad lost his friend Peter and he tries to pretend like it doesn't make him sad but it does. I've seen him"

Maddie's eyes started watering and she blinked away tears. How could someone so young be so smart? She bamed it on the Stark genes.

"yeah I lost my um, I lost my Bucky" Maddie told her.

Morgan hugged her leg and Maddie laughed a little, ruffling her hair gently.

"hugs fix everything" the girl mumbled.

"hugs do fix everything" Maddie agreed.

Tony appeared from the doorway shooting an apologetic look to Maddie as he pulled Morgan away from her.

"Come on munchkin, Mommy's got your lunch, say bye to Auntie Maddie"

"Bye Auntie Maddie!" Morgan called as she ran to Pepper.

Maddie sniffed, wiping away a few tears as she waved goodbye.

"Sorry about that" Tony said, "she's uh, she's a bit of a handful" he smiled

"She's lovely, Tony. I'm really happy for you" Maddie said truthfully.

He fidgeted with his hands awkwardly and cleared his throat, "I'm sorry I can't help you, really, it's just-"

"I understand" Maddie cut him off, "if Bucky was here with me I wouldn't risk losing him either, I can't imagine leaving my kid"

Tony nodded and glanced behind her to where the others were waiting.

"You should visit more, Morgan loves you"

"I promise I'll stop by"

They hugged and Maddie walked back towards the car. She sat in the back with Scott and sighed, leaning her head against the window and watching the trees they drove past.

"you alright?" Scott asked

"just something Morgan said" Maddie replied absently.