Sonder- Sequel To Ashes A Peter Parker Fanfiction

Greetings

Natasha's POV

"It's definitely Barton." That's all  I hear Rhodey say before my head starts spinning. Of course he's going to say that everytime he's in a situation like this he blames Clint. I know it's unrealistic of me to hold onto this hope that he's still the same, but I need to for me sanity.

"Will you find out where he's going next?" I ask trying to bite back my tears. "Nat..." We've had the same conversation for years, and yet he still tries to use the same argument.

"Please." I interject one more time like I always do, and he reluctantly agreed leaving me to cry in peace.

"Mommy!"

I quickly wipe my tears before turning around to face my baby giving him the biggest smile I can muster. "How was school?" I ask cursing when my voice cracks "Good I drew you a picture because Daddy said you've been sad." I look up to give Steve a quick glare before accepting the drawing of Black Widow and Captain America from James.

"I love it baby, why don't you go hang it on the fridge." His smile widens and he gives me a quick kiss before sprinting off. "You told him I'm sad?" I ask Steve angrily biting my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

"No he asked why you've been sad, and I said you have a lot going on." He leans over the desk setting me with that stare that tells me he's reading me. "I hate your eyes, and all of you Rogers have them."

"What do you mean?" He asks with a chuckle his eyes lighting up as he does. "I mean you have these piercing blue eyes that look right into my soul, and Kelsey and James have them too."

"Well you could be Rogers as well." As he adds so slyly I almost miss it. Stepping around the desk I wind my arms around his neck finding his taller structure calming. "And I told you getting married without all of our friends in attendence was wrong. I want everyone to be there."

He's about to say something, something along the lines of Nat that's never going to happen they're dead, but a crash from the kitchen stops him.

I throw my head back both of us sprinting into the kitchen to see James lying on the floor with a tub of ice cream and a stool knocked over. "I wanted to get Mommy ice cream because it always makes me happy when I'm sad." He pipes up cheerfully jumping off the ground like nothing happened at all.

I look to Steve to see he's smiling his breathing back to normal now that we know our baby is okay. We help James with the ice cream and then return to the main area with him on my hip our bowls in his hands.

I sit down with him in my lap both of us about to dive into our dessert when a security camera alerts me someone is on the premises, but I was not prepared to see what it was sharing.

"Uh...Oh! Hi. Hi! Is anyone home? This is Scott Lang. We met a few years ago, at the airport? In Germany? I got really big, and I had my mask on. You wouldn't recognize me."

It's Scott, but he's supposed to be dead. He was one of the ones that Thanos took from us, but if he's here then... No I can't give myself that kind of false hope.

"Is this an old message?" Steve asks because that would make the most sense, but it's not. "It's the front gate." I add nervously standing with James still attached to my hip my grip tightening protectively. "Ant-man? Ant-man, I know you know that. I need to talk to you guys."

"You stay here, I'll go get him." And then he disappears around the corner leaving me with James and my thoughts. "Mommy who was that?"

"That's your uncle Scott..."

"But he's supposed to be gone. Do I get to meet Uncle Sam, Bucky, Tchalla, and Aunt Wanda..." He continues counting off everyone on his fingers as I doze off staring at the screen watching as Steve let's Scott in.

"Mommy!" James snaps grabbing my cheeks with his little hands and forcing me to look him in the eyes "You okay? You look scared." He pouts never letting go of my face, and I smile softly because he's so caring just like his father. "Mommy's fine because your here to protect me." And he smiles leaning in to give me a kiss as Scott and Steve enter the room.

"Hi Uncle Scott!" James cheers scaring the already fidgety man half to death, and once his eyes focus he looks between Steve and I questionably. "Scott this our son James." And Scott returns James's wave eagerly making him giggle enthusiastically.

"Scott are you okay?" Steve asks trying to set a hand on his shoulder but Scott just jumps out of the way on edge and put off about something. "I'm fine, but have you ever studied quantum physics?" James immediately raises his hand smiling from ear to ear. "Only to make conversation." I add.

"I see where he gets his sense of humor." Scott chuckles nervously and I can tell it's about to get serious, so I set James down telling him to go to his room. "But I have to protect you." He argues grabbing the end of my shirt looking up at me with those terrifyingly gorgeous eyes.

"Champ, why don't you go draw Scott a picture and I'll keep mommy safe." His little eyes scan the room before landing on Scott who's nodding in agreement, and that's all the encouragement he needs to scamper off.

"Alright. So... five years ago, right before Thanos, I was in a place called the Quantum Realm. The Quantum Realm is like its own microscopic universe. To get in there, you have to be incredibly small. Hope, she's my... She was my... She was supposed to pull me out. And then Thanos happened, and I got stuck in there."

"I'm sorry. That must've been a very long five years." I state crossing my arms while sitting on my desk for support all while trying to hide my disappointment. "Yeah, but that's just it. For me, it was five hours." I look to Steve only to see he's already looking at me the bewilderment on his face surely matching mine.

"See, the rules of the Quantum Realm aren't like they are up here. Everything is unpredictable. Is that anybody's sandwich? I'm starving." I'm about to say sure but he's already devouring my sandwich leaving me even more confused. "Scott what are you talking about?"

"What I'm saying is, time works differently in the Quantum Realm. The only problem is right now, we don't have a way to navigate it. But what if we did? I can't stop thinking about it. What if, we could somehow control the chaos, and we could navigate it? What if there was a way to enter the Quantum Realm at a certain point in time but then exit at another point in time? Like... Like before Thanos."

If only it were that simple. The idea of being able to go around Thanos seems to good to be true, but before we can even get to that stage we have to figure out how the science behind this all works. At the end of the day it might not be possible.

"Wait, are you talking about a time machine?" Steve asks making the idea of whatever he's thinking sound even more insane. "No. No, of course not. No, not a time machine. It's more like a... Yeah, a time machine. I know it's crazy. But I can't stop thinking about it. There's gotta be some way... There's gotta be..., it's crazy."

"I get e-mails from a raccoon, so nothing sounds crazy anymore." I laugh lightly trying to ease the growing tension while trying to convince myself that's this could work. "So who do we talk to about this?"

But before I can answer little feet running down the hall James popping up behind me holding his picture proudly up for Scott. "Oh thank you buddy I love it." He exclaims making James's smile grow.

"Hey champ we're gonna take a road trip and on the way you can get to know Uncle Scott more."