"Hey kid, you ready?" Steve asked as he approached the young girl, still kicking himself for agreeing to this.

She was only twenty-two; old enough to volunteer, but too young to understand the risks. He reminded himself that he was her age and trying to volunteer for the war, but that didn't stop the worry.

She reminded him of himself the day they hashed out the plan; not budging an inch when she knew there was something she could do to help.

"They've fought enough," she argued.

"But they know what to expect, you don't. It could be dangerous; stuff could go wrong."

"The only…" she let out a short breath, willing away the burn at the back of her throat. "The only ones left that know what to expect are either injured, off-world, or with their families. They've given everything already, let me help. Let me do it for them."

"Ready for anything," the girl nodded, her dirty-blond ponytail swinging as she bounced on her toes in excitement.

Misplaced, he thought before taking a step towards her.

"I need you to do me a favor," he said, watching her cock a brow in defiance. He waited for her to challenge him, something along the lines of 'what's in it for me?' like she had so many times before, but instead she remained silent. "When you go to Lehigh, I need you to return these," he explained, passing her a handful of red vials identical to those already in her belt. "I figure we should return the vials I stole when we jumped the first time. You know; in case I set off some mess of events."

"Bruce already explained that that's not how it works," she lectured mockingly, but dropped the four red vials into a compartment on her hip none the less. "Why four?"

"We had already lost a stone once, I didn't want to risk getting stuck somewhere," he offered, but she saw his eyes squint in the way she'd learned meant he wasn't telling the whole story. It was like he was trying to force the truth through his eyes, but it only served as an indicator to some falsity.

She'd first seen it a year ago, when he claimed he had no personal connection to the mission.

Six years, she reminded herself.

Six years because she'd been gone for five. Dead for five.

Whatever half-truth Steve was telling her, she wasn't going to push it. She couldn't imagine the storm within his head right now, dealing with loss after loss over the last five years. She'd have all the time in the world to ask him about it when they were finished for the day.

Right now, they had a job to do.

"You ready?" she asked instead, repeating his earlier words.

His mouth opened as if he were about to agree before he clamped his jaw shut again, dropping his head in a way that showed how tired he was. She'd learned in their time that that meant he wasn't ready. Nowhere near it.

So, she immediately stepped forward, wrapping her arms around his torso because she couldn't reach around his shoulders, and squeezing when she felt his arms wrap around her.

"You know I'm proud of you, right Marlow?"

She froze against him

In the year and a half she'd known him, he'd never spared to show that he supported her, that he would fight for her, that he was proud, but he never said it. No one, in fact, had ever told Marlow that they were proud of her, but she always knew that he was. They were work associates that became friends that became the closest thing possible to siblings in their short time together, and so he never had to. She just knew that he was.

But him saying it now—moments before they embarked on the most insane mission she'd ever planned with him—made her blood run cold.

"Please don't," she begged quietly. She didn't know what she was asking him not to do, but she couldn't bear it.

"I won't be gone. Not really."

"Please."

"It's alright. You'll be alright… But when I'm not around, watch out for Bucky will you? He's gonna say he doesn't need it, he might even try to fight you on it, but watch out for him?"

Marlow didn't say anything. She couldn't. If she did, she shew she'd start crying and that wasn't something she was going to do. Not in front of him. Not when she knew he had already decided to follow through with his plan, and she wouldn't make him feel more guilt than he already obviously was.

It took a few minutes for that burn to disappear. A few minutes of the two standing silently in the locker room of the pop-up military encampment they'd been staying in since their fight against Thanos. Since so many lives were lost.

The burn was back.

"I'll try my best," she said finally, "although you both seem to share the same pig-headedness."

"We do," he chuckled against her hair. "But I think you can get to him…"

"I'm going to miss you."

"I won't be gone long. Just a minute."

"Okay," she nodded. "A minute."

⁂

Now in the clearing a half mile from the ruined Avengers Compound, their small team ran through final checks for the mission.

"May 4th, 2012, 3:43 PM, 177A Bleeker street, Manhattan," Marlow repeated from memory.

"On the rooftop. She'll be expecting you," Bruce added, meaty finger pointing at her as he spoke.

"Right. Then to Stark Tower, same time and day to return that bad boy," she listed, nodding to the heavy weapon leaning against the side of their time machine.

"They'll be expecting me with the sceptre, so make sure to—"

"I know, 'the Captain sends his regards, Hail Hydra' and all that."

"And get out of there as soon as you can."

"Mhmm," she agreed for the umpteenth time.

That would be the most dangerous part of the mission. Steve wanted to take that location as well, but Marlow insisted. They split the stones 50/50, she could handle it, and if it got heated, she could drop the scepter and go quantum.

"Then to Lehigh," she finished.

"I made a call to Hank at 4:34 PM and he would have had to get to the shipping dock— that should have him distracted for a few minutes, but get in and get out as quickly as you can. And remember not to interact with us when you're there."

"Copy that. You wanna run through your mission, Captain?" she teased.

"My coordinates are a little more complicated. Focus on yours, kid."

With that, Bruce called Steve and Marlow over, hands opening the larger of two cases which held the three stones Steve would be returning. After taking the smaller case passed to her by Sam, she clipped it onto her belt, listening as Bruce begins speaking.

"Remember, you have to return the stones to the exact moment you got them or you're gonna open a bunch of nasty alternative realities."

"Don't worry Bruce," Steve agreed quietly, "we'll clip all the branches."

Bruce nodded, a solemn look overcoming his face. "You know I tried… When I had the gauntlet, the stones, I really tried to bring her back."

The quiet words sent shocks of discomfort through Marlow. Enough that she had to step away.

Away from Steve, away from Sam, away from the time machine that even if they tried, couldn't bring her back.

Her glassy eyes stayed focused on the trees, trying to keep her emotions from bubbling over.

"I know you're going to miss me, but there's no need to cry," came a voice from behind her.

A sad laugh escaped her as she turned, glaring at the dark haired man with his hands in his pockets.

She'd only met him a few weeks before—her time—in the lead up to the Battle of Wakanda, and then again during the fight against Thanos. She remembers first seeing him, thinking he was a terrifying sight; teeth barred, wielding a machine gun as if it were an extension of his own body before ripping the arm off of one of those alien dogs with his bare hands.

Of course, she knew who he was; her work with Hydra files would have given her enough information on his past, even without the news to keep her up to date. But she learned who he is from Steve.

Sergeant James Bucky Barnes, the man who always hated liver, never failed to charm a girl off her feet, and would drive himself insane chasing after Steve.

He also had a tendency to tease her mercilessly for just existing.

"Actually, I think some quiet will do me good. Might even hang out in the seventies a while so I can get some peace before jumping back."

"You wouldn't survive; they didn't have cell phones back then."

She sent him another glare; this time not half-assed. "Bite me Barnes."

"There she is," he chuckled, "charming as ever."

Behind her, Sam and Steve approach, and she didn't miss the spark of sadness that erupted in Bucky's eyes as Steve stopped in front of him. With that coil of anxiety, she wandered away, allowing the life-long friends a moment while Sam swung an arm over her shoulder.

"So, I know you're going to be tired when you get back, cause of jetlag or whatever, but I was thinking; movies and bottomless Chinese?"

"From Nanking?"

"From Nanking."

"You know me so well," she sighed, smiling with a nod.

"Good luck and stay safe. Watch you six. I wasn't in New York in 2012, so I won't be able to fly in and save your ass."

"You know, I question sometimes why I stick around you all when all your main objective in life is to annoy me," she grunted, stepping from under his arm.

"Because you secretly love it?" Sam suggested, an annoying smile on his face.

"I think it's because I have a soft-spot for senior citizens."

"I'm not even half their age," he protested.

In response, Marlow just shrugged. "I said what I said."

"Careful, you don't want to get grounded," came Bucky's teasing voice as he passed her.

"Bruce, wanna zap us away now? Thank you."

Steve climbed the stairs to the platform with Marlow in tow, engaging her suit before picking up the larger case holding the tesseract, then grabbing the scepter—both restored thanks to whatever freaky time magic Doctor Strange used on them.

"How long is this going to take?" Sam asked, voice more clipped than he'd intended. He was nervous—obviously. Two of his friends were relying on a technology that they'd only really been working on a few weeks, let alone the fact that one of them was going to travel to different planets.

"For them, as long as they need. For us, five seconds," Bruce explained as the machine whirred, sending new jolts of excitement through Marlow. "You both ready?"

Steve nodded and Marlow let out a quick 'mhmm.'

"Alright, we'll meet you back here, okay?"

"You bet."

This is it.

"Going quantum in three…"

Don't mess up.

"Two…"

She turned to look at Steve, sending him an almost imperceptible nod.

A minute.

"One."

The feeling that overtook her body isn't describable. Somewhere between dropping and weightlessness; flying and motionlessness. She's everything and nothing.

Then she was gone.