Everly || Steve Rogers

74. Second Chances

Everly looked around at the trees that towered above them. The gravel driveway crunched beneath their tires as the car rolled to a stop before a gorgeous wooden house. It sat perfectly in a clearing of trees, a shimmering lake extending from the back yard. She hesitantly slipped out of the car, her breath catching in her throat when her eyes landed on Tony. His hair had grayed a bit with age and a child sat perched on his hip, a blue helmet in his free hand. The little girl looked between the four of them, her eyes sparkling with curiosity. Tony's face fell when he finally noticed them, though he continued up the front porch. He spun around and his eyes jumped between them before slowly turning back and heading toward the door.

He ushered the little girl inside, returning with a tray of glasses and a pitcher of chocolate milk. He looked between them like they were crazy as Steve explained the reason for their surprise visit. Tony scoffed and shook his head as he poured some milk into each of the glasses.

"No. We know what it sounds like." Scott stammered, laughing nervously as the billionaire sent him a glare.

"Tony, after everything you've seen, is anything really impossible?" Steve added.

"Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck scale," He began. "Which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition. Can we agree on that?" He asked, handing Steve a glass. Everly's brows furrowed in confusion. "In layman's terms, it means you're not coming home."

"I did." Scott argued.

"No. You accidently survived." Tony sighed. "It's a billion-to-one cosmic fluke. And now you wanna pull a... what do you call it?" Scott shrugged, a smile threatening to spill across his face as he raised his glass to his lips.

"A time heist."

"Yeah, a time heist. Of course. Why didn't we think of this before? Oh, because it's laughable. Because it's a pipe dream." He retorted, holding out a glass to Everly. She blinked a few times and met his eyes before managing a smile and slowly taking it from his hand. It was hard to comprehend all that had changed within the past five years. His gaze lingered on his old friend a few seconds more before flicking back to Steve.

"The stones are in the past. We could go back, we could get them." He explained. Natasha nodded in agreement.

"We can snap our own fingers. We can bring everybody back."

"Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?" Tony frowned. Everly understood his reluctance. He had a good thing here. He had a home, a family; the life he'd always wanted. Going through with this could undo everything.

"I don't believe we would." Steve said simply.

"Gotta say it. I sometimes miss that giddy optimism." Tony blurted. Everly chuckled, pushing a bit of air from her cheeks. "However, high hopes won't help if there's no logical, tangible way for me to safely execute said time heist." Scott sighed and hung his head as Tony lowered himself into a chair. "I believe the most likely outcome will be our collective demise."

"Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel." Scott argued, sitting in a chair across from Stark. Everly leaned against the wooden railing and looked out over the calm of the lake. "All right? It means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events-" Tony held a hand out to the rambling man before him.

"I'm gonna stop you right there, Scott." He interrupted. "Are you seriously telling me that your plan to save the universe is based on Back to the Future?" Lang scoffed, shaking his head. "Is it?"

"No."

"Good. You had me worried there. 'Cause that would be horseshit. That's not how quantum physics works."