Time Bomb

Chapter 34

—Dani's POV—
It's been a few days now since I told Clint I wanted to change my last name to his. He left to go be with his family yesterday so now it's just Tony, Sam, Steve, Bucky and myself in the house. Sam took over the room Clint was staying in. I've been spending a lot of time writing songs and spending every other moment outside of that with Bucky.

"How many songs does this one make it?" Bucky asked as he sat down in a chair next to me.
"Uhm... I think 6? I'm not sure, I stopped counting." I said and flashed him a smile.
"What's everyone doing? Our house isn't destroyed yet, right?" I asked as I set my pen down and turned to face him.
"No. Not yet. But Tony has started to hoard some equipment in the closet by the front door. It's apparently stuff to rebuild a Time Machine thing so they can get the stones back." He said and scored his chair closer to mine so our knees were touching.
"It's been a few days now since you had your abilities taken away, how are you feeling?" He asked, tilting his head slightly.
"I'm okay. I definitely feel more vulnerable, but otherwise, I think I'm okay." I answered. I do feel like something is missing but I know it's just because I no longer have that constant feeling in my chest from the nuke.
"I'm just glad you seem to be doing really well. I'm so incredibly happy for you." He said and squeezed my knee.
"By the way, when will I get a chance to hear these new songs of yours? I'm dying to hear them." He asked.
"I was thinking maybe this weekend. We can invite the others. But I am NOT cooking for everyone. We will be hiring a caterer for sure." I said and laughed. He smiled and chuckled in return.
"I'll let Tony know. He's so much better at arranging those types of things." He said and stood up.
"Hey wait..." I said and grabbed his hand.
"What is it, doll?" He asked, concern in his voice.
"I just... you can talk to Tony later. Could you please just stay here with me for awhile? I just want you close." I said, feeling myself wanting to cry for some reason.
"Baby, of course. Are you sure you're alright?" He asked, kneeling in front of me. I still haven't gotten used to him being here. I went 5 years without him by my side. Thinking he would be gone forever. But now he's back and it's starting to truly sink in.
"I just... okay. I went 5 years without you by my side and I had believed you were gone for good. I could barely handle being alone. Nothing and no one could replace that hole in my heart that you filled. Now that you're back... I just.. I can't bear being away from you." I finally admitted. I had been feeling it for awhile but never let myself think about it. It made me feel pathetic.
"Oh, Dani... I'm so sorry. I know it wasn't my fault that I was a part of the dusting, but I'm so sorry that you had to go through years worth of grief when for me it was only a second. It's like all I did was blink and 5 years passed." He said, holding tightly onto both of my hands.
"Buck, it's okay. I'm just still getting used to the fact that you're back. We did everything together. And to just suddenly have to do it all alone... it was lonely. I was lonely. Heartbroken. I didn't know how to cope. I know we've talked about this before but part of me just feels like I have to explain it over and over." I said, hanging my head down in defeat.
"Dani, you can talk to me about anything and everything. Even if it is just a repeated conversation, I'm here for you. Always." He said and tilted my head up with a finger to make me look at him. He kissed me sweetly and smiled lovingly at me.
"Hey! Tony has something important to tell every... oh. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. Uhm, just meet us in the living room when you're ready." Sam said from the door way. Bucky and I chuckled and stood up.

"I have finally gathered all the necessary equipment to build a new quantum tunnel. It'll be much smaller than the first one but it'll be enough for us to get the stones back to their appropriate times. Steve has volunteered to do it himself but I will need some help building it so if you're all up for it, we can start as soon as next week to get this thing built." Tony said once Bucky and I had sat down on the couch.
"I'll help, but under one condition." I said and stood up to stand next to him.
"A condition is it? What do you need?" He asked and turned to face me.
"This weekend I would like the Avengers family to gather here and have a party. I've just about finished writing all these songs and I would like to sing them for you all. You being the sorry master here, I thought maybe you could help arrange everything." I said, smiling up at him.
"Dani, I would be honored to arrange a party for you. You said this weekend, correct?" He asked, pulling his phone from his pocket.
"Yes. Saturday would be perfect. Gives me all day tomorrow to finish this last song and get the instrumentals figured out." I said and went to sit back down beside Bucky who immediately wrapped his arm around my waist.
"Perfect. I'll get everything set up. You just worry about finishing that last song of yours." He said and smiled at me.

Later that night I sit at my desk trying to figure out this last song when I heard a loud boom outside. I got up and snuck towards the front door. Slowly, I pulled the curtain to look outside.
"What the hell was that?" Bucky asked as he rushed to my side.
"I don't know, it's too dark out there to see anything. Im going out there." I said and began to unlock the door but he stopped me.
"Don't you dare. Dani, you don't have any of your abilities anymore, you could get seriously hurt if there's a threat out there." He said and moved me behind him.
"You seriously thought about going out there? Tony asked as he approached us.
"Yeah, I did. This is my home. If there's a threat out there, I'd like to know who or what it is. I'm not scared." I said and tried to push past Bucky but he stood steady in front of the door.
"What's going on?" Steve asked as he came out do his room, Sam coming out of his room as well.
"You seriously didn't hear the loud boom outside?" I asked and turned to fully face them.
"I heard it, honestly thought it was Thor though. But seeing as I didn't hear him soon after, I came out to see what was happening." Sam said as he came to stand beside me. Steve now beside Tony.
"What Sam said. Honestly thought it was Thor." Steve said.
"Anyone able to see anything out there?" Steve asked.
"Hold on, I've got Redwing in my room, he could sneak out the back and scan the area." Sam said and quickly ran off to his room. Shortly after, I see Redwing zip out of his room and through the kitchen. I made my way through the house to the back door where Redwing is waiting for the door to open. Thankfully all the lights in the a house are off so quietly opening the door won't be noticed.
I unlocked it and slowly opening it enough to let Redwing through. He turned sideways and slipped through as Sam came out from his room with his wrist band on that commands Redwing and shows him what Redwing sees.

I closed the back door and locked it again before making my way back to the others with Sam.
We all stood there and waiting for the night vision to kick in so we could see what's out there.
"Oh my god, it is Thor. Who is that with him?" I asked and looked up to see Steve and Tony exchanging looks.
"It's just Thor, I'm going out there." I said and pushed past everyone to unlock the front door. I made my way out to where Thor and this other guy are, knowing very well that I've got Bucky, Steve, Sam and Tony following close behind.
"Thor! What are you doing here?" I asked as I approached him. Thor flashed me a smile and pulled me into a hug.
"Ahh! Miss Dani, how are you? I'm sorry to drop in at this hour, I just needed a place to hide out for a few days until I can take my brother here to New Asgard." He said and pulled away from our hug.
"You have a brother? Why hasn't anyone told me this?" I asked and turned to Steve and Tony.
"I'm sorry, Dani. The last time we encountered Loki, he was destroying New York, so you can see why we didn't want to burden you with his existence." Tony said and approached Thor.

"Well, while I don't approve of your previous actions, Thor must trust you enough to bring you here so please, come inside. I don't have rooms for you but I do have 2 very comfortable couches up for grabs." I said and we all started walking back to the house.
"A couch is fine. We don't plan on staying long. Just a few days is all." Thor said from behind me.

"You seem different, is everything alright?" Thor asked as we all sat down in the living room.
"Oh, uhm. My abilities are gone. You're a God, you can probably sense those types of things." I said and leaned into Bucky's side.
"Well no, not always. You have to have that sort of ability. Seeing as I am God of Thunder, I can't read minds like that. But Loki here, he can. God of mischief. He can read minds and many other things." He said and set his hammer down on the table. He and Loki both had gotten changed into normal clothes instead of staying in their God clothing.
"But your abilities, I remember them from the fight with Thanos. You didn't talk about them much or I just wasn't around for it. Something as powerful as what you could do, why would you want to get rid of it?" He asked as he sat down beside Loki and pressing a button on the mouth guard and crazy handcuffs to make them come off.
"Thank you brother." Loki said quietly and turned back to face me.
"Well, I guess I'll tell the story again." I said and took a deep breath.