The Hamptons' House

2023: Departed

Numb.

It was the only word for how you felt, and how you had felt since you popped back into existence a week ago. Sure there had been confusion at first. You had reappeared back on the floor of the museum, not realizing that anything had happened. It was like a strange blip. One second you were talking with a colleague about updating a display and the next the display was completely changed, your colleague wasn't there and everyone around you started screaming.

It could have been worse. In the section over someone reappeared inside another person. From all accounts, that had not been pretty.

There was a lot to sort through, and with each new piece of information, you became more and more numb to what you were feeling. First, it was that you and half the population of the world had vanished and then reappeared five years later. Then it was the fact that in those five years, the world had moved on and it might not be that easy to find your family and friends. Then it had been the knowledge that you'd missed out on five years of Brody and Jamie's life. Then it was the realization of what it meant that you hadn't missed any of Toni's life. Then it was that Kurt had been living with someone else for the past year, and finally - the very nail in the coffin so to speak - within an hour of your popping back into existence Tony Stark was dead.

It was too much to deal with so you just ... didn't. You turned off your emotions and kept moving forward through conversations about jobs that didn't exist for you anymore, family members who had died of old age, 21st birthday parties you missed, meeting the boyfriend of your husband, and conversations about how this would work now that the man you were just as in love with as before had moved on after he thought you were dead.

As your car pulled up to the large log cabin by the lake in upstate New York, you felt disconnected and part of you knew that if you didn't start feeling your emotions soon you could say goodbye to everything else in your life you still had. This situation was a hot mess, but it was far from unique in this post-blip world.

Kurt parked the car and you and your family all got out. Even Brody who was now an adult off living his own life with his own romantic exploits had decided to come and support you. You were glad for it when you wandered into the group and were faced with aliens and sentient trees. Thankfully Rhodey spotted you quickly and approached. As he reached you, you noticed he was in a full-body brace. Another new addition that wasn't so new. You'd known about the accident that had paralyzed him and had even made the trip up to see him in the hospital not long after it happened, but you had never seen him in the brace.

"Cookie," he said, pulling you into a hug. "It's so good to see you."

A very destructive part of you wanted to ask him why. Why was it good to see you when the alternative might have meant Tony was still alive? But you couldn't do it. So instead you just melted into his embrace and held back the tears that had started to threaten to break. "Tony would be so glad you came," he whispered. He pulled back and looked at your family. "Kurt," he said, shaking your husband's hand. "How have you been holding up?"

"Well, I don't have to tell you," Kurt said.

It had been the standard reply people had adopted since the dusting. Everyone had lost so many people that complaining about it day-to-day became too much. So instead it was easier to quickly acknowledge everyone had lost people and move on.

Rhodey looked your kids over. "Is that Jamie? God, girl. Look how big you got."

She frowned and nodded. The fact she had grown while Toni had not was a sore spot that kept getting unintentionally poked by everyone. She knew people were just being conversational, but it didn't stop it from hurting.