Author's Note: I can't believe we're here at the end of this series. It's been 6 years since I started writing A Game of Trust. It was right after I went to see Winter Soldier opening night. I was just a newbie to the MCU, and now I feel like it's been such a big part of my life for all this time. Steve has become near and dear to my heart as well as Aspen and all the other characters who have made their way into my stories. I just want to say thank you thank you thank you. If you have made it this far, you are amazing. It's been a long journey, and I know this one in particular took some time. I hope you enjoyed the journey as much as I did. I got teary eyed rereading the epilogue. It's going to be strange not writing about Steve and Aspen anymore, but they got their happy ending.

So what's next? Well, I know I said I was going to retire from fanfiction writing at some point, but I currently have a Detroit: Become Human story going (based on the PS4 video game if you are interested in androids gaining humanity) and I recently got obsessed with the Avatar and Legend of Korra series and may or may not have started a Mako/OC story. I'm such a newbie to that fandom, so I'm going to rewatch the shows and read the comics before I really get going in that story, but it'll happen one day.

Thank you again and take care. ^_^

Epilogue

Three Years Later

Aspen could hear the ocean from the deck of the house. She could hear birds singing in the trees around her and the soft, soothing swish of leaves. The air was fresh and warm and held just a hint of autumn as did the deciduous trees around them.

She tightened her fingers around her mug, breathing in the scent of English Breakfast tea. She loved mornings like this while the air was still crisp and cool. Mara would be sleeping for another hour or so.

"Enjoying the view?" Steve kissed the top of her head before sitting next to her on the bench.

"Hmm," Aspen hummed happily. "It takes my breath away every morning."

They'd bought a little house in a remote area in Oregon settled with the ocean to its back and the forest to its front. They'd had enough money to buy a house and had decided they wanted somewhere quiet, somewhere away from the chaos of the world. They didn't want to disappear, but they wanted to rest and to raise Mara where she could be a normal child.

The people in town recognized them, of course, but they'd come to some kind of tacit agreement that they'd accept Steve and Aspen without asking questions, without asking to take pictures. The house had two extra bedrooms, so they could easily put up guests. Bucky and Sam had come to visit frequently. They'd gone to visit Pepper and Morgan and Clint and his family several times over the last three years. Wanda had joined them for a couple of holidays.

Everything had been quiet for the most part. Of course there'd been an attack in Europe that had made the news, but Peter Parker had been there to save the day. There was a new generation of heroes now. Steve had resurrected a shield in their travels back in time and had handed it to Sam the moment they'd returned to 2023. "It's yours now," he'd told him.

He'd later confessed to Aspen that he'd also offered it to Bucky, but Bucky had shaken his head. "There's someone who's better for that role," he'd said and Aspen knew he still thought he needed to make up for the time he'd spent as the Winter Soldier. He and Sam were working together now, fast friends though they would never admit it.

Losing Natasha and Tony still hurt, and Aspen knew that pain would never fade. She didn't want it to though. She held it close to her heart and lived her best life to honor their sacrifice.

"Do you have a session today?" Aspen asked Steve, watching a seagull coast languidly across the surface of the water.

"At noon." Steve was working for a place in town that offered grief therapy. He was working on getting a degree in that field through online college courses, but the facility had created a special session for survivors of the Snap and those who had come back. Steve didn't need credentials for that, and the facility had gained a lot of new patients since he'd started working there. Some, she knew, just wanted to see Captain America, though he was just Steve now, but others told him his kindness, compassion, and understanding for what they'd been through had saved their lives. She knew he loved the work. It was another way to help people, and it was important to him to always be helping someone.

Aspen had also been taking college courses online, but she'd been looking into creative writing. After they'd come back from putting the stones back in time, she'd had the sudden crazy urge to write it all down, put her life and her adventures and her pain into words. She didn't know if she'd ever try to publish something that personal, but she wanted to put it down on paper. If anything, she'd gift it to Mara when she was old enough to read it.

Speaking of… Aspen heard footsteps behind her on the deck as Mara came over. She was four and a half now. She hadn't aged at all while she'd been gone, which made sense, but had certainly been a difficult transition for a lot of people. Kids came back to realize all their classmates who hadn't disappeared had already moved on, five years ahead. Aspen was just glad she got every minute with her daughter from here on out.

"Hey, you're up early," she said, setting her mug aside and holding out her hands. She helped Mara into her lap. She was still dressed in her fuzzy pajama set, holding her favorite stuffed cat that Clint had sent her for her birthday. It looked just like Phoenix. Phoenix had taken the move well. She loved stalking through the woods surrounding the house and had left the occasional dead mouse outside the door. She and Mara were best friends still, though she didn't have quite as much energy as she used to when she was younger. She liked to spend a lot of time stretched out in patches of sunlight, dead to the world until cat treats hit the counter.

"I had a dream," Mara said.

"A good one or a bad one?" Aspen asked, smoothing Mara's blonde hair back from her head. She looked more and more like them each year. Her face was a match to Aspen's but her blue eyes were the same exact shade as Steve's.

"I don't know." Mara frowned.

"Can you tell us about it?" Steve asked.

"I was a superhero," she said, squeezing her stuffed cat. She'd also named it Phoenix, making it a little confusing to differentiate which cat she was talking about.

"Oh, yeah?" Steve asked. "Did you have a cape?"

Mara frowned, trying to remember the details of her dream. She was a thinker, they'd come to learn, quiet for long periods of time, independent though she often showed affection for her parents, Phoenix, and all their friends. As soon as she was old enough, they'd told her everything they could, everything she'd understand. There were hand-drawn pictures of both Aspen and Steve in their uniforms taped to the refrigerator and every one of their former teammates had their own drawing, painstakingly rendered in Crayola crayons.

Mara shook her head at Steve's question. "I was a grown up," she said. "And I wore dark blue with a white star on the front. It was made of metal like Iron Man's suit and it came out of a bracelet." Mara didn't remember Tony, but she knew how much he'd meant to Steve and Aspen. She knew he was a hero and what he had done for the world. She had action figures of all the Avengers lining her window sill, and she'd made little halos for Natasha and Tony out of yellow pipe cleaners. Aspen had broken down crying when she'd seen that, hugging Mara tight.

"That's pretty detailed," Steve said. "Maybe you can draw it."

"It didn't feel like a dream," Mara told him, looking up to meet his eyes. "It felt real."

Aspen felt a little jolt in her heart. "Like the future?" she asked.

"Maybe." Mara looked up at her, blue eyes wide.

"What else do you remember?" Aspen prompted her.

"I had a shield like Daddy's but it was made of energy. I think I made it."

"Made the shield?" Was Mara going to be a tech genius like Tony? She certainly hadn't gotten those genes from Steve or Aspen.

"No," Mara corrected her. "I made the energy."

...

Aspen couldn't shake what Mara had related that morning. It stayed with her the whole day after Steve left for work and Aspen sat down to work on her book. Mara had never shown any abilities, though they'd wondered if the Superhero Serum would somehow pass down to her since it was now a part of Aspen's DNA. Was Mara's dream a foreshadowing of the future? What if she had an ability like Aspen? The thought scared her because she wanted a normal life for Mara. She didn't want her daughter to be in danger like she had been. But she also knew it was in Mara's blood. She wanted Mara to be happy and if, in the future, being a superhero was her calling, she wasn't going to stop her. She understood what it was like to crave a life outside of normal, to feel that rush of adrenaline and need to feel it again and again. She smiled at the thought of Mara in her armor.

Mara was coloring in her room when Aspen checked in on her, lying on the floor with her legs kicked up. Phoenix was sprawled next to her, the stuffed approximation of her on Mara's other side.

Aspen saw that Mara was, indeed, drawing herself as a superhero. Phoenix was at her side with a cape flapping out in the wind. "Looks good," she said, kneeling down next to Mara. "Do you have a superhero name?"

"Lady Star," Mara said at once.

"Did you come up with that?"

Mara shook her head. "That's what I was called in the dream. I just knew it." Aspen smiled and stroked Phoenix's spine. The cat arched inward, spreading out her toes and letting out a contented sigh.

"Mara…" Aspen didn't quite know how to ask. "Have you had dreams like this before? Ones that felt real, like they were maybe the future and not just a dream?"

"A few."

"When did they start?"

"I don't know." Mara continued coloring, filling in the blue of her uniform. The white star was emblazoned on her chest.

"Have you ever done anything you can't explain like make energy like how you did in your dream?"

"Nope." Mara looked up at Aspen. "Am I like you?"

"I don't know, honey. I had dreams of the future." She hadn't in a long time. Her powers had gone dormant now that she hadn't called on them in years. She could still feel them there, just a part of her as much as her skin and bones, but there was no need to use them. She was done being super, and now it was time to be normal or as close to normal as she could achieve. "Do you want powers?" she asked Mara.

"It'd be cool," she said.

Aspen smiled. "You look pretty cool in that drawing. Lady Star. I like it." She left Mara coloring, trying not to worry about her daughter gaining the same abilities as her. Mara would probably use them far more wisely. She had a good head on her shoulders, alert and observant for a four year old. Aspen had been a mess when she'd gotten her abilities. Of course, the manner of receiving her powers had been extremely stressful and against her will. She would never wish something like that on Mara.

The house was quiet, serene. It had an open floor plan downstairs, painted in tones of beige and white and balanced with natural wood features. Aspen had never lived in such a nice house before. Her aunt's cramped house in Phoenix that she'd spent her childhood and teenage years was not the best memory and the apartments she and Steve had shared were always on the smallish side. Of course nothing was as high-tech or glamorous as any of the Avengers' facilities, but they had held a different energy altogether. Aspen reminisced often, remembering the days they'd all lived together as a team.

She smiled at the thought of beating Clint at video games, practicing sparing with Natasha, chatting with Bruce while he worked in the lab, arguing with Tony and immediately forgiving him because she just couldn't stay mad at him for long, laughing with Thor. Then their team had grown. Wanda was like a sister to her now, Bucky and Sam her slightly annoying older brothers. Pepper, Morgan, Rhodey, Scott, Hope, Valkyrie. She'd gained so many friends, so many new members to her family over the years. She'd never forget what she lost, but she had gained so much in return.

Aspen caught sight of her reflection in the big mirror on the wall across from the floor to ceiling windows. It caught the sunlight and illuminated the already bright room. She ran her finger down the scar on her cheek. If someone had told Aspen this would be her life back when she was still collecting illegal artifacts as a smuggler, she would have called them crazy. She had never felt particularly super, hadn't felt special and she certainly hadn't felt like a hero. She smiled at her reflection. It seemed so long ago.

She'd been the same age as Mara was now when she'd thought she'd lost her parents. It was the day her life had changed. She had often wondered if things had gone down differently, if her parents had not been kidnapped, their deaths faked, if she would have become an Avenger. Perhaps her life would have run a parallel track, never intersecting. She would have watched the attack on New York from her parents' house or her college dorm room. She would have giggled with girls her age about who was the cutest Avenger. She would have secretly hoarded action figures and dreamed about becoming a hero. She wouldn't change any of what had happened knowing the future it would bring her. Life wasn't easy. She'd learned that at a very young age. But if you kept going, learned how to be a better person, the future was a much brighter place than the past.

It had been fifteen years since she'd first met Clint, since he'd offered her a new path in life. She smiled at the memory of their first meeting when she'd been trespassing on the site of Mjolnir's fall. Clint had made her pretty quickly, pressing a gun to her head.

"Who are you?" he'd asked. "Who do you work for?"

"I could ask you the same question." She hadn't heard of SHIELD at the time.

"Except I'm the one who caught you snooping around our set up. You don't get to ask the questions."

"How about we start with your name," he said once they were in his van and out of the rain. Aspen had never been particularly good at following instructions, especially when she was in a tricky situation like this.

"Will you tell me yours if I tell you mine?" she had countered, eliciting a sigh from Clint.

"Fine."

"Aspen," she'd told him.

"Aspen what?"

"Why do you need to know?"

"Last name first."

It was Aspen's turn to sigh. "Fine, Tolvar."

"Barton."

"Is that your first or last name?"

"It's all you get." Aspen had frowned, unused to being matched in her snark. She'd later escaped the handcuffs he'd put on her when he'd had to go take care of something. It didn't take long for him to find her again.

He'd been waiting for her outside her apartment when she'd arrived back in Phoenix looking smug.

"I'm here to offer you a deal," Clint had said, arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against her car.

"What kind of deal?" she'd asked, frustrated that he'd tracked her down.

"My agency sent me to get you out of our hair," he said, getting straight to the point.

"To kill me?"

Clint had shrugged. "They made it my call. But no, I don't typically knock off teenagers who pilfer."

Aspen had glared at him. "So what are you going to do?"

"I told you. I'm going to make you an offer. You come work for us. Use your skills for a better purpose."

Aspen would always be incredibly grateful to Clint for the second chance he had given her. Just like with Natasha, he had given her a new life. Without her second chance at SHIELD, she would never have met Steve…

She'd never forget the first time she saw him. She'd seen pictures of him. Clint had taken her to the Captain America exhibit at the museum before Steve had been found in the ice.

Fury had asked her to talk to Steve. "You heard about the man they found in the ice?" he'd asked her, catching her between jobs at SHIELD headquarters. "He just woke up sixty-seven years in the future. He's confused and upset. He needs someone to be his guide of sorts."

"And you think I would be the right person for that?" Aspen had asked, confused. She was still low-level, still trying to prove herself after the Loki incident. It seemed to her that she was the last person Fury would want talking to the legendary Captain America.

"He needs someone who knows what it feels like to be on the outside. I think you two would get along well."

She didn't think she'd have anything to talk to the Captain America about. their lives were so vastly different, she was sure he'd find her petty and uninteresting.

But then Fury had said something that made Aspen think maybe she did have something in common with the Super Soldier. "Right now he's a lost soul. He needs someone to talk to, to listen."

"I'll do it," she'd said.

"He's in the medical bay right now. Room 34."

"Should I report back, sir?"

"If anything important comes up. For now let's just focus on getting him settled in the 21st century. And Tolvar? His name is Steve. Steve Rogers."

Steve Rogers. It had just been a name back then. Now it meant everything to her. He meant everything to her.

Steve was sketching when she entered the hospital room, drawing the cityscape below. She'd held her breath when she saw his sketch. It was beautiful, unexpected. When he turned to face her, Aspen had frozen, embarrassed that she'd been caught sneaking up on him. He'd looked at her in surprise, blue eyes vivid, kind. She instantly wanted to know him.

"Hi, sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," Aspen had told him, shy now that she was talking to the famous soldier. "I'm Aspen," she'd said, holding out her hand. "Director Fury sent me to help acclimate you to the 21st century."

He hadn't spoken at first, and she was afraid he wouldn't take her hand, but he did, setting down his drawing and standing. His hand was so big compared to hers. "Nice to meet you, ma'am. I'm Steve, but you probably already knew that."

"I'd rather hear it from you." She'd smiled at him then and he'd smiled back.

She'd been so sure they would have nothing in common, but they'd clicked right away becoming fast friends. Aspen touched the frame on the wall across from her. It was the drawing of the Sunflower House that Steve had given her in the beginning of their friendship. He sketched frequently these days, and Aspen often stole them away when he was done to have them framed and to hang them on the walls around the house. She had a feeling Mara shared her father's talent. Her crayon drawings were far better than Aspen could ever have produced at her age-or now for that matter.

They'd been through so much together, and he had seen the best and worst of her. But he'd stuck with her. He hadn't been scared off when she'd gone through some of her darkest times.

There were photos all over their house, too. Of them, of Mara, of their friends. Above the fireplace in their living room was the last remains of Steve's shield. Aspen had gotten it mounted on wood, a reminder that they had won but also a reminder of what they had lost. She ran a hand over the smooth surface. The bloodied strap had been removed and the surface of the shield polished. The burnt edges still remained.

She still had nightmares from time to time. She knew Steve did, too. The battle would never fade from their memories. Sometimes Aspen would awake, touching her skin to make sure it wasn't flaking away. Sometimes she took Tony's place in her dreams, dying while her friends mourned her. She dreamed that Steve died. She dreamed that everyone died. It was like even after they'd won, she couldn't quite believe it. Sometimes she was terrified that they hadn't fixed all the branched out timelines and that she was visiting other ones that existed. She wasn't convinced they hadn't started alternate timelines even after putting the stones back. After messing with time so much, it didn't seem possible that they'd put everything back to the way it was supposed to be.

It had taken them less time than they'd thought to put the stones back in time. Aspen's abilities helped them keep their plan on track. New York had gone smoothly, especially the time and mind stones. Aspen's plan to keep the tesseract away from Loki but still convince the others to go back to the 60s to retrieve that version of the tesseract had worked. At first, they hadn't been able to figure out how they would reform the tesseract around the space stone, but Aspen was familiar with its energy and used her abilities to reform it just as it had been before. She didn't know if she could do it, but instead of doubting herself she just made it happen. They'd broken back into the SHIELD facility to return the tesseract after their time-traveling selves had left, Aspen going in alone this time as they were on the look out for Steve and Tony.

Going to Asgard had been made easier by the fact that Aspen had been there before. Like the tesseract, Aspen had been able to reform the reality stone back into its aether form. It had been attracted to Jane as before, merging into her body in a way that sent shivers down Aspen's back. Steve had returned Mjolnir, looking a little regretful as he put the hammer down.

"Summon lightning one more time," Aspen requested. Steve humored her, summoning a few lines of lightning that ran harmlessly along his hand where it connected with the hammer. She'd definitely taken a picture of him holding it, though she'd had to twist his arm into it. He was humble as always despite the fact that he was actually worthy of ruling Asgard. Aspen reminded herself Asgard didn't exist in their timeline, and her joy faded.

The power stone had been tricky with all the different people after it and Thanos on his way. Returning it had required precise timing and a lot of illusions and tricks of light from Aspen to render them invisible. They waited to make sure Quill still got the stone despite being knocked out.

The last was the soul stone. They had been dreading this one, saving it for last. "We have to try to get them back," Aspen had told Steve.

He'd looked at her, his eyes telling her he wanted nothing more than that. "I don't think it will work."

"But we have to try." He'd nodded, but she knew already that it wouldn't work.

Vormir held so many terrible memories, though they'd never been there before, and an awful surprise that neither of them had been expecting. Now Clint's words after they'd first realized Natasha was gone made sense.

"It can't be undone. Or at least that's what the red floating guy had to say. Maybe you wanna go talk to him, okay?"

Of all the beings Clint could have meant, Aspen never would have guessed it was Steve's once enemy the Red Skull. Johann Schmidt. They'd thought he was dead, although they'd once talked about the possibility that the tesseract, the space stone, had transported him somewhere else and not killed him. Turns out they'd been right after all.

Aspen would never forget the moment Steve came face to face with the man he'd once fought during World War II.

"You," Red Skull had hissed the moment Steve and Aspen had stepped into his hellscape. His hood had been up, shrouding his face from view. Steve had stopped short at the voice though. He would never forget it. Slowly, Red Skull reached up and pushed the hood back.

Aspen felt Steve tense beside her, watched his face turn to a look of horror. "You didn't die," he said, his voice hoarse.

"Some might say this is worse than death," Red Skull had answered him. "Stuck here for an eternity, unable to take the stone for myself. Unable to leave."

"You deserve it," Aspen said. "All you Nazi scum deserve a fate like this." She refused to be cowed by the skeletal face, the unnatural red. He didn't react though. He simply hovered there and waited for them to act.

"We're returning the stone," Steve said. "Is there...is there any way to bring someone back?" Aspen could tell he hated asking his enemy for anything, but Red Skull was the only one who seemed to know how the soul stone really worked as its guardian.

"No," he replied, his voice a long hiss. "It is impossible once they are gone. Only those who lose something leave. Or those who already possess the stone."

"What do we do with it?" Steve asked.

Red Skull pointed to the edge of the cliff to his right. The sky was dark beyond, storm clouds rolling in the distance. It was a desolate and lonely place that sent chills across Aspen's skin. "Toss it over."

"How do I know you won't trick us?" Steve asked.

"What good would that do me?"

Aspen didn't trust him either, so she probed his mind. It was a rotting, terrible place. She drew back, shuddering. "He's telling the truth," she said to Steve. "We can leave any time since we already possess the stone."

They walked warily to the edge of the cliff and Aspen felt a sob catch in her throat. Was this where Natasha had fallen? She looked over the edge, half expecting to see her body lying broken on the ground below, but there was nothing. Steve took the stone and dropped it over the edge. There was a burst of orange light and then nothing.

"It is done."

They turned to leave, Steve taking one last look at Red Skull. "You didn't win the war," he said.

They'd returned home after that, the last mission complete. The looks of relief on Bucky, Sam, and Bruce's faces had made Aspen grin. Bucky hugged Steve, and Sam gave Aspen a squeeze. Bruce wrapped everyone in his big arms.

...

Steve finished putting chairs away at the center where he held grief counseling sessions related to the Snap. Bringing back everyone who had been Snapped had been a blessing, but it had also caused a lot of confusion, more grief, and a little chaos. Everyone who had disappeared reappeared where they'd been before. Homeowners returned to find their house had been sold to a new family. Significant others had moved on in the five years. Kids were now teenagers. It seemed like most people were just grateful to be alive, to have a second chance at the life Thanos had taken from them. But others couldn't adjust or accept what had happened.

"How do you do it?" Steve turned to find one of his clients hovering in the doorway. He slid the last chair into place.

"What do you mean?" he asked, tucking his hands in his pockets and giving the woman his attention. She looked to be near his age with tired lines around her eyes. She'd been coming the last two weeks, but she hadn't spoken too much.

"You've been through so much-more than most people if not all people. But here you are, happy, normal. I just can't go back to how I was before." She'd lost her boyfriend in the Snap, but she'd moved on in the five years he'd been gone. She realized their relationship had been close to an end before he'd disappeared, but now that he was back, everything had gotten more complicated.

"I don't really try to go back to how it was before," he told her. "Because we're all different. The world is different." He smiled, thinking of something Peggy had once told him when he was struggling with his place in the world. "A friend once told me, 'The world has changed, and none of us can go back. All we can do is our best, and sometimes, the best that we can do is to start over.'"

The woman nodded, taking in his words. "Wise friend."

"She was. I figure we've only got one life. Live the life that's gonna make you happy. If you're not happy with him, then he's not gonna be happy either. Sometimes you have to go back to square one and figure out who we are now."

She nodded, taking in his words. "Thanks, Steve. I can't tell you how much these sessions help."

"I'm glad to hear that." He smiled, walking her out.

"How are Aspen and Mara?"

"They're good. We're headed out to visit with some old friends this weekend. We try to do a reunion every year. Not everyone can make it, but Mara loves seeing everyone who can."

"Enjoy."

Steve got into his car, rolling down the windows before he started the drive home. They lived about twenty minutes outside of the small town, so it was an easy drive in when they needed groceries or wanted to eat out. For the most part, they kept to themselves. They'd decided to homeschool Mara for a while. They wanted her to make friends, but when they'd given her the choice of going to the local preschool or studying at home, she'd chosen the latter. She was mature for her age, quiet and independent. She'd made friends with a couple of kids her age at the local swimming pool where they'd enrolled her in swim lessons, but she seemed content on her own with her parents and Phoenix for company.

"She takes after me," Aspen had said. "I had no friends growing up until I met Clint, and I turned out okay!"

Steve was just worried Mara would be treated differently. Everyone in the town knew who Steve and Aspen were, so it set expectations on Mara's shoulders. She was resilient though. She rarely cried and never over cuts and scrapes. She used her drawings as a way to process her nightmares and fears.

The cool breeze that was blowing in through the open car windows held the icy chill of a forest that saw little sunlight. Trees rose up like giants on either side of the winding road. Raindrops hit the windshield as he passed under a raincloud. The treeline broke for a few miles, and he could see the ocean to the left, stretching out into eternity. When he pulled up in the driveway, he saw Mara swinging on her tire swing while Aspen watched from the porch steps.

"Hey," she said, rising to greet him. "How did it go?"

"Really good."

"Daddy!" Mara jumped off the tire swing and ran to him. He pulled her up in his arms.

"How was your day?" he asked her.

"Good! Phoenix almost caught a bird!"

Aspen groaned. "Moving her to the country was a mistake. She thinks she's a mountain lion now."

"She's excited to see Uncle Clint!" Mara said, her voice excited.

"Yeah, he's probably excited to see her, too. And you." Phoenix came everywhere with them at Mara's insistence. The cat was so used to traveling on their quinjet that it wasn't an issue. They'd chosen a house with a flat roof so they could keep the jet there. Much easier for travel than taking a regular plane or driving all the way to Clint's farm.

After their defeat of Thanos, they'd salvaged what they could from the compound. There wasn't much left, but a couple of jets and cars had been parked far enough away from the main explosion to survive. Bruce had overseen the cleanup of the facility to ensure any buried tech did not fall into the wrong hands. To Steve and Aspen's surprise and relief, the government formally pardoned them of any supposed crimes they'd committed in the past. And they'd left them alone when they'd disappeared from public eyes.

"We'd better start packing," Aspen told Mara. "Hard to believe we're leaving tomorrow." It seemed like it had been ages since they'd seen everyone.

"I can't wait to show Uncle Clint my drawing!" Aspen grinned at Steve. Mara was particularly close to Clint, who doted on her like a second daughter. His kids always let Mara tag along, and she was best friends with Morgan even though she'd lost three years during the Snap. She'd gotten to meet Cassie, Scott's daughter a few times, and all the kids had connected in a way they never would with other kids.

"Will Uncle Bucky and Uncle Sam be there, too?" Mara asked.

"You bet." Steve set her back down. "Why don't you go get packed. We'll head out early tomorrow." Mara ran off, and Steve walked over to Aspen, leaning down to kiss her, long and slow, glad to be back home.

"How's the book coming?" he asked, walking into the house with her.

"Good. I'm to the part where we're in Iceland," she said. "It's hard to write, but it feels so good to get it all out. Once I sit down, it's like my fingers just start typing so fast but they can't keep up with my thoughts. I'm almost to our first kiss." She tilted her head to the side to look at him, a smile playing on her lips.

"Good scene." He'd never forget that day. For all the horrors they'd seen and danger they'd been in, something good had come out of it.

He remembered Aspen's words, when he'd first realized she felt the same as he did. "We're both still alive. And we're together," she'd told him when she'd been cleaning up the cuts on his face in the room they'd been imprisoned in. "When the guards took you away, I felt as if my whole world was collapsing."

He'd looked at her, eyes searching hers, feeling the emotions building up between them. He was nervous, he didn't know what to do. He wanted to kiss her, but he wasn't sure he should. Then she reached up her hand to cup his face before leaning up to brush her lips against his. He breathed in, hesitated. Then he realized there was no perfect moment. All they had was now, and he wanted to kiss her back. He put his hand on her waist and returned the kiss. It was gentle, soft. Aspen tangled her fingers in his hair and he tightened his grip on her waist, their other hands entwined.

He deepened the kiss, wanting more, wanting to be closer. Aspen seemed to feel the same because she leaned into him, pressing her body against his. It was as if it was only this moment and nothing outside of it existed. The fear, the danger, the uncertainty all melted away. This moment felt so right, and Steve wished it could last forever.

When they finally broke apart, Aspen rested her forehead against his. They were both breathing hard. She let go of his hand and put both arms around his neck, gently kissing him again. He wrapped an arm around her back and pulled her even closer. He felt so comfortable around her that all his nerves had melted away. It felt like everything that had happened between them had been leading up to this point, up to them.

He smiled at the memory. "Remind me again how it went?"

Aspen leaned up to kiss him.

...

They landed the jet in the field outside Clint and Laura's house. It was like coming home just as much as returning to their home in Oregon. Mara raced out as soon as they lowered the ramp, running to Clint who stood waiting. He scooped her up in his arms.

"Hey, Star Girl." Mara had told Clint about her dream when they'd video chatted yesterday night.

"It's Lady Star!" she corrected.

"Oh, yeah? Well, you are quite the lady." Mara giggled and Clint set her down so she could go greet his kids. "Hey, Pen. Steve." He hugged them both. "Let me get your stuff. Laura's got lemonade on the porch.

Sam and Bucky hadn't arrived yet, but Wanda was there as well as Bruce and Rhodey. Pepper was talking with Laura and Morgan was with Clint's kids. They went around greeting everyone. Scott and Hope were off on a mission as well as Peter and Carol. It was still weird not being off on missions, but Aspen didn't miss them. Putting the stones back had really been the last mission, and she'd felt a sense of completion after that like she hadn't been able to rest until that moment.

Sam and Bucky arrived, and they all gathered around the yard while the kids played, talking, remembering. It was like old times but better, Aspen thought. Of course not everything was perfect. There were two empty places in all their hearts, but later that night when they were sitting down to dinner, they all raised their cups.

"To Tony and to Natasha," Clint said. They echoed his words and drank.

Later, when Aspen was putting Mara to bed in the guest room, Mara asked her, "Do you think I'll have stories to tell like this someday?"

Aspen smiled, smoothing back Mara's blonde hair. "You might, but they'll be your stories."

"They're okay, you know," Mara said. Aspen frowned thoughtfully.

"Who's okay?"

"Natasha and Tony," Mara told her.

Aspen sucked in a breath. "How do you know that?" she asked.

"I had another dream last night," Mara told her. "They were there. They were happy because they knew you were. They didn't want you to worry about them."

Aspen didn't know what to make of Mara's dream. Was it just that-a dream-or was it something more? She supposed only the future would tell.

"Thanks, honey," she said, kissing her daughter's head. "That means the world to hear that."

She found Steve standing outside on the porch listening to the crickets chirping in the field beyond the house. "Mara said she had a dream. She saw Tony and Natasha and they told her they were happy for us and that we shouldn't worry."

Steve turned to look at her. "Do you think she really saw them?" he asked. She could hear the hint of hope in his voice. He wanted to believe she really had.

"I don't know, but she's right." She took his hand and they stood watching the stars twinkle overhead, listening to the calming night noises. Inside they could hear the soft conversation of their friends. Aspen smiled. "I am happy."

Steve squeezed her hand. "Me, too." They stood outside a moment longer before going inside to sit with their friends.

Life was never what you expected, Aspen had come to learn. It was ups and downs and fear and sorrow and happiness and joy. In the endgame, they had lost more than they were willing to lose, but it wasn't an ending, not really. It was a new beginning. Aspen smiled at her friends, smiled at the warmth of Steve's hand in hers. Life was never what you expected. Sometimes it was better.

The End