The Blip Bae

First Night

Zoe had never seen Nat so silent during a cheesy rom-com, the Russian assassin's not-so-secret favorite, so she could say snarky things about the helpless heroine and completely ridiculous leading man, telling whoever she was with how she'd kick the guy's ass without a second thought, but there they were. The three of them were spaced out on a large sectional, mindlessly numb to whatever syrupy schlock was unfolding on screen.

At one point, Zoe threw a pillow at her favorite redhead just to make sure she was still there, causing Nat to simply grab the pillow and add it to her pile. Steve barely registered the exchange. They were so utterly shell shocked, it was disturbing.

After the movie, they went to their respective bedrooms for the night. Zoe immediately called Pepper to ask for some advice, as she assumed Tony was having a difficult time, too.

"How's it going so far? They out running laps?" Pepper jokingly assumed. "Does Natasha have an obstacle course set up in the foyer?"

"No, the exact opposite, actually." Zoe breathed. "They're like shells of themselves. Barely able to speak, moving almost in slow motion. It's fucking surreal...is Tony doing this, too?"

"In his own way, I suppose." Pepper conceded. "Obviously he's still speaking, but there's serious damage that's probably going to take a long time to work through. He gets this lost look on his face and it's like I don't know where he is...but that sounds like a pretty classic trauma response to me. What do you think? Oh, I almost forgot, how's everybody else? Who else is there?"

"It's just us. No agents, no staff, no security. Just the three of us." Zoe realized Steve might be able to hear her and dropped her voice. "Everyone else left to go try and find whoever else they might still have. My hope is that someone, anyone, comes back, this place is fucking terrifyingly empty. Did Tony build it to be this intimidating?"

"Probably?" Pepper guessed. "How are you holding up? This can't be easy for you."

"I'm fine." Zoe sighed. "Weirded out, grieving, trying not to let my own issues get the better of me, but in much better shape than those two, so there's that. It's a very strange day when I'm the healthy one around here..."

"Come on, you are never that healthy." Pepper joked. "Sorry, you walked right into that one."

"Whatever." Zoe snorted. "How are you? How are you two holding up in your woodland fortress of solitude?"

"Better than expected, but still reeling, like everybody else." Pepper sighed. "It's so strange, it seems like even the birds are gone...who would do that to birds?...Tony is doing as well as can be expected, I'm just trying to be there for him. I've been looking for a therapist for me, since he obviously won't go to one. I think anything we can do to help them keep going is pretty much all anyone can ask, right?"

"Exactly." Zoe sniffed. "I just keep trying to remember everything I heard at those PTSD support groups Sam used to run...god I wish he was here, he'd know how to handle this, at least, how to try and start handling this. There is clearly no instruction manual for dealing with the aftermath of something so..."

"I know." Pepper breathed. "With how awful it is for us, I don't really want to think about how much worse it is for them. Does that make me sound selfish?"

"Not at all." Zoe smiled. "Whatever gets you through the night is all we can do right now."

"Agreed." Pepper let out a tired laugh. "Get some rest and get yourself out here whenever you can break away, hmm?"

"Yes mom." Zoe deadpanned. "Love you guys."

"We love you too, kid." Tony yelled as he walked by. "Now hangup so me and the missus can get back to ow! Pep!"