Collide (Steve Rogers)

Chapter 37

Days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months, months turned to years...

5 years passed. We had found Thanos but the stones were gone. Destroyed to atoms. Thor had killed him but the damage was done. Olivia and 50 percent of all living things were gone.

I had lost all hope a few years back. Now, I simply ran a support group for people like me. People who were just trying to get through the days one day at a time. I had moved back to Brooklyn as well, taking all of Olivia's stuff with me. I got rid of the apartment and ended up buying a house. With enough space...just in case somehow or some way they came back to me. I also kept the positive pregnancy test. It sat on the mantel above my fireplace next to photos and framed drawings of Liv. A constant reminder of what I lost. Like I needed a reminder, I felt her loss every damn day.

Nat hadn't stopped though. She was determined to find a way to bring everyone back. Or at the very least find Clint who had gone MIA after the snap. His whole family was gone.

Meanwhile Carol, Rhodey, Okoye, Nebula, and Rocket were around the world and other planets helping with relief.

Thor was gone. Banner was gone.

And Tony...Tony and Pepper moved out to a log cabin where they welcomed a beautiful baby girl. Morgan Olivia Stark. She was almost the spitting image of Olivia as a baby and young girl. And she loved hearing stories about her brave Aunt Olivia who she's partially named after. I visited them. Not as often as I should, but I did. Tony and I had a long talk after Morgan was born and he decided life was too short to hold grudges. He also told me Morgan would need her Uncle Steve to tell her all about Olivia.

I make my way to the abandoned coffee shop that our therapy group "Where do we go, now that they're gone?" meets three times a week.

"So I, uh... Went on a date the other day. It's the first time in five years, you know? I'm sitting there at dinner... I didn't even know what to talk about." One of the men, Joe, says.

I smiled slightly. Glad to hear he's making some form of progress. "What did you talk about?"

"Same old crap, you know? How things have changed, and... my job, his job... How much we miss the Mets. And then things get quiet... He cried as they were serving the salads." He said. The room went quiet. "What about you?" Another man asked. "I cried... just before dessert. But I'm seeing him again tomorrow, so..." Joe continued.

"That's great. You did the hardest part. You took the jump, you didn't know where you were gonna come down. And that's it. That's those little brave baby steps we gotta take. To try and become whole again, try and find purpose. I went in the ice in '45 right after I met who I thought was the love of my life. Woke up 70 years later to a brand new world, unsure if I'd ever really live again. Then I met Olivia and everything changed. I finally saw a future for myself. But then she disappeared too." I stared off into space for a minute. "Anyway, we gotta move on. The world is in our hands. It's left to us guys, and we got to do something with it. Otherwise... Thanos should have killed all of us." I said. Maybe this time I would actually try taking my own advice.

The session continued and ended with some coffee and cookies. "You lost more than just Olivia didn't you?" Joe walked up to me and asked as I put up the chairs. I paused and looked down at my feet. "She was pregnant." I whispered. I felt him place his hand gently on my back. "I'm sorry, Steve." I bite down on my lip and nod, "She'd want me to move on but...I just can't bring myself to let go."

"She'll always be a part of you. She'd want you to be happy." He gave me another pat on the back before walking away. I sighed and put up the last chair. Maybe one day I'd be able to move on but for some reason, it wasn't today. Not yet.