June 10, 2018

"Okay, who here hasn't been to space?" The racoon, Rocket, asked as we sat in his ship, already ascended into space. I raised my hand with Steve and Rhodey shook his head with his hand raised, confused as if being in space was as normal as driving a car. However, to these people from planets other than Earth, it seemed like it was that simple.

Nebula, who had come back on the same ship as Tony, helped us figure out where Thanos might be. We suited up and were on our way to reverse his erasure of half of all life. Tony was kept behind, as he was in no position to be fighting anymore. Steve wanted me to stay back too, worried from the lack of sleep and terrible eating habits I had developed over the last few weeks. But I needed to be there.

"You better not throw up on my ship," Rocket stated simply and Nebula then counted down to the jump. I had a brief explanation of how this was going to work before we went onto the ship. The physicist in me was fascinated by how we were going to be traveling through space.

In the moment however, it was terrifying. I grabbed onto Steve's hand tightly as he sat directly next to me. The two of us stared out the front window in shock as the world around us flew past in seconds. As we reached the planet we assumed Thanos was on, we waited for Carol to do a sweep of the area.

I remained in my seat for a moment as Steve stood up to look out the front windows.

"This is gonna work Steve," Natasha told him as she approached him.

"I know it will," he said. "Cause I don't know what I'm gonna do if it doesn't." I closed my eyes briefly, willing myself to keep my emotions at bay. I didn't want to think about the possibility of it not working. After taking a deep breath, I stood up myself and walked next to him. I saw him looking down at his old compass, that still contained a picture of me from the 1940s.

"Crazy how much our lives have changed since that picture," I voiced. "We were just two kids living in Brooklyn, and now outer space." I gave him a small smile and he returned it. "I got another one you can replace that with." I pointed to the picture.

"I like this one," he stated in defense. I gave him a chuckle as I reached into the pocket up my sleeve. It was a small photo of Margaret and me. I kept it safe on me wherever I went. I knew I could make another copy of it, and I felt like Steve should have this one first. I handed it over to him and he held it carefully in his hands.

"That was taken at Christmas this year." Tony had taken the picture.

"I like this one more," he agreed as he replaced the old photo in the compass with the new one. "We're getting her back, Mads."

All I could do was nod, and soon Carol was back to tell us that Thanos was alone, and we were ready to take back what he stole from us.

As I walked into the sole shack on the quiet planet, I heard Thanos' cries as he was held back by Carol, Rhodey and Bruce, and immediately after his arm with the gauntlet was chopped off by Thor. The gauntlet was turned over by Rocket, and all the stones were missing. I felt my heart clench at the sight.

"Where are they?" Steve asked. Thanos did not respond so Carol tightened her grip around his neck.

"Answer the question," she demanded.

"The universe required correction. After that, the stones served no purpose, beyond temptation," he mocked us.

"You murdered trillions!" Bruce knocked him to the ground as he was wearing one of Tony's suits.

"You should be grateful." I inhaled sharply at his words, resisting the urge to turn away. I didn't want to break down in front of him, I needed to focus on the task at hand.

"Where are the Stones?" I repeated Steve's question.

"Gone. Reduced to atoms."

"You used them two days ago!" Bruce yelled.

"I used the stones to destroy the stones. It nearly killed me. But the work is done. It always will be. I am inevitable." The rest of the team began to question whether he was telling the truth, whether the stones were hiding and if we could find them somewhere, but I began to zone it all out. I could feel it, I knew they were gone. I took a couple steps back, unable to process it. My body jumped at the sudden swing of Thor's axe across Thanos' neck. He was dead, the stones were gone, and nobody was coming back. Margaret wasn't coming back.

The world went black around me and I felt my body collapse as I heard my name called out from Steve's voice.

June 17, 2021 (STEVE'S POV)

"Still no change?" I heard Natasha ask from the door as I sat in the chair next to Maddi's bed. It was a hospital bed that had been in the compound for any emergent situations like this one. Maddi lost consciousness on the planet we found Thanos. She hadn't woken up since. Bruce was taking care of her medical needs, but he was also watching after Tony in another room. Tony was doing well with his recovery, with help from Carol's medicine from outer space. However, Maddi wasn't responding much to anything given to her. Bruce said she just needed the rest; her body finally caught up to all the stress she had been through over the past month, but it didn't ease my worries any bit.

"No," I shook my head as I watched over my sleeping wife.

"She's gonna wake up, Steve. She's one of the toughest people I know."

"Maybe too tough sometimes." I knew she pushed herself too hard after Wakanda, but I never expected it to end like this, none of us did.

"How are you holding up?" I gave her a glance and she looked down while leaning against the doorframe. "Sorry, that was a stupid question."

I stared up at the ceiling, willing myself to keep from crying. "I can't lose her too, Nat."

"Me neither."

"Have you found Barton yet?" I tried to distract my mind momentarily. Natasha had received a brief and distraught phone call from him on an unknown number a few days before. We weren't sure before that if he had vanished or not. He hung up too suddenly for us to find him, but all we knew was that his entire family had been wiped out. I grabbed onto Maddi's hand laying on the bed beside me, willing myself not to think about what I would do in his position. I needed her to wake up, she was the only thing holding me together.

"No, he's completely off the grid right now." Natasha stood up straighter, her body language insisting that we dropped the subject. "I have to go." And before I could offer any comfort her way, she was gone.

I sighed and leaned back in my chair, still holding Maddi's hand lightly in my own. I rubbed my thumb over her knuckles and watched her slowly breathe for a few minutes in silence.

"Mads, I need you," I whispered to her in the quiet room. "It's okay the weight of your grief crushes you, I'll hold as much of it as I can so you can keep going. I'll get us through this… somehow." I wasn't sure how, but if she woke up, I would do everything I could to make sure she would be okay again. That I could see her smile and laugh.

"You don't have to worry about me because as long as you wake up, I'll be okay. I'll find a way to be okay." I brought her hand up to my lips and kissed it lightly. I promised myself and her that if she woke up, I would be able to push aside my own pain in order to carry hers. All the guilt from not stopping Thanos mixed with my heartbreak from losing Margaret too soon, I had no choice but to push it aside. It was the only way I knew how to handle it. I could fight through the nightmares and hold back the tears; I could do it all if it meant that I could have Maddi awake again. As long as she was with me, I could manage it. I just needed her to wake up.

A/N: I wanted to make this chapter a little longer, but I felt like this was a good point to split it up. I will be writing the next few chapters taking place during the 5 year gap. I have some ideas for what Maddi was doing during that time and I wanna do it before getting to the rest of the Endgame plot. I enjoy writing more stuff that doesn't take place during the movies anyway because then I don't have to cross reference with the script when writing. I hope you liked this one, and I would love to hear any thoughts!