I Thought You Were Different: Part 5

Resurrection

No one else would or could possibly ever understand this. No ordinary person would understand the feeling of dying, being teased with a promise of happiness at last, and then to have it taken away to bring it all back like none of it had even happened. The cruel twist of fate in all of this was that it did happen, and each and every one of you who were there that day remember it all. None of you were spared the feeling of agony before that final moment, or the look on your teammate's faces as they watched each other fall. Because of this, the first night after the universe was righted of the terrible wrong that Thanos had tried to bring, no one under the roof of the resurrected Avengers compound was sleeping. Not a single person had gotten a second of rest, but from the outside, the building looked peaceful and dark, hiding away the suffering that was still going on within its walls.

"You okay?" Steve whispered, lying perfectly still at your side. The two of you had gone to bed hours before, but you were both immobile and rigid, lying over the blankets and taking care to not touch each other. Something still felt as if this weren't your own body; maybe it was a side effect of re-writing time, or maybe it remembered the sensation of death, you didn't know. All you knew was that Steve had just asked you a redundant question if you had ever heard one.

"No," you answered flatly. "You?"

"No."

The silence hung heavily again over the two of you for several minutes, both of you staring blankly at the ceiling above as if it held some answer that would make this all better. Steve wondered if everyone else was having this same feeling, as if they had just had their final run of luck, and now the borrowed time they were living on was fleeting faster than before. He didn't want to feel ungrateful, however, knowing that the gift he and everyone around him had received was not to be taken lightly. As his thoughts continued to swirl and jumble, one idea prevailed and pushed its way out, and now it was stealing his full attention. "We need to get Vision back."

"I know."

"It's not fair that he's the only one still gone."

"We can't do anything as long as the stone is in the Gauntlet," you answered sadly, finally turning your head to look at him. "The only shot we have is to get the stone and hope that it brings his body back to life. Stephen wasn't sure if anything would work, but he admits that he doesn't even know for sure."

Steve turned to you too, pushing up on his elbow to look at you as he spoke, "where is it now? Do you know?"

"Yeah, I do. Stephen wanted it hidden somewhere that no one would ever think to look, nowhere near here. He thought that giving it to Thor to take to Asgard was still too risky." You paused and rolled away again, your heart feeling heavy and cold at the thought of leaving Vision trapped in that thing for eternity. It was such an empty feeling there, and it made you ache inside to know what he was going though still. "I can ask-"

"Mom? Dad?"

Steve glanced down at you at the sound of Anthony's gentle voice on the other side of the door, his knock so soft that he could barely hear it. "Yeah, Ant, come in."

Your son opened the door slowly, peeking his head in and around it to be sure that he wasn't about to see something he didn't want to know, letting out a visible sigh of relief when all was clear. "Can I sleep with you guys? Just tonight?"

"Sure, Bug, come on," you answered, wanting to smile, but your tone didn't match your expression when you just didn't have it in you. He pushed the blankets back and slid his legs in, curling up against your side and contently humming to himself when he felt your arm around him. "You're safe, honey," you assured him, pressing a kiss to his hair, "we're all safe now."