Hey everyone. I want to start off by thanking you all for your well wishes and for sticking by me this past year. I can't believe that one year ago today I got the crazy idea to post a random drabble and that it turned into a one hundred and twenty chapter story. This story has gotten me past one of the weirdest years of my life. I started off in a rut, then I got depressed, I lost my way, found it again, then life got in the way, I got depressed again ended up in the hospital, and pretty much wrecked some friendships beyond repair because of said depression. Through it all working on this story and hearing from all of you has gotten me through some of my darkest days and I wanted to say Thank you. I also wanted to say that my extended hiatus is now over and I'm refocusing onto this story. I will occasionally work on Fated Marks but my new goal is to at least update this story once a week. So without further delay the long awaited chapter of Time Traveling is Complicated.
Someone once said that life has a way of working things out on its own. While my train wreck of a life has had a ton of downs and not so many ups not once did anything work out on its own… Not until today.
The days that followed the end of the trial the PR team of Hogarth Chao and Benowitz had launched an all out smear campaign against Sharon. She hadn't even received the notice of legal action yet. It may have been a bit petty of me to go after her like this but after the hell she put me and everyone around me for this trial she deserved a bit of grief. She was ambushed leaving the courthouse jail after being held in contempt of court by every possible news media outlet accusing her of associating a known terrorist.
The media ate it up. I was now America's sweetheart and since the hospital was trying to get back in my good graces especially after I got an offer from Columbia University they gave me extra paid maternity leave. Not only that but I was reinstated effective immediately.
I spent the extra time at home helping Aiden track down Snow who had gone off the radar and setting up a new Charity with Dad, the Stark Family Medical Association but most importantly I spent time with my baby. I never understood why people posted up pictures of their kids constantly until I had Wren. My kid was freaking adorable and he photographed so well.
"And there he is wearing his little storm trooper hoodie." I said.
"Was I like this when she was born?" dad asked Rhodey.
"You made photo montages." Rhodey said.
"Sorry, I just love my kid." I said.
"We know." They said at the same time.
"You ready for tomorrow?" Dad asked.
"My first day back at work? I'm looking forward to it. I just hope Wren's going to be okay at Daycare." I said.
"I thought Aiden was going to watch him?" Rhodey asked.
"He was but we decided we've put off the hunt for Snow long enough and we need to deal with him before he makes a move so Aiden's going to be traveling on and off for a while." I said.
"So does that mean you've rethought the offer, being an Avenger?" Rhodey asked.
"Oh hell no, this is just unfinished business. Aiden made Wren a promise and I'm helping him keep it and also keeping him alive while doing so." I said.
"If leaving Wren in daycare bothers you so much I could watch him." Dad offered.
"Thanks Dad but this might be good for Wren, I read somewhere that it's good for him to socialize and be with other kids." I said. "Plus he'll only be a few floors away so I could pop in and visit him throughout the day. Speaking of it's actually time for me to go. He should be waking up from his nap and he'll be hungry."
"We still on for dinner on Wednesday?" Dad asked.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world." I said. "Bye." With that I teleported home.
I got home and saw that Aiden was sitting on the couch with Wren in his arms as he fed him and Axl was curled up next to them.
"Hey." I said letting him know I was home.
"Hey how are the dads?" Aiden asked.
"They're good." I said. "How's my little man?"
"Hungry." Aiden said. "You ready for tomorrow?"
"Born ready. Surgery is like riding a bike, once you learn how it just comes to you. I looked at my schedule and the only thing I have programmed for tomorrow is a valve replacement." I said.
"If you end up staying late let me know and I'll pick Wren up." Aiden said.
"Course you're already on the approved list." I said.
"Speaking of approval lists…" Aiden started. "He called again."
"And by he you mean…" I started.
"The star spangled man with a plan." Aiden said.
"Someone just can't take a hint." I said.
"Maybe its because he can tell you still love him." Aiden said.
"I never said I don't love him. I always have an I always will but I'm done wasting my time on him, I've given him more than enough chances." I said.
"Would you be saying the same thing if it was Bucky?" Aiden said.
"That's different. Bucky needed space to sort himself out. It hurt but I dealt with it Steve no matter how many chances I give him screws things up. He's not worth it." I said.
"And if Bucky comes back? What then, you're both his soulmates are you going to force him to pick a side." Aiden asked.
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, in the meantime, I was thinking of making some Parmesan crusted chicken for dinner sound good?" I asked.
"Sounds great." Aiden said.
The next morning I woke up ready to kick surgical ass. I put on some dark wash jeans and a flowy white top that I paired with an olive duster blazar and some lace up heels.
.
I went to Wren's room and saw that he was awake just looking up at the ceiling.
"Morning sweetheart." I said picking him up. "Oh someone needs a diaper change."
After quickly getting Wren changed and dressed I headed downstairs for breakfast.
"Coffee" Aiden said placing a cup for me as I walked in.
"Thank you." I said as I headed to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of milk for Wren.
"I have a few meetings today. One of my contacts is in town and then there are a few people I need to check in with." Aiden said.
"Okay, like I said last night, I still don't have anything big scheduled. Should be home around five or six at the latest if anything comes up I'll let you know if I get held up." I said.
"That works, I have to get going, don't traumatize any interns." He called out over his shoulder.
"You're no fun." I said. "Don't send anyone to the hospital."
"I make no promises." Aiden said before the door closed.
"Of course he wouldn't." I said turning to look at Wren who just looked at me and smiled. "Who's excited for mommy's first day back at work? You are!" I said making him laugh.
I quickly packed my lunch and filled my thermos before getting Wren's diaper bag and teleporting to work.
"Doctor Stark!" One of the daycare workers said shocked to see me.
"Hi, I'm here to drop my little guy off for his first day." I said.
"This is little Wren? Aren't you a cutie?" She said in a baby voice and Wren gave her a teary eyed look.
"He's not used to strangers." I said. "I'll be by around lunch to give him his bottle."
"Of course a lot of the staff stop by for lunch." She said.
"Okay then I should get going." I said suddenly getting a bunch of anxiety.
"I'll take that." She said referring to the diaper bag.
"By baby, mommy loves you." I said stepping away and walking out of the daycare center. It sounded crazy but I already missed him. I walked over to the reception where Henry was waiting.
"Nora, welcome back." Henry said.
"Thanks its good to be back." I said.
"We have a staff meeting in the conference room." He said.
"One thing I didn't miss, staff meetings." I said.
"You and me both." Henry said. "So how's Wren?"
"Don't get me started I have so many photos on my phone I need a new memory card." I said as we walked in.
"Nora its good to have you back." Claire said "How's Wren?"
"In daycare, he's growing like a weed." I said proudly.
"Do you have pictures?" Claire said.
"Oh yeah, he photographs so well." I said pulling out my phone.
"Aw, his little cardigan." Claire said. "We should have a playdate."
"Yes!" I said.
"Can I have everyone's attention?" The chief said making everyone quiet down. "As you all know Doctor Stark is returning from her maternity leave and she will resume her responsibilities as head of ER two." Everyone clapped at that. "Her composure and grace at the challenges she has faced recently should serve as an example to all. It is good to have you back Nora."
"It's good to be back chief, I want to thank everyone for their support over the past couple of weeks. I know it wasn't easy with all the media coverage and how it must've have disrupted your workdays but thankfully that is all behind us now. I look forward to working with all of you again and getting back into the swing of things." I said.
"With that I say get back to work, it may be a slow day but we still have patients in post op and residents to teach." She said.
"See you in the pit?" Henry asked.
"Maybe later I have a valve replacement scheduled in an hour." I said.
"I'll see you later then." Henry said.
A few hours later-
The valve replacement had gone off without a hitch and the patient was doing great in post op. I had one of the residents check up on him every hour or so. I went down to the pit and saw that it was mostly empty, one of the rare slow days in the ER. I decided to take advantage and start on inventory. That took up most of the day. Whoever the chief had as my temporary replacement sucked at keeping the supply closet organized.
As I was organizing I started getting the chills.
"Aya." I said and she appeared.
"I'd grab a dose of that." She said looking at the Lorazepam.
"Where are you taking me?" I said as the chills got worse. It had been a while since Aya zapped me anywhere.
"Maternity leave is over time to get back to work." She said as I started glowing. I grabbed the Lorazepam and closed my eyes. I felt as the light got brighter and when it finally stopped I was in a lab. I looked around and recognized it as Gramp's lab in the 1940's
I saw a flash of light then heard a thud. I hid behind the lab table since I couldn't risk running into myself again.
"What the…Nora!" I heard Gramps yell.
I heard a gasp followed by sobs. "I couldn't stop it, I didn't save him Gramps. Bucky… hh-he's…" Past me sobbed. Crap this is when I showed up after falling from the train. I looked down at the syringe I was holding. This explained a lot.
I felt gust of wind and felt the stone's energy coming of past me. Shit.
"Nora…" Gramps said trying to get past me to calm down but I knew it wouldn't work. She started screaming in sadness and anger. I could feel the surges of energy getting stronger and stronger. Things started flying around, grasses shattered.
"Kid you need to calm down." Gramps said. It wasn't working and the ground was starting to shake. I had to stop myself now before she brought the building down. I teleported closer to her and felt the energy try to push me away.
"Shit." I groaned. I grabbed the syringe and jabbed it into past me's neck and emptied the Lorazepam. The effects were almost instant. She started swaying and collapsed to the ground. I saw her look up at me before she closed her eyes.
"Nora?" Gramps said.
"Hey gramps." I said as I kneeled down and checked past me's pulse. "She's fine, dosed her with enough tranquilizers to knock out an elephant but she'll be fine. How are you?"
"Why are you here? What just happened?" Gramps said.
"Well she just got back from falling of the train I'm from her future, a few years down the line. You should get her to the infirmary." I said.
"Uh right…" He walked over to the phone and dialed the infirmary. "I should probably call Rogers, he's been a wreck."
"Don't." I said.
"What Nora he thought you died with…" He said looking sad.
"I know but she needs to be sedated until after I leave and I'd rather not risk altering the timeline by having Steve show up." I said. "I should be gone as soon as I do whatever I got sent here to do."
"Which would be?" Gramps asked.
"No clue, guess the first step would be for you to tell me what she missed the past two weeks." I said.
"Not much. You and Barnes fell from the train. We couldn't find your bodies, you were presumed dead. Rogers and the commandos came back. He was a wreck. Philips has been trying to get Zola to talk but he hasn't said a word." Gramps said.
"Zola's here?" I said.
"Yeah." Gramps said as I started walking out of the lab.
"Nora wait!" Gramps said running after me.
"I know where to start." I said.
"Killing Zola isn't going to bring Barnes back." Gramps said.
"I'm not going to kill him, I just want to have a little chat." I said walking to the cells.
"Nora?" Peggy said. "What the bloody hell?"
"That's not Nora, well not our Nora." Gramps said as Philips came out of the interrogation room.
"What is going on in here? Stark?" He said looking at me.
"Colonel, I'd like to take a crack at him." I said.
"That's not going to happen." Colonel Philips said.
"I wasn't asking." I said as I teleported in to the interrogation room.
"Ah Fraulein." Zola greeted. "It is so good to see you alive and well. I was told you fell of the train with Sergeant Barnes. Such a shame he was a fine subject." He said with a smile.
"You know this isn't the only war I served in. You meet a lot of interesting people on the front lines. I knew this guy, Max. Hell of a guy, he was an interrogator for special ops. Of course being an interrogator was just a fancy job title for torturer. Want to know what was Max's signature, what made him different than everyone else? His tools. He didn't have a fancy kit or scalpels like you did. He used keys." I said pulling mine out of my pocket and watched as Zola paled. "You'd be surprised the amount of damage something so small can do. I had to do a few autopsies on some of the people he worked on. Don't know how he did it but one time he pulled out a man's eye using his car keys and actually left an impression on the Orbital plate." I said using my powers to lift my keys up. Every time they clinked he'd flinch.
"Of course there are rules about that. The army wouldn't allow that, the public would find out and there'd be hell to pay. The government tells them everything right?" I said locking the door and the loud click sounded through the room. "Wrong, there are loopholes for things like this. The first of which is that if it happens at an undisclosed location outside the US say a super secret base under a major city somewhere in Europe then it didn't happen."
"I-Is this your attempt of coercing a confession Fraulein." Zola said. "Because your fear tactics do not rattle me."
"Really, is that why there's a puddle of piss under you? No, That wasn't me coercing you. Torture would be a waste of time for a guy like you. Your pain would end to quickly. Keys aren't my choice of weapon either, Knowledge is. That's why you killed all those soldiers right? Trying to find the secret to creating the perfect soldier. But that's not why you kept me around is it? You want to know how this all plays out for you if that Swiss street rat from the slums of Zurich does make a name for himself. I've seen it." I said and at that he perked up.
"How?" He said.
"You end up a shriveled old shell of the insect sitting in front of me. I'm the last face you ever saw." I said lifting my hand up and slowly tightening his throat. "I watched as your cancer riddled lungs slowly filled with fluid and you drowned in your piss stained bed. I heard each of your screams as the nurses ran to try and make your last hours bearable but nothing will work. You left this world screaming, your throat hoarse from the hours of screaming." I said lifting him out of his seat and pushing him against the wall as my eyes started glowing. "And you could have prevented it all if you had just talked. You could have saved so many lives yours included. What a pathetic excuse of a scientist."
With that I let him go before unlocking the door and walking out.
"He's ready for you." I told Philips.
"What the hell was that?! You could have ruined any chance of…" Philips started.
"Shut up and go finish the job before I do." I said my voice distorting and my eyes glowing.
"Nora, That's enough." Peggy said. I took a deep breath and calmed down.
"Sorry." I said. "Give him a good meal and a change of pants, he should talk then." I said as I started getting the chills. "Time for me to go, see you around." With that I started glowing.
I waited for the feeling to pass but I felt gusts of wind and felt wind rush at me followed by a growl.
"What the hell?" I said looking at some weird octopus thing.
"Nora move!" I heard someone call.
"What?" I said looking around and seeing some weird rat flying around. "Whoa, ah!" I screamed as I felt something tackle me and lift me up in the air.
"You know it's nice seeing you and all but we're kind of in the middle of something!" A man with a jetpack and mask said.
"Who the hell are you?" I said.
"Nora what are you talking about it's me, Peter." He said.
"I don't know you, is that a flying raccoon?" I said noticing something my by.
"Shit, this is you from before…"Peter muttered.
"Before what, what is that thing?" I said.
"Drax catch." He said before dropping me.
"AH!" I screamed.
"You scream like a baby it is quite funny." A man with grey skin and strange red tattoos said.
"What the hell is going on?" I said.
"We are currently trying to kill that tentacle creature to collect that bounty." He said as I saw a tentacle moving to slam us. I quickly put up a force field to Shield us.
"Uh I think maybe you should uh shoot it now?" I said.
"Try not to get squashed." He said running towards it.
"I feel sick." I said.
"I am groot." I small tree thing said from the ground.
"Aww you're kind of cute." I said as another tentacle almost landed on us. "Ah! Time to move. Aya get me out of here!"
"Stop being such a baby and use your powers, you need the practice." Aya said.
"Thanks for the heads up." I said. "Little guy you may want to take a few steps back." Looked around and saw the weird sword on the ground. I held my hand out and focused all my energy into the palm of my hand. I teleported closer and threw the orb at it. All it did was just make it angry.
"The beast's hide is too thick to be pierced from the outside! I must cut through it from the inside." The grey skinned guy said.
"What? No, Drax! Drax!" I heard a green skinned woman say.
"What's he doing?!" Peter said.
"He said that the skin is to thick to be pierced on the outside so…" She shouted.
"That doesn't make any sense!" Peter growled.
"Yes it does, Tale of Jonah." I said putting up another force field.
"How skin has the same level of thickness on the inside as it is on the outside!" Peter shouted
"But not the same resistance, kind of like bulletproof glass." I said running.
"There's a cut on its neck! Rocket, get it to look up!" Peter said.
"Alright, you giant sea monkey, up here! Whoa, watch it Quill!" The raccoon said. Oh shit the raccoon actually talks!
"Yes! I have single-handily vanquished the beast!" The grey skinned man said as he came out of the monster's stomach.
"How the hell is this my life?" I said.
"Right, everyone still in one piece?" Peter asked. "Nora nice job distracting it."
"Who the hell are you?" I said.
"Peter Quill, Star Lord? Guardians of the Galaxy, any of this ringing a bell?" Peter said.
"Dude I've never seen you in my life and what the hell was that thing?" I said pointing at the remains of the tentacle monster.
"That's an Abilisk, it feeds off energy sources like these Anulax batteries." The raccoon said.
"You're a talking raccoon." I said in shock that I wasn't hallucinating it.
"Who you calling a raccoon?" It said leaping at me.
"Rocket stop!" The green woman said. "She hasn't met us yet, she's at that point in the timeline."
"You know about that?" I said.
"Yeah you have a habit of popping up when we least expect it." Peter said. "Thanks for the movies you brought last time and I don't know what you're talking about Jar Jar is not that bad."
"The novelty wears off, we've met before?" I said.
"We've met you, you haven't met us yet." Peter said.
"So I'm not on Earth am I?" I said looking around.
"Completely other end of the galaxy." Peter said.
"Dad's going to freak when I tell him." I said as the glowing started. "Looks like it's time to go."
"See you next time and if you could bring some of those movies you mentioned last time…" he said before I vanished.
I waited for the feeling to pass before opening my eyes.
"Please be back in New york." I said as I slowly opened my eyes. I wasn't in New York but at least I was back on Earth. I looked around and saw a dingy apartment. There were newspapers covering the windows and a mattress on the ground.
"Aya where are we?" I asked.
"Wait." She said.
I heard someone come up the stairs and then take their keys out. I made an energy orb in my hand just in case. I waited as they put the key in and turned the doorknob before pushing the door open.
"Nora?"
"Bucky?" I said dissipating the energy orb.
"What are you doing here? How did you find me?" He said closing the door.
"I didn't find you Aya brought me back here." I said.
"It's good to see you." He said.
"You too." I said forcing myself not to run up to him and hug him. "How are you doing? How's your memory?"
"Better." He said.
"That's good." I said.
"I remember you from before everything…" He said. "The factory, Steve saving us…my name on your wrist."
"Oh, that's great." I said.
"I'm sorry for before." He said.
"Don't be, you did what you needed to do and you look better." I said.
"There are bad days but it's better than before. I know who I am now." He said.
"Uh can you give me a minute I need to make a quick call?" I said.
"Yeah." He said. "Just don't…"
"I don't even know where this is so you're safe." I said taking my phone out and dialing Aiden.
"Mathis." He said.
"Hey its me, I need you to pick up Wren." I said.
"Got pulled into surgery?" Aiden said.
"No more like Aya decided to have an impromptu time traveling spree and I'm a bit held up at the moment." I said.
"I got him, need me to cover for you?" Aiden said.
"Short of actually performing open heart surgery if you can just tell them to page me if they need me I should be good. Thanks for doing this." I said.
"That's what I'm here for." Aiden said before hanging up.
"See you at home." I said.
"How's Wren?" Bucky asked.
"Uh, Wren actually died almost a year ago." I said.
"I'm sorry." Bucky said.
"So am I but that's life." I said.
"He loved you." Bucky said. "He looked at you the way I remember Steve looked at you."
"I know he did. It's been a crazy year." I said.
"I've seen. Sokovia, telling the world who you are, the lawsuit." Bucky said.
"You saw that?" I asked.
"Don't know exactly what it was about but I know all charges against you were dismissed." Bucky said.
"Yeah things are just starting to get back to normal." I said.
"Steve must be happy to have you back." Bucky said.
"Uh Steve and I aren't together anymore." I said.
"Why?" Bucky asked "What happened?"
"Seventy years apart and other things. It was just better this way." I said. "He's been looking for you."
"I figured, the punk never gives up." Bucky said.
"He thought you died Bucky and then he found out you were alive and brainwashed by Hydra…" I said. "What would you do if you were in his place?"
"You didn't come after me." Bucky said.
"You didn't want me to. You had seventy years of people forcing you to do their bidding I wasn't going to force you to stay if you didn't want to. Besides getting away from it all has done you a lot of good." I said forcing a smile onto my face. It wasn't like I could say that letting him go felt like someone repeatedly stabbed my heart.
"I'm sorry, I know it wasn't easy for you and I should have handled it better than going behind your back and talking to Wren about it. He said I should talk to you first." Bucky said.
"He did always know how to handle me better than I did half the time." I said.
"He always knew what to say." Bucky said. "Helped me without even knowing me."
"He was the best." I said.
"You loved him." Bucky said.
"Yeah, he slowly wormed his way into my heart without even realizing it." I said.
"It's good you two had each other, if it couldn't be Steve I'm glad it was him." Bucky said.
"He misses you. You should have seen the fit he threw when I told him I had seen you and that I let you go." I said cracking a smile.
"I can imagine." Bucky said. "You're not going to try and convince me to go back?" Bucky asked.
"Sweetie I love you, but we both know that the only way you're going back is if you want to. You had seventy years of people making choices for you I'm not going to be one of them." I said.
"You hungry?" Bucky asked.
"I haven't had anything to eat since breakfast so yeah." I said.
"I can make pasta?" He said.
"Sounds good or I could just pop over to Roma and get us some take out, save us some time?" I offered.
"I like the routine, it makes me feel… normal." Bucky said.
"Okay then." I said. "Can I help with anything?"
"Chop some tomatoes?" Bucky asked.
Turns out Steve wasn't the only one that knew how to cook. Bucky was actually a great cook and he made his tomato sauce from scratch.
"I wanted to ask…" Bucky started just as my phone started ringing.
"Can you hold that thought?" I asked as I answered. "Go for Nora."
"Nora I have Wren and it's time for his bottle but there isn't any milk in the fridge." Aiden said.
"You sure, check the controlled temp drawer I always leave one there." I said.
"Oh there it is but it's only half the usual bottle." Aiden said.
"Shit, okay just let me finish wrapping up things here and I'll head back." I said.
"All right and please hurry, you know how fussy he gets." Aiden said hanging up.
"I have to go." I said.
"Sounds important, work?" Bucky asked.
"No actually my son needs milk and I'm breast feeding." I said.
"You have a son?" Bucky asked.
"Yeah, I do, Wren. He's a little over two months." I said proudly. "I'm surprised you didn't hear about it."
"I just moved here, I've been moving from town to town for the past few months." Bucky said.
"Here I have loads of pictures." I said taking my phone and showing him the picture of Wren cuddling with Axl.
"He looks like you." Bucky said.
"Really? Everyone says he looks more like Wren than me." I said.
"He looks a lot like Wren but he has your nose and lips." Bucky said.
"I knew that pout looked familiar." I said.
"I'd like to meet him sometime." Bucky said.
"Really?" I said not expecting that answer.
"Of course, he's your son. He must be an amazing kid just like his mom." Bucky said and at that I couldn't help but tear up and hug him. "Hey, it's alright doll."
"I'm sorry, I don't know why I did that." I said moving away from him.
"Nora it's okay." He said hugging me. "I missed you."
"I missed you too." I said holding onto him.
"I don't want you to go." He said.
"I have to. I have people waiting for me." I said letting go.
"I know." He said resting his forehead against mine. "I love you Doll, always."
"I love you too." I said as I kissed him. He held me tight against me. "Whenever you're ready, there's always a home waiting for you. Now or whenever you're ready."
"I want to be there with you." He said.
"Then be there. I'm with you no matter what but I have to go now. It's up to you." I said.
"What do you want?" Bucky asked.
"Bucky, what I want doesn't matter." I said.
"It matters to me. You're one of the few people I wouldn't mind taking orders from. All you have to do is ask." Bucky said.
"Buck I want you to be there because it's what you want not because I asked you to. I have a son. Wren and I are a package deal; if you want to be there for me then you also have to want to be there for him. I love you but he comes first and if you're in this with me then he has to come first for you too because there's no other way this is going to work. It's your choice." I said.