A/N: If I'm being honest...Infinity War/Endgame exhaust me. I might touch on the insane plot points that are sure to come when the movie comes out, but really this fic will mostly just be a lot of Carol fluff/angst.

It was late. Well past the witching hour. The dark blue curtains that hung in the front window of the small home that sat on the bank of a river were drawn open. Lit candles that sat in the sitting room just on the other side joined a faint light that was on somewhere inside, letting anyone who passed know the owner was still awake. Not that anyone would pass. The small, yellow home was far enough outside of the small Louisiana town nearby that it didn't see many visitors.

Regan liked it that way. She had learned to welcome the solitude over the past twenty or so years. Maybe it was cliche. A witch living out alone on the edge of a swamp. But she didn't need anyone. Well, that wasn't entirely true. She didn't need anyone new was more like it.

Things were especially lonely as of late. With half of the world's population literally disappearing into thin air her already small world had gotten smaller. It was strange. No one could quite explain just what had happened, or why. It was like the world was ending, but yet the world kept going almost as if nothing had happened.

She had customers come to visit more frequently now, however. Both regulars and new customers coming to reach out those they had suddenly lost in an attempt to find out what had gone wrong. And somehow, each time Regan was met with no answer. She had to send each one home empty handed. And she understood their grief. More than they could know.

The TV was on in the background of her study. She wasn't entirely sure what was on. A few hours ago a movie she liked had been on and she let it play in the background while she worked on her laptop. She was curled up in her large arm chair, her two cats Kit and Molly were lounged out on the cluttered desk in front of her. Molly was pressed against Regan's mug of tea to keep warm.

The curtains in the next room were drawn every night. After all this time, each time Regan passed the window she'd throw a glance outside, first to her long, windy driveway and then to the sky. It was a habit that would probably never be broken, as much as she didn't want to admit that. She would always be keeping an eye out for something that would never come.

And although there was only one person Regan expected to arrive, it wouldn't be the visitors she'd have that night. Usually Steve would have waited to push something like this off until morning. "It's late," he'd say. "This can wait a few more hours. Let's get some rest, put together a plan." and Natasha would have agreed. But these circumstances were dire. And even with the late hour, the owner of the small home seemed to still be awake if the lights inside had anything to say about it.

Regan hadn't heard the car pull up into her driveway because she hadn't been listening for it. She had no reason to. If she had been paying more attention she may have noticed the lights shining briefly across the wall, but her mind waved them away as just a flash from the TV. Kit sat up at the sound of the car doors shutting. The cat's movement drew Regan's attention just as there was a firm knock on her door.

She was more confused than afraid. Who would possibly be there at nearly three in the morning? Surely it wasn't a customer. Her regulars knew better than to drop in, no matter what the time was. Regan stood from her seat, stretching and running a hand over Kit's head to soothe him. She shut her TV off and padded out to her front door. It was a man and a woman, both blonde. Regan felt like she maybe recognized the man, but she wasn't really sure from where. The woman lifted her head slightly, almost meeting Regan's eyes as if she could see that she was looking through the peephole.

Her feet planted back on the floor, Regan unlocked her door and opened it slightly, just enough to look out at the pair. "...Can I help you?" she asked.

"Hi, uh...sorry we're dropping in so late," the man said, his hands shoved in the front pockets of the jacket he was wearing. "We have a mutual friend I think. We found your number in some of his belongings…" Regan was almost positive they had the wrong address until the woman took a step forward, smiling thinly at her.

"Nick Fury. Your name was listed in his contacts. It said to only contact you in case of an emergency. And I think this counts as an emergency." she said. The man gave Regan a small smile, almost as if apologizing for his friend's bluntness.

Nick Fury. That was a name that Regan hadn't heard in a long time. These two had to work for the government then, she assumed. Maybe SHIELD like Nick, although she remembered seeing something about it being disbanded a few years back. And maybe she should have been more careful to let two strangers into her home at such a late hour. But Regan knew that to them she probably seemed harmless, so if anything went wrong they wouldn't expect that she could handle her own.

She stepped aside, opening the door wider to let them both inside. "Come in," she said quietly. The pair made their way passed her and stepping a little farther into her front sitting room. "Nick, is he...I mean I assume you're here and he's not because he's dead?" the woman's expression didn't change, but the man's jaw clenched slightly before he nodded. It was clear to Regan he and Nick had been close. "I'm sorry to hear that. He was a really good guy," she had had conversations similar to this hundreds of times. Her job revolved around dealing with the grieving. But this was the first time she knew the deceased person in question.

Molly and Kit had joined the trio. Molly sat in the beam of light that stretched out from the doorway that lead to the study while Kit trotted over to the pair. He circled the man twice before brushing up against his leg. He bent down, running his hand under Kit's jaw a few times. "Look...if you're both here for a reading, I'm afraid I'm not gonna be able to help you. I haven't been able to reach anyone that passed in...whatever that was." she explained.

"That's not why we're here. Although, you might be able to help us with something else if what's in your file is true."

"Nat…" the man said, his tone sounding more tired than anything. He rubbed at his eyes, putting his hands back in his pockets. "I'm sorry. I'm Steve, this is Natasha. We worked for Nick. Is there somewhere we can talk? We promise not to take up too much of your time." they seemed very much the good cop and bad cop. But Regan could tell that the two were desperate to put simply. They just had different ways of showing it.

Regan lead the pair to her study, offering the two tea while she tried her best to tidy up. They both declined, sitting on the paisley printed couch that sat across the room from her desk. Steve was glancing around the room while Natasha kept her watch on Regan. The witch took a seat back in her arm chair, pulling her feet into a criss cross position.

"So, if you're not here for a reading, what is it I can help you with?" she asked, looking between the two blondes.

Steve looked over at Natasha as if signaling her to explain. Natasha snapped open a small pocket on the utility belt she was wearing and pulled out a small device. It took Regan a moment before she recognized what it was. "We found this next to Fury's car the day of the Snap," Natasha began. Regan didn't exactly know what the "Snap" was but assumed it had something to do with everyone disappearing.

"It's a distress signal of some kind, that's about as far as we can tell. When we went through Fury's files to try and understand what the symbol was, we found something similar in the file that had your name in it. We were hoping you could shed some light on what it might be." Natasha handed the beeper over to Regan, who held it gingerly in her hands.

She stared down at it for what felt like forever. Her thumb brushed over the screen, blinking red and blue with the familiar golden star in the center, gently. Regan was sure she would never see that beeper again. Even with psychic visions, pessimism would always reign over this particular subject.

Nick had definitely kept his promise at least. He'd saved it for an emergency just like Carol had explained. "I um…" Regan began. Her mouth and throat felt incredibly dry. "I do know what it is actually," Steve had an immediate look of relief before sinking down into the couch as if a huge weight had been tossed off his shoulders. Natasha raised an eyebrow, patiently awaiting Regan's explanation. "It's a beeper. It was Nick's. I think this was back when SHIELD was new, honestly timelines like that sort of blur for me over time...Carol took it from him so that he couldn't call backup to arrest her. Before she left she made some adjustments to it so that he could reach her at a farther distance than Earth in case of an emergency. And I guess this was the emergency." she explained. That was the short version at least. Regan sort of assumed that Steve and Natasha didn't have time to hear about the Skrulls and Kree.

"Carol...who is Carol?" Steve asked. Did it surprise Regan that Nick had clearly left Carol's name from the file he'd written about the event? No. She didn't know a whole lot about government rules, or SHIELD's rules for that matter, but she was pretty sure he had committed treason a few times along the way. More than likely the report was a fluffed up version of the truth.

"She's...I'm not really sure I could explain what Carol is," Regan smiled. What was Carol? Human? Alien? Somewhere in between? Maybe it was cheesy, but the only way Regan could describe Carol was magical. "She's definitely not like anything I've ever seen before, and I've seen a lot."

Steve and Natasha gave each other a knowing look. "When was the last time you saw her? Do you have any idea where she might be?" Steve asked.

Regan shook her head. "1995," Steve visibly deflated. "And she's...somewhere up there," Regan pointed upwards. "She told Nick she wasn't sure how many galaxies away she'd end up, or when she'd be back. Or even if she'd be back. Honestly she could've…" it hadn't occurred to her before that Carol might have been part of the people who disappeared. Up until that point she had always just assumed Carol was too powerful for anything to stop her. But now that two of Nick's colleagues were asking her for answers, she had a feeling they might be up against something bigger than Carol.

Natasha leaned in towards Steve, her head turned away from Regan so that she couldn't hear or possibly see what she was whispering to him. Steve's eyes flickered from his partner to Regan as he listened. If she had really wanted to, Regan could've focused a little more and heard everything they were saying. But she wasn't completely sure that she really cared about it.

The two pulled apart from each other, and Natasha took the beeper back from Regan. "We'd like you to come with us back to our compound," she said. "Whatever's happening, Nick had to have been pretty confident his plan would work. You're the only person we can find that knows anything about the story behind that beeper."

Steve gave Regan a small smile and shrugged. "We're kinda on our last leg here. We could really appreciate any help we can get."

Regan truly didn't know what she could offer them. Maybe her presence would simply make them feel like they were making an effort to solve their problems. There was a more selfish part of her that wondered if somehow, some way, they could get in contact with Carol. Maybe these two would be what finally reunited her and the person she would give anything to see just one more time. That was worth the chance, wasn't it?

"...Can I bring my cats?"