What If... || Avengers: Endgame

Chapter Two || "You Haven't Been In The Mood For Five Years Straight."

FIVE YEARS LATER...

NEW YORK CITY

We see an abandoned cafe, with a poster on the wall labeled: "WHERE DO WE GO, NOW THAT THEY'RE GONE?". A therapy session, led by Sasha, is taking place, with seven other people around her. Bucky stood behind the corner, leaning against the wall. They both looked quite exhausted. "So I, uh... Went on a date the other day, " one of the men in the group started. "It's the first time in five years, you know? I'm sitting there at dinner... I didn't even know what to talk about."

"What did you talk about?" Sasha gently asked.

The poor man shrugged. "Same old crap, you know? How things have changed, and... my job, his job... How much we miss the Mets. And then things get quiet... He cried as they were serving the salads."

"What about you?" another one asked him.

The man sighed. "I cried...just before dessert." He paused a few seconds and then looked up. "But I'm seeing him again tomorrow, so..."

Sasha smiled and nodded. "That's great. You did the hardest part. You took the jump, you didn't know where you were gonna come down." She turned to the others as well. "And that's it. That's those little brave baby steps we gotta take. To try and become whole again, try and find purpose." She stared in the distance. "I used to know this guy who went in the ice in '45 right after he met the love of his life." Bucky's head snapped up. "Woke up 70 years later. You gotta move on. Got to move on." She stood up and went to a table to put some papers down. "The world is in our hands. It's left to us guys, and we got to do something with it. Otherwise... Thanos should have killed all of us."

Everyone left already, except for one. "Thanks, Miss Wolfe. You've really been a great support to us all, " the guy who asked the other about his date thanked her.

She smiled. "I'm glad to hear that. See you next week?" He nodded, waved, and left.

Bucky meanwhile put the chairs back at the tables. "You're really good with those guys, you know that?" he told her, flashing her a faint smile as he approached her.

Sasha shrugged. "I'm a psychologist - it would be terribly awkward if I weren't, " she joked. Bucky's grin grew wider. Sasha's eyes looked at the ground. "You know... You should be the one having these sessions."

His tiny smile vanished slowly. "I'm not really in the mood, " he quietly told her as he frowned.

He turned around, but Sasha gently took his hand and pulled him back. "You haven't been in the mood for five years straight, " she said concerned.

Bucky shrugged and started to pace. "How would you feel? You've been alone for years and years, hoping someone would set you free, people try to kill you, you then finally find a home, a family, and yet it gets taken away from you anyway." He sat down on a table.

Sasha crossed her arms. "Bucky..."

He cracked a smile. "You do realize you're all I have, right?"

Sasha shook her head. "No, I don't." She took his hands. "Because it's not true. Look around you, Bucky." His eyes flashed through the room. "Not literally, you dork, " she laughed. He smiled sadly and slightly embarrassed. She looked back at her friend, happy that when he sat down, they were almost equal height. "Okay - our friends are gone. I miss them too. They were our family, and with them, pieces of ourselves faded, but..." She shook her head. "We've gotta move on. Do you really think they would want us to cry over them?"

Bucky's big eyes looked up from the ground. "Do you think they'll ever come back?" he silently asked her like a child which had a nightmare.

Sasha shrugged. "We can hope, right?" He nodded, currently satisfied with that answer. She chuckled. "And, hey, I just want you to know that..." She squeezed his hands. He tilted his head. "...Sam's sassy towards you because he's jealous of your hair." Bucky laughed, although that was not really the confession he hoped to hear. Sasha smiled. "And there it is. That gorgeous smile I didn't see that often the past few years."

Bucky's plump lips kept curved. "There's only one gorgeous person who can make it appear." Sasha dazed into his steel eyes for a while before hugging him. And, no, it was not a romantic hug. At least... Not meant to be so. He ran one hand through her hair - which came only the slightest past her shoulders - as a comforting gesture.

"We'll all be fine, " she assured him - a soothing whisper in his ear. He nodded.