It was beautiful.
He had never seen the stars with such clarity before. He had always lived in cities, where the light pollution ate the starlight. Where you had to drive hours to escape the black hole of light. The colors were extraordinary. If NASA found out that he really went into outer space, they would bombard him with question; that is, if he lived.
Her image was beautiful against the nebula, her red hair bending in with the lovely reds and purples of the gas cloud. He slowly closed his eyes and leaned back. The small tunnel of gravity flowing from Earth guided him back home. Back to her.
They held the funeral three days later, after sending Thor and Loki back to Asgard. His lost rippled among the Avengers. The archer stood with a brave face, his red headed companion equally solemn. The scientist had his head bent, looking at his dusty shoes, for he felt responsible for the tragic death. The captain stood tall, memories of loved ones lost repeating, never ending. The lightest redhead stood at the front, arms wrapped around her lover. The billionaire stood sadly, his arm holding on to his partner tightly. They didn't bother to take him out of his suit; as it was what made him him.
Five months later, Nathaniel Phillip Stark was born. The majority of the Avengers were in attendance, with the exception of Thor. Natasha held Pepper's hand as she gave birth, Tony on the other side of her, pale faced. The little baby was two months early, and induced much stress on the new parents. Tony had done the math. Pepper was two months pregnant when the Battle of Manhattan happened. She was planning on telling him the night he was called to duty. It was Tony's idea to name his son after the great agent.
Two weeks later, a funeral was held for Nathan. His mother was sobbing into her husband's shoulder, her tears falling like the rain that day. The Spider clung to her Hawk's arm, truly sad that her nephew had died. The scientist and the captain lingered in the back.
Seven months, two weeks, and six days later; Natasha Romanov became Natasha Romanov-Barton. The team of heroes had finally healed enough to be happy, and the Stark duo was expecting again. All was well.
Okay. This was extremely short, because I wanted it that way. I wrote this A LONG time ago, so no, this doesn't follow the IM3 plot line.
Reviews please? I will be uploading another oneshot soon...the more reviews, the quicker the story!