75 Bittersweet Ending

SO THIS IS THE END. Good god, how'd we get here...

Thanks to everyone who favorited and followed this story and the first one. You all are amazeballs.

Thanks for the reviews for last chapter: person D (HA yes, there were more reviews before but it's summer. People are busy. I honestly don't know what I'm going to do without this story either. Guess I have to start another story.), nightmarehunter676 (YAY A SHIPPER!), and dearyourname12 (thanks!)

Also, Thanks to everyone who reviewed. To the people who may have only reviewed once, every chapter or maybe you just commented in your head. I love you guys. Thanks for enjoying this story and these characters as much as I enjoyed writing them.

Age references:

Nathan/Lily- 35

Amelia-32

Rory- 31

Ian- 30

Jack- 29

Hayley/Caden- 26

Felicity- 25

Alyssa-57

"Oh, I didn't see you there! Hello! My name is Deadpool. Welcome to our production of Masterpiece Theatre!"

The fuck do you think you're doing here Deadpool! This is the last chapter for god's sake! I don't even think this is how Masterpiece Theatre starts!

"Well lovely author, that is exactly the point. It is the last chapter! How else are we supposed to cope if I am not here to provide the comedic relief? Thus I will be narrating the last chapter of this story!"

No. No you are not. What would be the emotional payoff?

"All I'm saying is you've got a lot of ground to cover! Let me be the Mark Hamill to your the Force Awakens read through! I'll even cameo at the end!"

No. I'm not doing that.

"Look, hear me out Author! We got a lot of kiddos to check up on! Then there are the Defenders! The Young Avengers! The Original Avengers! We've got a lot to cover so we need to get a move on!"

Well, I was trying to but here you are. So here I am… hunting down an avocado that looks like it had sex with an even older avocado.

"Hurtful Author! I am shocked you would stoop that low!"

Someone has to take out the trash. Tomorrow is garbage day.

"You know, I think you hide your affection by throwing insults."

Not gonna lie, that is how I show love. But Seriously Wade, you gots to go.

"Fine, I'll leave! But I WILL be back! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME AUTHOR! I WILL BE BACK! Insert maniacal laughter here!"

Leave.

"I'm going. I'm going. Have fun everyone!"

It was a strange sight to see. Both Tony Stark and Bucky Barnes were pacing for the same reason. Who would of thought?

We were all at Avenger's tower. The team of Young Avengers had succeeded on one of their recent missions and everyone happened to be in New York. Scott Lang had been anxious; his daughter Cassie was now one of the Avengers. Her early exposure to Pym Particles gave her the same abilities as her dad, except she didn't need the suit. She joined what was nicknamed the Young Avengers. Those kids were sometimes still called that. It is such a strange name that only made sense years ago. When they got that name they were all in their early twenties. Now almost all of them in their thirties. Most of them already are. Thus the first Young Avengers moved to being Avengers and training the new Young Avengers. Didn't mean Scott didn't get anxious every time she was sent out.

His anxiousness I understood. Ian was apart of the Young Avengers too. Just like his dad he was out there fighting these crazy things. Of course both Steve and I were proud… we just don't like to hear how many times he almost dies or gets hurt. He goes by the codename Nomad. I don't know who came up with it. But Captain America wasn't available. After Bucky decided to step down, Sam Wilson took it over.

We try to get all the hero types together at least once every two years. It's hard to get schedules to match. Thus why there was a party at the Avengers Tower. And I guess Lily and Nathan's baby knew that because half way through the party we got the call Lily had gone into labor.

The pair had been married for nine years and this was their first kid. Bucky and Valerie were on a bit more edge than my parents. My parents had been through this three times with me.

"You alright Alyssa? You almost look like Tony and Pep." Steve came by me and wrapped an arm around me. I rest my head on his shoulder.

"My baby sister is in labor right now. I'm a little frazzled I guess. I just remember when she was born. And now she's in her mid-thirties and is about to be a mom. It's strange. Kinda makes me happy none our kids are there yet. I mean, look at Bucky." I look up to his blue eyes.

"I don't think I could handle that either. Not yet anyway. I mean, Hayley and Caden are only a year older than you when we had Amelia but they still seem so young." Steve shook his head.

"I don't want to think about it. Hey, have we heard from them yet?" I ask Valerie as she walks by.

"No, not yet. I'll let you know if we hear anything." Valerie assured me.

"HA! I won again!" Amelia boasted to Rory. The best friends had been playing Ping-Pong all night. Amelia was having a winning streak.

"Best five out of seven! C'mon Amelia! You gotta give me a chance to win here!" Rory complained. The pair had a friendship much like their fathers did. Best friends since forever.

"Nope. Not my fault you messed up your arm apprehending that suspect yesterday, Detective." Amelia chuckled. Rory had just recently become a homicide detective for the NYPD. His first case was going about as well as one would expect. Not great.

"Sorry but I don't exactly have a cushy job as some lab rat I know." Rory jabbed at Amelia as he threw the Ping-Pong ball at her.

"That's Doctor lab rat to you Barnes." Amelia threw the plastic ball back at him. She was a medical researcher. Like her mom, Amelia preferred to use her brain to help people.

"I'm just saying, you could've been a superhero little miss super serum."

"Just because one can does not mean one should. That's why you are not a hero. Now, pick a game you have a chance at winning so you can win some of your pride back. You need it more than I do."

"Hurtful Melia. Hurtful."

"Bishop, Chavez. Please tell me you are not trying to get Teddy drunk again." Ian sighed as he watched Kate Bishop (the second Hawkeye) and America Chavez (Ms. America) continuously passing Teddy Altman (Hulkling) way more drinks then he should have been consuming.

"Jeez Ian, he's an alien. He can handle it. Not our fault you can't get drunk. No need to take the fun from us." Kate poked fun at Ian.

"Besides, we're hoping if we get him drunk enough him and Billy will admit their feelings for each other." America fake whispered. The two girls were sure there was something going on between the Kree/Skrull hybrid and Billy Kaplan (Wiccan, a mutant with powers much like Wanda's).

"I'm right here dummies." Teddy reminded the girls with an eye roll.

"Last I checked they already did anyways. Cassie caught them making out in the training room three weeks ago." Ian rolled his eyes before walking away with a drink of his own.

"WHAT?" both girls' heads whipped towards Teddy with surprise.

"Yeah, she had to give us the 'no fraternization in Avengers training areas' lecture." Teddy grinned grimly. Cassie was the oldest of the 'Young' Avengers (followed by Kate Bishop then Ian Rogers, the youngest being new recruit Kamala Khan who was sixteen and still just training). Cassie Lang tended to mother all the Young Avengers because of her seniority.

As Ian walked away from the team gossip he went to find his younger sister Hayley. It wouldn't be too difficult. If you could find Felicity Barnes, you could find Hayley Rogers. And you could find Felicity Barnes from across the room. The girl loved attention and knew exactly how to get it.

Not surprisingly that is exactly how he found the two girls. Felicity happily chatting up Matt Murdock and Danny Rand of the Defenders and Hayley happily attached to her hip clinging to every word.

"Hayley!" Ian called for his sister. She jumped at the sound of his voice.

"God, you sounded like dad there." Hayley spun around to face her older blonder brother. Hayley naturally had dark blonde hair but the moment Alyssa allowed it, Hayley started to dye her hair. She first started with red hair, as she wanted to look like Natasha at the time. She had gone through a range of shades ever since. Currently her hair was a dark purple that almost looked black.

"Hayley, did you ever get the results from that drug test back?" Ian asked getting straight to business. Hayley was a forensic scientist and had quite a lot of friends in many forensic departments. Usually Rory was calling her up for forensic insight on cases, yet every once and a while Ian would ask for a favor.

"It was not powdered sugar if that's what you're asking." Hayley smirked. "But it wasn't standard either. Looked like it was a mix of something. Whatever that evil base was, they were cooking up something nasty. You could ask mom for help to be more specific. We don't have the tools at my lab."

"I don't want to ask mom for help. Love her but she'll tell me I'm smart enough to do it myself." Ian shook his head. Sure he was good at science, it was the Stark genes after all. Ian just found himself very awkward in labs and would much rather be punching bad guys. He left lab work to his siblings.

"You're missing the party." Alyssa informed her youngest son. Caden was peacefully tinkering in the R&D lab. Caden did work for Stark Industries R&D lab, and it seemed he had picked up his mother and grandfather's bad habit of getting caught up in the lab.

"I know. But I need to make this work. I'm close mom." Caden briefly looked up at his mother.

"You need to take a break. Socialize a little." Alyssa tried to reason with the stubborn boy.

"Mom, if I figure this out, we might be able to communicate with Jack the next time he goes into another parallel world." Caden said excitedly. Tony and Alyssa had discovered the existence of parallel earths maybe a decade ago. Since then Tony, Alyssa and young Caden had found a way to send people safely through and back into those worlds. Jack Barnes was the only one that had been given the authority and training to go through them. He was in charge of researching those universes and how they might affect each other.

"And that is impressive. But you are good to no one burnt out." Alyssa tried to pull her son away from his desk.

"Jack is on Earth-3490 right now. He's expected back on our earth in twelve hours. If I can get this working by then…"

"You know Jack is probably going to take a few days off when he comes back. Maybe even a few weeks. You do not need to have this ready right as he comes back through the breach." Alyssa reminded Caden.

"But mom… I'm on a roll here."

"But son… I'm your mother. You need a break. Do you want me to get your father so he can carry you out of here and into the party? Or will you go willingly?" Alyssa crossed her arms over her chest to show she was serious.

"You know what? This can wait." Caden stood and headed to the door. He wasn't going to mess with his mom.

"Good choice. Now go."

Even when parties were supposed to be all fun but when it involved the Avengers and SHIELD, work seemed to find a way to sneak into conversation.

The Director of SHIELD, Daisy Johnson, had been discussing new protocols with the Director of the Avengers.

"That is a smart idea Daisy. We should have a better plan for when Avenger teams need back up from SHIELD." Steve said to the younger Director. When Coulson stepped down as head of SHIELD, he decided there was no one better to take over the job than Daisy. So far she has done an excellent job.

"Of course, it would mean an upgrade in our secure communications line. But I'm sure your connections with the CEO of Stark Industries can secure that deal for us." Daisy smirked.

"Using me to get to Alyssa now, Director Johnson?" Steve chuckled, it was a ridiculous idea considering Alyssa and Daisy had been friends when Daisy when was still known as Skye.

"I have no idea what you're talking about Captain." Daisy casually sipped her drink. Steve couldn't help but laugh. Some things never change.

"I had to drag our son from the lab again. Oh, hey Daisy." Alyssa waved as she walked up to the two superheroes.

"Now you know how I felt when you used to go to the lab and never return." Steve looked at Alyssa. "Did he come out?"

"Using you as a threat still works apparently." Alyssa shrugged.

"Your kids are adults and you still threaten them to come out of hiding?" Daisy laughed.

"You're not a parent Daisy. Kids don't grow up. They just get bigger and heavier." Alyssa explained.

"How'd you know about heavier? You haven't carried one since the twins were nine." Steve scoffed at his wife.

"They got too heavy after that. You just happen to still be able to carry them over your shoulders mister super-soldier." Alyssa shrugged his comment off and poked his bicep.

"How is it you two stayed this cute this long?" Daisy chuckled at the couple.

"I don't think we can answer that. Can't give away all the secrets." Steve smiled mischievously at Alyssa.

"That's Steve code for he doesn't have a fucking clue." Alyssa rated Steve out.

"You're not supposed to out me babe. We're supposed to be a team."

"Yes, because our 'team effort' in parenting did so well. So well, our four super-serum spawns are going to drink out the bar." Alyssa looked over to where all the Rogers kids were playing beer-pong against each other. It probably would have been less worrisome if the Rogers kids were not ultra competitive with one another and had abnormal metabolisms that they could not actually get drunk.

"Oh boy. Guess we gotta put an end to this." Steve sighed when he looked towards his kids.

"Maybe they're playing with that Asgardian mead Thor brought?" Daisy offered.

"That's not gonna help. Like me they can only get a slight buzz of the stuff." Steve groaned and headed to the beer-pong players. It looked like Amelia was about to bite Caden. He'd have to break up the fight.

"Damn, that serum did a number on them huh?" Daisy asked Alyssa as they both watched Steve literally lift his oldest child off his oldest twin and put them in time outs.

"Yeah. Once Ian threw a plastic car so hard it shattered when it hit the wall. There is still a dent from the impact."

Felicity Barnes was quite the character. For one, she was like her father and her older brothers, a charmer. She knew how to get attention to be on her, and to get people to like her. Steve would often joke that it was like someone had cloned 1940's Bucky Barnes and placed that clone into his daughter.

That didn't mean the girl was not at all like her mom. While her personality was her dad, she had many of Valerie's traits. Those traits only came apparent if you really knew mother and daughter.

Like right now, Felicity was trying to distract herself from the excitement an impending niece or nephew brought. Only Hayley could tell her girlfriend was on high alert for any of her family members. The wonder of a new life was exciting to the youngest Barnes and that excitement was eating at her nerves.

It was becoming that Felicity was hardly able to keep conversation. Jimmy and Darcy were asking Felicity about how things were going with her new projects. Felicity was a writer working for a sitcom that was filmed in New York and she was also a guitarist and singer for a pop/rock band that was currently working on new music.

Not that Felicity was focused on any of that. Instead her mind was with her older brother and sister-in-law. Hayley could tell.

"Felicity, you want to go outside for a bit?" Hayley asked Felicity casually pulling her focus away from their aunt and uncle.

"Uh… yeah sure." Felicity smiled, grateful for the interruption. The two girls walked out to the balcony.

When they arrived Hayley turned to Felicity. "You are going to be an aunt and it is exciting. You look like you're buzzing."

"I'm happy Hayley! Its just… overwhelming you know?" Felicity beamed.

"Felicity, you're name literally means happiness. You are the happiest person I know." Hayley laughed. Once Felicity was excited it was hard to get her to calm down.

"Well… babies are pretty cute. And I'm the kid's aunt, so I need to know when this kid is officially here." Felicity huffed.

"Is it weird that you're going to be the aunt to a kid that is technically my cousin?" Hayley questioned as she hugged Felicity.

"Oh my god you're right!" Felicity laughed loudly. "I never thought of that! That is weird! You're like an aunt-cousin!"

"Gosh these timelines are messed up. The frozen parents and large age-gaps really mess things up." Hayley laughed along.

"Damn straight they do. You're grandpa really is to blame here, having kids over two decades apart." Felicity smirked.

"Yeah Grandpa Tony really fucked up the chance for us to have normal family relations. But I think growing up with superhero family does that pretty well too." Hayley's chuckles slowly quieted down.

"Kinda happy its all messed up though. If it were all normal, we wouldn't be us." Felicity turned around and kissed Hayley on the cheek.

"And that would have been a shame." Hayley smiled sweetly at her.

"Felicity! The baby's here we gotta go!" Bucky interrupted the pair and pulled the two towards the door so they could head to the hospital.

"They are all heading over here aren't they?" Lily briefly looked up to Nathan when he came back into the room.

"They are all very excited to meet him." Nathan looked proudly at their newborn son.

"I bet." Lily smiled. She had known how excited all the family members were about the little baby. There hadn't been a new baby in a long time. Not to mention it was Bucky and Valerie's first grandchild.

The little boy stirred in his mother's arms, shaking Lily from her train of thought. She quickly cooed at him to settle down again. Nathan watched from the chair beside the bed. When the infant had settled the new father decided he wanted to hold him again.

"We still haven't thought of a name." Nathan reminded Lily.

"We have time." Lily assured him.

"He's very small."

"He's a baby."

"I remember my siblings bigger."

"Or you were just smaller." Lily chuckled as he looked down at their son.

"That may be true but still, the kid's tiny."

"Average baby size Nate, our son is perfectly normal size."

"He is perfect. Aren't you buddy?" Nathan cooed to the baby.

"Stark just let me go through the door!"

"Move it Barnes! It's my grandchild!"

"It's mine too! My first grandchild I might add! You already have four!"

"My baby girl just gave birth! Move it Frosty!"

"Just come in guys! You're going to wake your grandson!" Lily called to the whiny fathers of the new parents. Both men paused. Bucky made a break for it and ran to Nathan.

"Lemme hold him. I'm holding him." Bucky said as he was already taking the infant away from Nathan.

"Congratulations you two, considering those two probably didn't say it." Valerie looked to the two men already fighting over who was the favorite grandpa.

"Yes exactly." Pepper laughed then turned to her daughter. "How are you feeling sweetie?"

"Exhausted. But he's out of me now and that's what I'm happy about." Lily smiled to her mother. Slowly she watched everyone else pour in and out of the room.

Thor had come bearing gifts from Asgard like he had with all the children that had been born to Avengers. Alyssa had beamed at her little sister and wished her luck in motherhood. Steve picked on 'Grandpa Bucky' before congratulating the new parents. Tony whined about his age when it was noted that this was his fifth grandchild. All the available Barnes kids held their new nephew and Felicity almost ran away with him. Even the Rogers kids got in on the action of cooing over the new life. Clint and Natasha also visited. Natasha quickly gave him a Russian nickname, which she had done with all the kids. Sam was there as well along with a few other Avengers, giving their congratulations.

Lily and Nathan looked around as their son was passed from Avenger to Avenger. It was pretty amazing how a bunch of misfits had become such a coherent family. A family that had been in the making long before their births.

And it was all because Loki decided to take over the world that one time.

Or when Tony knocked up a Russian Assassin in the early nineties. Depending on whom you asked.

"And THAT concludes the end of the story! Makes you want to tear up doesn't it? Huh, Author?"

You couldn't have just left this story on a happy note could you Deadpool?

"OH COME ON AUTHOR! You can not say you are not a tad bit emotional!"

Well, I think my emotions to this story are different than most.

"And why's that dear Author?"

Maybe because this story has been almost 4 years of my fanfiction writing? I've been writing Alyssa for a long time. Sad to see her go yet happy to start new things.

"Is that why this chapter was titled Bittersweet Ending?"

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

"That's Captain Deadpool Obvious to you!"

Nah, just Deadpool.

"Yeah, just Deadpool is waaaay cooler. That's a fucking franchise."

But in all seriousness, this is oddly sad to me. I did not think in a million years I'd be writing Alyssa as long as I have. I started writing Alyssa just before my senior year of high school and now I'm half way through college. I began writing Alyssa because my cousin had a fanfiction idea and flattered me into writing this story. This story was started in my mom's hospital room in a palliative care unit (or the area of the hospital where the terminally ill are). In fact, I'd say that's where most of the first 13 chapters of the first story were written. 13 chapters were when this story was supposed to end. But all of you guys kept following, favorite-ing and of course, reviewing. I wrote more, explored more and Alyssa has forced her way into my heart. As she does.

SO FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART, THANK YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH FOR READING THIS MUCH! I never thought this story would go as far as it did. Everyone who reviewed only once or every chapter and anywhere in between, I seriously love all of you guys. I hope to see you in the future!

With love from the crazy author, Katherine Michaela!

"And Wade W. 'Deadpool' Wilson!"

GET OUT.

UH... I guess this means THE END. See you all in the future!