Marvel One-Shots

11. Time - Steggy AU

A/N: Let's just pretend Peggy didn't die in Civil War, okay?

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The Avengers had finally reunited, and they were about to go on their first mission together in over a year.

Their mission: retrieve the last Infinity Stone on Earth - the Time Stone.

Natasha approached Steve slowly, unsure as to whether he wanted her company or not. He looked terrible. His eyes were red and he sat alone in the back of the Quinjet.

She sat next to him. He ran a hand through his hair tiredly.

"It's Peggy," he told Natasha. "She's really sick and the doctors say that she has about a week left at most."

Natasha stayed quiet for a minute. She was one of the few people who realized just how much Steve Rogers still loved Peggy Carter.

"She doesn't even remember who I am," he said.

"I know," she whispered, "but you don't have to mourn alone. You can come to us anytime." He nodded. From the cockpit, Tony yelled to the rest of the Avengers that they'd arrived in New York just before they landed.

The Avengers assembled outside of the Quinjet to make their plan. It was Natasha's job to recover the actual Stone.

They tried to use the element of surprise to their advantage, and it worked for the most part. The Time Stone itself was surprisingly unguarded.

But Natasha didn't grab the Stone and get back to the jet like she was supposed to.

Instead she found herself captivated by its emerald glow. Set in the center of a golden necklace, the Time Stone lay before her temptingly.

Imagine what I could do with this, she thought groggily. I could go back in time and rescue James. Or Steve could see Peggy again.

"Natasha!" Steve's voice shouted from down the hall. Shaking her head as though to get water out of her ears, Natasha tried to forget the Time Stone's temptations and how easily she'd fallen under its spell.

"Over here!" she called back. Natasha tore a strip of fabric from her sleeve and used it to cover the Stone while carrying the necklace outside. They didn't need anyone else becoming hypnotized by the Stone.

She met Steve in the hallway. "You got it?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said. They walked together out to the Quinjet.

Natasha lingered outside of the jet while Steve entered it.

"Tony," she called once she caught sight of the Iron Man flying towards her. He landed and removed his helmet.

"I need to talk to you," she said, and led him away from the jet. She glanced around to make sure that no one was eavesdropping, then continued before Tony had a chance to speak.

"Peggy's dying," she said without preamble. Tony's face changed from confusion to horrified sorrow.

Natasha took a deep breath. "I think," she said slowly, "that we should use the Time Stone to make Peggy young again."

"Steve's really torn up about it, isn't he?" Tony asked.

"Yeah," she told him.

"Okay," he said, "but it should be Peggy's choice whether or not to go through with it."

She nodded. "But let's not tell Rogers about it yet."

The team was quiet on the ride back to Avengers headquarters. Natasha left the Stone tucked safely in the strip of cloth, not daring to so much as glance at it.

She called Fury the second they landed and told him her plan.

"I'll notify Agent 13 to speak with her aunt," Fury responded after a moment of silence.

"Thanks, Fury," she said, and hung up.

~~~~

Two weeks later, Natasha and Steve sat in anxious silence in Avengers' Tower. Peggy had agreed to go through with Natasha's plan. Tony and Bruce were in the lab with her now to expose her to the Time Stone's powers.

Steve was almost afraid of the results. It had been seventy years since he'd last seen Peggy and she remembered who he was.

"You okay?" Natasha asked him. He smiled nervously in response.

They heard the door of the lab open and close. Steve rose to his feet hesitantly.

A figure leaned over the second floor railing to see them. She appeared to be in her mid-twenties. Her dark curls spiraled down nearly to her waist now, and her skin was still deathly pale from being exposed to an Infinity Stone's powers, but there was no denying that it was Peggy Carter.

"Peggy?" Steve whispered hoarsely, his eyes filled with tears.

"Steve!" she exclaimed, and started running down the stairs towards him. He met her halfway and they kissed, both with tears streaming down their faces.

"You're alive," Peggy choked. "You came back!"

"I couldn't leave my best girl," Steve whispered. Natasha glanced up towards the second floor. Tony and Bruce were watching with smiles identical to Natasha's on their faces.

Thank you, she mouthed silently, then backed out of the room and left the 1940s couple to their happy reunion. She felt like she'd wiped some of the red out of her ledger, and one of her best friends had been reunited with his long-lost true love.

She didn't think she could possibly have felt any happier at the moment.