(Not so) Little Miracles

Summary: The Rouges return from Wakanda, expecting everything to go back to how it was before the Civil War. But Steve is surprised to see that Toni has moved on and has no regrets. How could she? Her whole future is right in front of her, after all, and it doesn't include any of her exes. Loved and happy, Toni is enjoying the one honor she had never expected to experience and it was all thanks to her new boyfriend. Magic makes little miracles, after all.

Steve will never admit just how relieved he was when he heard that the US was ready to accept the so called Rouges - the public will turn around, he was sure of it. They were the Avengers, after all. They were Earth's mightiest heroes! - back as long as they at least read the Accords before dismissing them. He was too excited to be going back home to correct them on the fact that they had read the documents and had still disagreed with them, so he let it go and instead thanked a beyond tired looking T'Challa for his hospitality and all of his help before going to his room to pack his few belongings and boarding the jet Wakanda was lending them to take them back to America, enjoying his team's, his family's elation to finally be going back home.

He will also never admit to how nervous he had been on the way back, so nervous that he even tuned out entire conversations on the long flight, as he thought about the one person he had left behind. It had been eighteen long, heart-wrenching, nerve-wrecking months since he had last seen his fiancée in that Siberian bunker, trying to kill his best friend because of something he had had no control over. Steve knew he could have handled the entire situation about ten times better than he had, but Bucky was all he had left and he couldn't let someone take something else from him after losing everything once already. He had hoped for a better, more mature confrontation with her, but he knew his beautiful girlfriend, knew all of her flaws and her bad character and he knew it could have come to that fight no matter how he had handled the situation prior to that moment in time.

After all, Toni Stark wasn't exactly a pillar of virtue and he had known not to expect much out of Iron Maiden's reaction. He had tried to explain, though. Bucky was innocent. HYDRA was at fault. His friend had been brainwashed, hadn't been in control of his actions, his body had not been his own and Toni had been petty enough to think only of herself. Steve knew that she was never close to her parents and - as horrible as it may sound - she shouldn't have had such a violet reaction. Steve had heard her complain so many times about both of her parents that he was honestly surprised she had grieved at all. He had had the passing thought that she had only been looking for a fight and that was why she had attacked them, but he had been overcome by shame in the very next second. Toni wasn't really like that. Besides, he had seen the grief and betrayal in her eyes when she had demanded if he had known. Toni was a good actor, but not even she was good enough to fake that much sadness.

Steve mourned the way his last meeting with his girlfriend had went down, but he never regretted picking Bucky over her. Toni would be fine. She was Iron Maiden, she was Toni Stark. She had money, fame, brains and a reputation to keep her floating while Bucky would have drowned without Steve. She was obviously fine enough to fly the suit again and only a week after Siberia! Toni was nothing if not resilient. Steve had had no doubt his girl will be fine. Still, he had hoped she would contact him. He had left that flip phone for her. Was his message clear enough? He forgave her for siding with Ross and the government that wanted to tear the Avengers apart and turn them into attack dogs. He was sure that had been clear enough in his letter. Maybe she had been angry and had thrown away the phone and had later regretted it? It could be a plausible explanation, since Steve had never been sure whether he had waited long enough before sending it to her. Oh well. He was sure they can fix it all now that he was finally coming home.

But then they had all arrived home, back at the Avengers Compound, only to find that no one was waiting for them except some agent looking man Steve was sure he had once seen in SHIELD. Only he was now wearing a badge with the Stark Industries logo on it, so Steve figured he might have mistaken him for someone else. Especially with the way the man was glaring at them all, specifically him and Natasha. He probably just had one of those faces.

The unpleasant surprises and Toni's true childish pettiness were unraveled when they got a short debriefing from the agent, stating that the East wing was off limits to the 'Rouges' unless they want to be physically removed by whoever was around to take that pleasure. They were not allowed to go down to the labs, their hours in the training simulator and the gyms were limited and they had only a thousand dollars to their names. Their gear was to be looked over by a government contractor, so they shouldn't bother 'Miss Stark' with their problems unless it was something they found on a mission. And speaking of missions,.they were on a two month probation period, Steve was no longer the team leader, since that position was shared between Colonel Rhodes and a Major Danvers (Captain Marvel, one of the New Avengers Toni had recruited while her real team was fighting for their freedom), and was unlikely to ever again lead any team, not even in training simulations. Their rooms, thankfully, were left as they were but if they broke anything, they will have to pay for it. It annoyed them all to be treated like such kids but they let Toni have this round. They'd confront her later.

They even had a plan regarding that. Natasha had - rightfully - theorized Toni would hide from them to make them sweat and come begging for some time before she gave in and accepted she was wrong, like she had done so many times before. When that happens, they'd bench her after she gave up this farce and recognized them as her team, her family again. After she speaks up for them in public, everything will be perfectly fine. After all, Toni had an - unfortunate - surprising amount of influence over the public opinion of things. People will realize they were wrong to treat their heroes like this and everything will go back to normal. Steve will probably have to talk some reason into her so she would quit trying to play hero and just retire, like she had tried a couple of years ago, and then deal with the mess their relationship had become. They had it all planned out.

What they hadn't planned for was to see Toni as soon as they walked through the doors of the common room, in what seemed to be a heated argument with a tall, strangely dressed man with a goatee, Rhodey and a blond woman grinning from ear to ear as the Iton Maiden broke it down - whatever it was that they were talking about - much to the impressed amusement of the man, Vision, two teenage boys - one a curly haired blond, the other a brunet with big brown eyes - and a dark haired woman that made Scott freeze in place. When the stranger - dressed in some strange blue robes and was that a self-moving cape? - grinned at her, Toni huffed, crossed her arms and whirled on her heel like the childish person that she was. Instead of getting annoyed, however, the goatee man just let his smile turn fond, sidestepped her, leaned down and, much to the shock of the original Avengers, Wanda and Scott, kissed Toni right on the lips. Which should have led to her blasting him with a repulsor, since she was still engaged to Steve!

Steve had seen her ring glinting, for god's sake!

"What's going on here?" Cap asked in as calm a voice as he could, hoping it would get the man to stop what he was doing and Toni to step away from him, but he only succeeded in getting five glares and one unimpressed look while Toni just sighed in frustration. The man looked up with the most bland expression that Steve had ever seen on a human being's face, startling blue-green-gray eyes freaking him out a little with their intensity despite him not glaring or anything.

But before he could examine the man any more, Rhodes stole the moment by speaking up. "So I guess you're all back." He didn't sound the least bit pleased about it, which was strange since Rhodey had always supported Steve's and Toni's relationship since he got her to eat and rest. But Steve swore the Colonel looked ready to rip him to pieces. The dirty blond kid did, too. "You got the new rules?"

"Yeah, we heard them." Steve replied, eyes never straying from Toni and the man standing a bit too close to her. Was that his hand around her waist!? "I'm guessing these are our new recruits?"

"Hope!?" Scott finally squeaked out, staring wide eyed at the unfamiliar dark haired woman, who only arched an eyebrow at him.

"Mr Lang," she greeted back, still looking unimpressed. She stood up and nodded at them. "I'm Hope Van Dyne, also known as Wasp. Mr Lang over there," said man was shrinking in on himself from her bland tone of voice. "Took my father's Ant Man suit to take into a fight that we did not approve of or had anything to do with us. I'm afraid we will be taking it back now."

"You can't take away his suit!" Steve indignantly exclaimed in Scott's place, since he looked ready to hand it over. "He's Ant Man!"

"I think you'll find that we can." Miss Van Dyne replied, glaring at Rogers now. Steve, seeing that she can't be reasoned with, turned to Toni.

"Toni, you can't let her take his suit! You understand that, right?" After all, she had told the government to fuck itself on live television and humiliated a senator and that Hammer guy just to make that point that Iron Maiden was hers. She would stand up for Scott, Steve was certain.

But instead she just shrugged. "I'm not about to get into a tiff with Hank after finally getting him to stop hating me after all these years just because Howard once pissed him off for a guy that tried to wreck my suit and caused millions of dollars worth of damage to a German airport."

"Wow, you're such a hypocrite, Stark. How do you even live with yourself?" Wanda snapped but before Toni could reply, the man beside her just arched an eyebrow.

"You should really go look in a mirror before you start projecting, Miss Maximoff. It only makes you look stupider than you already are." The two teens snorted openly, although the brunet one looked a bit sheepish about it. Toni just smiled up at the man as though she found him amusing and sweet, which was bullocks, since Toni never let someone talk in her stead. She and Steve had gotten into enough fights about that when they were together for Steve to know.

Before Clint could demand the man's name or snap at him for talking to Wanda like that, the Scarlet Witch herself reacted and flung out an orb or red magic at the man and Steve closed his eyes at the expected impact - Wanda was a good kid, but ever since the RAFT imprisonment, her powers had been out of control and she hadn't been able to control them due to the lack of Vision - only it never came. The man just brushed it off as though it weren't the strongest attack one of the real Avengers could dish out, and the red magic disappeared as if it had never been there, leaving the Avengers and Wanda especially gawking.

The man himself just snorted and turned back to Toni. "I need to get back to Kamar-Taj for a lesson, but I'll see you tonight?"

The genius just smiled at her companion, the type of smile she used to reserve only for Steve. The blond in question is stricken that this stranger is receiving the same treatment as him. "Just don't go gallivanting through dimensions without me again. You know how that ended last time."

The - obviously magical - man scowls at the brunette and she only chuckles. "That was one time! How was I supposed to know that that queen wanted to mate, not create a simple working alliance!?"

"I don't know," Toni was completely milking the situation, teasing the robbed guy relentlessly. "Wong did warn you not to go alone~!" She all but sing songed and the cape wearing man was flushing pink.

"You were finally sleeping. I wasn't about to wake you up for something that should have been easy enough to accomplish on my own."

"And yet Wong had to wake me up regardless because you needed your ass saved by a girl." Rhodey, Hope, Danvers and the two kids looked like they were dying of silent laughter. Vision looked somewhere between confused and amused by their interaction.

But while he was blushing from having to be saved, the man took it all in stride with fond humor himself. "I guess it's not too embarrassing to be saved by my girl."

"I honestly don't know whose ego you're stroking right now," Toni immediately retorted, completely ignoring the utterly flabbergasted faces her old teammates were making. Did this man just imply he and Toni were dating!? Steve felt like the world had crumbled from under his feet. Was this some sort of revenge plot on Toni's side? Well, she got what she wanted. Steve was beyond winded. How could she do this to him? "My ego for you needing me to save you or your own ego for needing me and not someone less awesome to save you."

"Hm, maybe a little bit of both," conceded the man before he leaned in again and kissed the engineer again. "I'll see you later?"

"Bet on it!" With a shared grin, the man pulled away, made some weird hand motions and a portal to some temple looking place opened up, leaving the Avengers gawking again as he simply stepped through with nary a nod towards the other New Avengers. And just like that, the spinning-sparks portal closed and he was gone. Toni waited for a few seconds after he was gone before she suddenly started talking to what seemed to be thin air as she whirled on her feet and walked away. "Wong? Yeah, he's gone. You know how the protocol goes. Don't let him wander through dimensions without at least calling me first. I'll be on standby. Is it really necessary? Of course it is! He's as thick headed and self sacrificial as I am and I am not letting him get killed just because he thinks that will somehow save the universe. Dormammu can go fuck himself. Hell hath no fury like a Stark pissed off. Lunch? Sure, what do you want? Stop the fake modesty, Wong, I know your fridge has been empty for two days and you guys have been relying on the rations in Kamar-Taj. Tell me what you want and what you need and I'll be there in about two hours. Of course it's no trouble! That's not even a dent in my hourly earnings and you guys need all the help you can get. After all, being Earth-protecting wizards is a hard job with no pay. Yes, yes, sorcerers, same difference. So, food? Yes, Thai sounds good. Oh! We should get those-"

As Toni's voice faded the further down the West Wing corridor she went, the New Avengers turned as one to glower at the original ones plus Ant Man. Scott squirmed under Hope's glare and, to the Rouges' surprise, slunked over to Hope like a dejected puppy. She motioned with her hand for him to follow her and the two were gone in seconds, to the ominous sound of retreating high heels on marble floors. Rhodes cleared his throat and arched an eyebrow at them, silently telling them to go away. Clint took it as permission to speak.

"Wow. So Stark's stooped so low as to start cheating now? Or is she trying to make Steve jealous?"

"Cheating?" Steve has to applaud the lot of them, because they all seem so confused, as though Toni hadn't gotten them in on this.

"Who was that?" Rogers asks instead of letting Clint elaborate. He just wants this to be over so he can hold and kiss Toni and everything can be alright. God, he's missed her. He just wants things to go back to how they used to be.

"Oh, that was Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme and the Master of the New York Sanctum." Several snorts and scoffs echoed as Danvers explained but the blond boy interrupted her with a - sharp and rather predatory - grin aimed at the Avengers, Steve especially.

"Toni's new boyfriend." Danvers looked at him reproachfully for the interruption but she didn't correct him in his definition of the man. "He's a badass."

"Yes, and he knows it," the other boy replied in a voice that sounded familiar to Steve, only he couldn't quite put his finger on it as to where he might have heard it before. Danvers and Rhodes snort, as does Clint despite himself, so Steve writes it off as a reference of some sort and moves on. That is, Sam moves on, continuing the line of questioning.

"But how can he be Toni's new boyfriend? She's engaged to Steve!"

Even Vision, the nicest, most polite guy Steve knows, looks at them like they are simpletons. How very strange. "Toni broke off the engagement right after she returned from Siberia. She and Doctor Strange have been dating for six months." The red android explained in a bland voice, never even looking at Wanda. No matter how bad things had ended between them, Steve had been sure they'd make up right away. Neither of them had Toni's stubbornness, so Steve had assumed that they'd get right back to where they left off. He felt angry with Toni that she had been petty enough to not only ruin their relationship, but that of Wanda and Vision as well.

But that's not the topic right now. He'll have to let Wanda and Vision deal with their own problems on their own. His own relationship was falling apart right in front of his eyes and he wasn't ready to lose Toni, too. Not so soon after visiting Peggy at her deathbed.

"Then why was she wearing her ring?" Steve challenged, remembering having caught a glimpse of it earlier.

Rhodey just looked confused, though. "Ring? What ring?"

"The ring I gave her when I proposed!"

Rhodey frowned, even more baffled than before. "She put that thing in a particle accelerator and kept shooting at it until not even traces of atoms were left. I should know, I was there. That was, like, the fifth thing she did after she got back."

"Fifth?" Natasha asked now, which Steve was glad for, since he was left frozen in face of Toni's mindless cruelty. He remembered spending months searching for the right ring as he tried to chase down Bucky across the country. It had taken him weeks to gather up the courage to ask her. He remembers that date perfectly well. He had spent almost all of his own money - the military pension or whatever it actually was - to buy out one of the most expensive and romantic restaurants in New York, a diamond ring and a new tux, had ordered a band to play them romantic music and had hired the best chef he could afford with the remaining money. Toni had looked so happy that he had tried to impress and spoil her and she had been shinning when she said yes. Then Ultron happened and they had a little break but Steve would have never broken off their engagement! He loved her! Couldn't she see that?

"Well, the first was a death-defying surgery that ended up with her having to both use Extremis 5.0 in order to save her own life after her ribcage collapsed and pierced both her lungs, hypothermia nearly stopped her heart and cost her a few fingers and toes and shock nearly stopped all of her organs from functioning," Rhodey said with venom, ignoring how pale and still Steve and Bucky became while the other Rouges looked on confused. "Then, she found out she had a miscarriage."

"Miscarriage!?" Steve barely choked out. Toni had been pregnant?! Why hadn't she told him!? Agony and guilt built up anew inside the blond supersoldier and he was sure Bucky was feeling twice as bad as him. After all, they were undoubtedly the reason why Steve's and Toni's baby didn't make it. God, he should have gone back to check on her after he'd met up with T'Challa! Maybe the baby would have made it. Steve couldn't believe he had killed his own unborn child.

He really needed to talk to Toni and make it up to her. For everything.

"To be expected, after the abuse dealt to her body. As if that wasn't enough, Extremis rendered her sterile, so she can never have kids again. Apparently, Extremis is too much for the reproductive system. Too fragile, or something. Too sensitive. Ask Dr Cho more about it. So after she woke up from surgery and after she mourned, she had to check up on me and that ended up with the new, top of the line, piece of art leg braces-"

"But you're not wearing any leg braces," Sam pointed out and the other army man glared and lifted one pant leg, showing them a strange contraption. Sam winced and Vision looked away, uncomfortable with his part in the accident.

"When she was done with me, Tones had to deal with the press fallout after your shit finally got out and that took up too much of her time. When she got all of that done, she took the ring, smashed it a few times with a hammer and then put it in the accelerator and destroyed it completely. So, yeah. That ring is history. I'm honestly relieved. That relationship was toxic, just like everything else that had to do with you jackasses."

"Steve's and Stark's relationship was bad only because she was in it. We all know Stark is not fit to be in a relationship."

"Doctor Strange doesn't seem to think so." Vision replied with a shrug. "I've never observed a more stable and healthy relationship in the time I've been alive. They're really good for each other."

"But I saw the ring on her finger just now!" Steve protested, recalling the glint of a ring on Toni's ring finger. He knew he hadn't imagined it.

"I saw a ring, too." There, Clint confirmed it. Which meant Toni wasn't nearly as done with Steve as she was pretending to be or as Rhodes and Vision were making it out to be. There was still hope.

For some unknown reason, realization seemed to dawn on Rhodey's face while the two teens looked away, trying to hide their snickers and not meeting the Colonel's eyes. Even Danvers was looking away, shoulders shaking with mirth. "That bastard. That utter son of a bitch!"

"That's twenty dollars in the swear jar, Colonel Rhodes." FRIDAY, Tony's new AI, pipped in, voice sounding Irish and cheery. She beat Steve to the punch of reprimanding Rhodey about his language sure enough. But the army pilot didn't seem to care, too far gone in his anger at Strange.

"He proposed to her! How dare he propose to her without asking for my blessing! I'm going to wring his magical neck and launch him into space so they never find the body!"

"James, dear," Danvers said in as steady a voice as she could manage without revealing just how amused she was by the whole situation. "He did ask you. You told him no but you know how he is. He just turned around, said you can take it up with Dormammu and went to Toni with Italian takeout, a beer and popcorn and they watched a House and Doctor Who marathon. He proposed and she said yes. They didn't come out of their room until tomorrow evening. Remember?"

"B-but, but," Rhodey stuttered while Steve made a face, appalled. He had had to ask Rhodes, too, for his blessing and permission to both date and marry Toni Stark and the overprotective man who was like a brother to her had said no. If Toni herself hadn't shooed to Colonel away, saying she was a big girl now, they would have never even started dating, let alone gotten engaged! Steve had respected Rhodey's opinion. Why couldn't Strange have the same courtesy!? He was utterly unworthy of Toni, it was clear to the blond. "That was two months ago! When did he give her that ring?! Where did he even get that?! How didn't I see it?!"

"Sweaty, Toni's been wearing it nonstop since she got it." The blond woman explained in soothing tones while the two teenagers looked ready to explode with laughter, merciless of Toni's oldest and dearest friend. "And Strange said he got it from a place called Nivadellir. Apparently, dwarfs have a working alliance with Earth's sorcerers and the king was all too happy to make it. Stephen had it charmed for protection so it serves several purposes. Not only does it state that Toni Stark's been taken, is a gorgeous piece of jewelry, a symbol of Stephen's unconditional love for Toni and the envy of all single women, but it's also going to protect her from nightmares, invading and hostile magic and even physical blows."

Rhodey seemed a little less hostile after that but was still rather hesitant about letting it go. "But-"

"Oh please, James." Captain Marvel huffed, crossing her arms over her chest and arching a challenging eyebrow at the man, who seems to be her boyfriend. "Stephen worships her like a goddess and kisses the ground she walks on. He looks at her like she's the center of the universe or the key to all the knowledge of the world and he'd die for her. He respects her and treats her like an equal. The only person who can chase him away is Toni herself and you know she won't unless he does something stupid. Stephen's good for her. There's not a better man in the entire universe for Toni Stark than Stephen Strange. Let it go, she'll be fine."

Finally, Rhodey deflated and shot a venomous glare at the giggling teens and, to the surprise of the Rouges, Vision, all three of them looking to be having way too much fun at Rhodes' expense. "Fine. I guess congratulations are in order." He groaned even as he started walking in the same direction Toni had left earlier. "Sh's never going to let me live this down, is she?"

"Nope," the two boys and Danvers said together and Rhodes groaned again. His glare didn't stop the others, even Vision, from following after him, camera phones at the ready to film his shame and, no doubt, tweet about it. They never stopped or turned around to acknowledge the Rouges as they left, almost as though forgetting they were there in the first place.

The team was talking amongst themselves but Steve was numb to it. He couldn't believe this was happening. He had nearly had it, his perfect dream. He and Toni were going to get married, she had been pregnant with his child and the team had been together, Bucky close enough for Steve to slowly integrate him into their lives. Toni had been retired from the Avengers, only occasionally flying the Iron Maiden armor, out of harm's way, safe. They had been happy ... Right?

Why had Toni had to go and sign the Accords? Why did she have to try and arrest them? Why did she attack Bucky? Why didn't she stand down when he had told her? This wasn't how it was supposed to be! How could she move on so casually?! They'd been together for years! Did it mean so little to her?

It doesn't matter. Steve was determined to show Toni she was making a mistake by going with Strange. She and Steve had history. She'll see reason, Steve was sure of it. He just had to talk with her alone. It was all going to be alright.

They loved each other, after all.