We all landed in one piece, our suits disappearing to leave us in our clothes once more as I looked around the group—checking for injuries or anything else.

"Did we get 'em all?"

"Are you telling me this actually worked?" Rhodey grinned in disbelief.

"Hold on. Where's—" I was cut off as Clint fell to his knees, eyes red with tears and a devastated look on his face. "Clint, where's Natasha?"

He was silent, just looking at us and trying to hold back his emotions as understanding dawned on us. Banner slammed a fist to the ground, and I swallowed thickly, mind stalling as I realized at the cost these stones came with.

"L-Let's…" I cleared my throat, doing my best to hold it together for the team, especially Banner and Clint, knowing they needed it the most. "Let's move somewhere else. I'll… I'll get something to drink for everyone."

Tony saw where I was going with this, helping to usher everyone out to the pier over the lake to deal with what happened. Was there nothing I could have done? I wondered as I poured coffee and alcohol into various glasses. I know I wasn't with them, but surely there must be something I could do. Maybe I could ask the stones? Seems a bit silly, but… I could just try, right? I blinked back tears, not knowing when I'd started crying and hastily wiped them away. I wanted to be strong for the others. They'd known her far longer than I had. I could mourn later. She'd want me to help them.

I took the drinks out to them, setting them on a table for the group to take what they wanted, though I knew most of them would probably remain untouched.

"Do we know if she had family?" Tony asked, trying to be logical and Steve nodded solemnly.

"Yeah. Us."

"What?" Thor questioned, eyeing the two.

"Huh?"

"W-What are you doing?"

"I just asked him a question," Tony replied as I stood, seeing trouble brewing in the tension between them.

"Yeah, no, you're acting like she's dead. Why are we acting like she's dead?" Thor demanded. "We have the stones, right? As long as we have the stones, Cap, we can bring her back. Isn't that right? So, stop this shit. We're the Avengers. Get it together."

"Thor," I cut in, voice sharp and he turned to me with a frown just as Clint spoke up.

"We can't get her back. It can't be undone. It can't."

Thor chuckled bitterly. "Look, I'm sorry. No offense, but you're a very earthly being, okay? And we're talking about space magic. And 'can't' seems very definitive. Don't you think?"

"Yeah, look. I know that I'm way outside my pay grade here, but she still isn't here, is she?"

"No, that's my point."

"It can't be undone," Clint repeated, voice cracking and growing louder. "Or, that's at least what the red, floating guy had to say. Maybe you wanna go talk to him, okay? Go grab your hammer and you go fly and you talk to him!"

I grabbed Clint's arm, calming him down a bit and he looked away.

"It was supposed to be me," he croaked out. "She sacrificed her life for that goddamn stone."

"No, she didn't," I murmured, squeezing his arm. "She did it so you wouldn't have to. Clint, she wanted you to get your life back. She wanted you to go back to your wife and kids. Even if we could go back and stop her from doing it, she'd fight us the whole way because that's who she is. She bet her life on that stone bringing back all of our lives. We owe her for that. All of us."

"Jess is right," Banner said after throwing a bench in frustration. "We have to make her sacrifice worth it. We have to."

"We will," Steve agreed, and I let Clint go once I was sure he'd calmed down enough.

"Thank you," he murmured under his breath before he turned to head back.

"I'll…" My voice stopped him, and I clenched and unclenched my fist. "I'll try and talk to the stones. Maybe… Maybe there's something we can do."

I could tell he didn't believe that, but he was kind enough not to say anything and just give me a small nod as we headed back to the main building.

"You okay?"

I turned, relaxing into Tony's hold as he wrapped an arm around my waist with a concerned look. "No, but I'm better than they are, I'm sure."

"You did good," he said, kissing my temple. "I'm sure Clint understands. Banner too."

I grunted, not feeling entirely convinced that my words helped, but knowing there wasn't much else I could offer.

"You think the stones will tell you anything?"

"I… don't really know. They talk in riddles half the time. Or, well, the ones that like me do. And they don't exactly… talk? It's hard to explain, but if there was anything I could do, I'm sure… I hope…"

"If not, don't worry about it," he comforted me, undoubtedly seeing signs of my uncertainty from previous years creeping up. "It's not your responsibility to save everyone, remember?"

"But it's always worth it to try," I countered, earning a small smirk from him as he led me to where the stones were.

"Shall we?"

I nodded, reaching out and taking the first stone with a soft sigh. "Hello again."

"What's she doing?" Rocket asked Tony, the two of them behind protective glass as Jess rolled a blue stone between her fingers, eyes closed and a small frown on her face.

"Jess has some weird connection with the Infinity Stones," he explained. "She can communicate with them somehow; in a way we haven't exactly figured out yet. They've been giving her these sort of… visions of the future."

"So, she's like a psychic or something?"

"Or something."

"And this connection protects her from getting fried by the stones?"

Tony rubbed his head. "Not sure, actually. She's the only one able to handle them outside of their casings, but I've never seen her use them. Maybe she can't?"

Jess placed the red, yellow and purple stones into the Iron Man gauntlet they'd created before picking up the Soul Stone and holding it for a moment, muttering under her breath.

"And she thinks talking to them might somehow get Romanoff back?" Rocket confirmed.

"She's hoping," Tony replied. "Trying is all we can do. We're lucky she can communicate with them in the first place. Gives us more of a chance to change the outcome of things. That's what she believes, anyway."

Jess seemed to sag a bit as she put the Soul Stone in its place and scooped up the green Time Stone. The two stones in her hands seemed to glow for a second before she placed them away as well and opened her eyes, looking to Tony with a small nod. It was ready.

"Anything?" Tony asked as she stepped out of the room with the gauntlet, only for her to shake her head.

"Nothing concrete. There's the smallest chance of maybe using the time machine to take a Natasha from another timeline, but she wouldn't be the same. Reversing the process won't work either. The Soul Stone requires a physical soul in order to manifest. Going back and stopping Natasha from sacrificing herself by replacing the stone could rip a hole in the universe or something." She rubbed her head with a small wince. "They didn't really make that part quite clear. The Time and Soul Stones were sort of bickering as to what would happen exactly, but it would be very much not good... Sorry."

Tony rapped a knuckle on her forehead. "No apologizing. You tried, and that's what counts."

"So, what now?" She asked, handing him the gauntlet.

"Now, we see if it works."

I fidgeted uneasily as the decision was made for Banner to use the gauntlet. There were things I hadn't told Tony about my discussion with the stones. They'd shown me in more detail what was going to happen. The fight, the saving grace of all the others being gathered to help, his death. I wasn't sure what they were trying to get me to understand. We'd already fought. Thanos was dead. We were just bringing back the others who'd been snapped out of existence. Tony was alive. Why show me something that had already happened?

"Jess? You good?"

I blinked, realizing that Banner was getting ready to put on the gauntlet and everyone was suited up. "Huh? Y-Yeah. Sorry."

I tapped my watch, getting my suit on as Tony's voice chimed in on my internal comm, unheard by the others.

"You okay? What's got you distracted?"

"Nothing," I murmured, feeling as though I was missing something vitally important about the vision the stones had shone me.

"I know it's not nothing. You can't lie to me, Jess."

"I'm pretty sure focusing on Bruce is more important right now," I bit out, that inkling that something was wrong making my temper run high just as Banner began crying out in pain at the power of the stones.

I winced as well, feeling the energy like a knife to the head, bringing my hand up as the stones threw those images at me again, trying to get me to see, to understand. What? What do you want me to see? I doubled over in pain, feeling Clint grab my arm to help me and calling out to me, but I was focused solely on what I was seeing. Then, it clicked.

"It wasn't Wakanda," I breathed in shock, feeling the pain ebb away now that Banner had snapped his fingers and collapsed.

"What? What are you talking about?" Clint questioned, before perking up, hearing his cellphone buzzing.

He helped me sit on the ground as he walked away to answer the phone—Lang stepping out to look at the birds that had returned and Tony checking on Banner before heading over to me.

"What was that? What's going on, Jess?"

"It wasn't Wakanda," I repeated, eyes wide in fear.

"What wasn't Wakanda?"

"The vision. It wasn't a battle in Wakanda. It was a battle here."

He frowned. "Jess, what are you saying?"

"Thanos isn't gone. Thanos is coming here, now, and…" I looked around, suddenly realizing something. "Where's Nebula?"

Tony looked around as I saw a shadow falling over us and glanced up. At the sight of the large ship hovering overhead, my heart skipped a beat as I shouted.

"Everyone! Get down!"

I lunged for the gauntlet the second we were all knocked off our feet and everything went dark. It took a moment for me to blink back into consciousness and I groaned, shaking my head clear of the fog and trying to contact someone—anyone.

"Friday? Friday, are the comms working?"

My screens flickered and faded, making me curse as I pushed debris off me and got to my feet. I immediately looked for the gauntlet and felt relief rush through me when I spotted it just under some rubble. I reached over, brushing it off before hearing a groan.

"Clint!" I scooped up the gauntlet and helped him to his feet. "You okay?"

"Been better. Did a building just fall on us?"

I looked up and nodded. "Thanos."

"I thought he was dead."

"According to the stones, we had an enemy in our midst and didn't know it. They brought Thanos from the other timeline into his future, our present." I gave Clint a look. "We can't let him get the stones."

"You have a plan?"

I winced. "Sort of? The beginnings of one. I just… I don't have enough details with what they're showing me. More than before, but—"

"You know what?" He stopped me. "I don't want to know."

There was a sound then and we both stiffened, him drawing an arrow silently and firing it down the tunnel. I groaned when it lit up the hoard of alien creatures crawling on the walls.

"Damn horror movie cliché."

"Run," Clint muttered, and I nodded.

"After you."

We both took off down the tunnel as he eyed me.

"Can't you do anything? Shoot them or something?"

"Can't! System's rebooting!" I replied, smacking the side of my head to get the jittery screens to stop flickering. "It'll be a bit before I'm able to charge up anything."

"What about the others?" He asked, firing off arrows as we went down another tunnel. "Can you contact them?"

"Comms are down. Even if my suit was working, I don't think I'd get anything."

"What use is that suit anyway!" He complained.

"Honestly? It's an overpowered tin can but handy for shielding," I replied, wincing as I saw Thanos appear in my mind.

"I thought by eliminating half of life the other half would thrive, but you've shown me that's impossible. As long as there are those that remember what was, there will always be those that are unable to accept what can be. They will resist."

"Why are you showing me this?" I hissed under my breath.

"What?" Clint questioned.

"The stones. They're still showing me visions," I explained, shaking my head. "Thanos is changing his mindset. We fucked up his plans, so now he wants to—"

"I will shred this universe down to its last atom. And then, with the stones you've collected for me, create a new one, teeming with life that knows not what it has lost but only what it has been given. A grateful universe."

I grit my teeth. "He wants to become a God. He's going to destroy everything and build the perfect universe from scratch."

"You're kidding."

"Honestly, I wish I was."

Clint's arrows exploded, knocking us forward as the creatures screamed behind us, but I knew that wouldn't do much and was quick to get him back on his feet.

"Go up!" I shouted, shoving the gauntlet into his hands and he hesitated.

"But you can't use your suit!"

I rolled my neck, suit glowing red. "I told you, I don't need a suit."

He nodded, using his grappling hook to go up through the tunnel above us as I slammed a heavy fist into the creature that ran up to me. It fell to the ground with a screech as the others took a step back, cautious as my suit superheated hot enough to create heat waves in the air.

"I think I've watched enough Alien to know you lot don't like fire."

One screeched and threw itself forward and I easily impaled it with my hand, ripping it off with a grimace of disgust at the scent of burnt flesh that I caught the scent of. It was never one I'd get used to, even with my power, but I didn't have time to think about it as the rest of the horde rushed forward. I was rather surprised how few were left though, letting out a sigh of relief as Friday finally chimed in to announce my suit was fully charged once more.

"You're late," I grumbled.

"Apologies, Miss Jess."

I went to complain about the name, but begrudgingly let it pass. Vision wasn't around right now, so she might as well. I flew up through the tunnel and landed beside an abandoned gauntlet, turning my gaze to Clint with a small frown, but he just pointed to the people who'd now joined us. I blinked at the dead Nebula and the living one standing alongside a green-skinned woman I'd never met before as I scooped up the gauntlet.

"Should I be trying to kill either of you right now?" I asked, Nebula rolling her eyes.

"Myself from the past sabotaged everything. She is now dead, so no."

"Right… And green girl?"

Said woman glared. "Excuse me?"

"Gamora," Nebula cut in. "My sister."

"Right… Clint?"

"They're safe," he replied, rubbing the back of his head.

"The stones seem to think so," I agreed, earning a curious look from Gamora. "God, I'm tired of explaining this. I can communicate with them, okay? Don't ask questions. We need to get to the surface."

"And how exactly are we going to do that?" Clint asked and I lifted the gauntlet.

"With this."

"Uh, last I checked, it fries anyone who uses it."

"If you use the power of all the stones, all together, to cause a massive event like snapping half the universe into existence or non, yeah," I rattled off, plucking the Space Stone from its nook in the gauntlet. "But borrowing the power of one stone to do a measly thing like providing a portal upstairs? It'll do it just to impress me."

"How are you able to even touch the stones?" Gamora gaped.

"They like me," I shrugged, wincing when the Reality, Power and Mind Stones flared in the gauntlet. "Well, some of them, anyway. The rest sort of… tolerate me."

"I'm still not going to get used to that," Clint grumbled, making me roll my eyes.

"Whatever, let's just go."

He waved an arm. "After you, soothsayer."

"Shut the hell up, cockatoo."

"Hey!"

Steve struggled to his feet, shield broken, but willing to fight until the death if it meant saving the universe—saving Earth. Thanos was hardly fazed by his bravado, backed by an army of creatures who had no problem killing anything that moved. Steve never felt more alone than in that moment, having no back up as he faced down the wanna-be God and his army. Then, a familiar voice over his comms.

"Hey, Cap. Do you read me?"

Surely, he was imagining it.

"Cap, it's Sam. Can you hear me? On your left."

Steve turned in amazement as a golden portal opened up just behind his left shoulder, allowing three Wakandan's to step through—people who had been dead up until a moment ago. Sam flew through the portal as well, doing a sweep in the air as a multitude of other portals began to appear. Doctor Strange floated through with Star-Lord and his crew, along with Peter Parker. All the Asgardians entered through their own portal with more mystic arts users allowing more and more fighters through from SHIELD personnel to Bucky, Wanda, Vision, and Groot.

"Is that everyone?" Strange asked Wong, who shot him a disbelieving look.

"What? You wanted more?"

Lang took his chance, turning giant and appearing from underground with Banner, Rhodey and Rocket in his hand. Then, a glowing blue portal opened up at the head of the group and Clint stepped out with Gamora, Nebula, and Jess at the very front. Her helmet opened up and she smirked over at the beaten crew in front of her as the blue stone hovered in her hand.

"Somebody called for backup?"

Steve grinned as the army roared and faced a mildly surprised Thanos. "Avengers!" He called out, Thor's hammer flying into his hand. "Assemble."

The army let out a roar and charged. Jess placed the stone back into the gauntlet Clint had, much to his surprise.

"What? You're not going to keep using it?"

"The stones need to be kept together if we've got any chance of getting out of this mess. We need to get them all back to where they need to be."

"How? The machine's destroyed."

"Just trust me. Keep it safe and out of view for now."

He nodded as she flung an alien creature over his head with a huff.

"Honestly. I'm trying to have a conversation," she complained before flying off to help with the rest of the battle.

Lang was using his size to his advantage while he could, taking out some of the larger flying creatures and planes while the Wakandan army, Asgardians and other Avengers dealt with the creatures below, including Thanos's children. Jess caught up with Tony for only a moment before spotting Thor and Steve down below not paying attention as they bickered over their hammer and ax.

"No, no. Give me that. You have the little one," Thor complained, grabbing for the ax that Steve held and tossing the hammer only for Jess to swoop down, grab it out of the air and swing it upward to catch the overgrown gorilla-like alien that had been charging at them in the chin.

Steve gaped as Jess huffed and tossed the hammer back to him. "You… You can use the hammer?"

"Ta-da," she drawled, flying off again as Steve looked at Thor, who avoided his gaze.

"You knew?"

"She threatened to throw out all my beer."

Jess rolled her eyes, only to feel her heart stop as she caught sight of Tony being thrown away by the largest of Thanos's children. Hell no. She flew over, knocking him upside the head the same instant he was grabbed and yanked back, only to be stepped on by Lang. She landed at Tony's side in concern before following his gaze to Peter as he rushed over and helped him up.

"Hey! Holy cow! You will not believe what's been going on," He breathed, rambling quickly. "Do you remember when we were in space? And I got all dusty? And I must've passed out because I woke up and you were gone. But Doctor Strange was there, right? And he was like, 'It's been five years. Come on, they need us.' And then he started doing the yellow sparkly thing that he does all the time. What are you doing?"

Tony stepped forward and pulled him into a tight hug, making Jess crack a smile as she easily knocked away an alien that tried to interrupt.

"Oh, this is nice," Peter replied, glancing at Jess. "Is, uh… Is this all right?"

"We're in the middle of a battle against a man threatening to blow up the universe and you two are hugging it out." Jess shrugged, throwing two more aliens away. "Could be better timed, but I won't argue."

"Oh, okay. Cool."

"You two are explaining this to your aunt though."

"Oh… not so cool."

"Cap! What do you want me to do with this damn thing! Jess said we need to get the stones back, but I don't know how!" Clint called over the comms as they all went back to fighting; Jess doing her best to get back over to where Clint was to help.

"No way to get them back. Thanos destroyed the quantum tunnel," Tony replied, but Lang had a plan.

"Hold on," he said, shrinking back down and pulling out his keys. "That wasn't our only time machine."

La Cucaracha echoed across the battlefield and Steve ran to the top of a debris pile as he called over the comms.

"Anyone see an ugly brown van out there?"

"Yes, but you're not gonna like where it's parked!" Valkyrie reported from the air.

"Scott, how long you need to get that thing working?" Tony asked.

"Uh, maybe ten minutes."

"Get it started. We'll get the stones to you."

"We're on it, Cap."

While they went to work on that, Jess landed a moment before Tony did over by Doctor Strange.

"You'll be glad to know the Ancient One thinks you're an idiot for giving up the stone," she teased, earning a roll of Strange's eyes.

"Of course, she does."

Jess went over and punched him harshly in the shoulder.

"Ow!"

"And that was for dying without my permission."

"Since when do I need your permission?" He complained, easily batting away an approaching alien.

"Since you and I started to get along, you dunce," she joked, flying off as Tony removed his helmet and Strange gave him a look.

"You need to do something about her," Strange complained.

"What makes you think I can do anything?" Tony quipped. "But hey. You said one out of 14 million, we win, yeah? Tell me this is it."

"If I tell you what happens, it won't happen," Strange said seriously and Tony frowned.

"You better be right."

Clint was finally spotted, getting saved by T'Challa who took the gauntlet and began to make his way through the battlefield while fighting, only to get knocked off his feet by Thanos's boomerang-like sword. Wanda jumped in between them though, absolutely furious.

"You almost took everything from me," she growled.

"I don't even know who you are."

"You will."

She began to fight Thanos, distracting him as T'Challa tried to go after the gauntlet only for Ebony—one of Thanos's children—to move it almost out of reach.

"I got it!"

Peter Parker flew by, taking it from the struggling T'Challa and doing his best to fight his way through the aliens that rushed at him. Wanda was holding her own against Thanos with Vision's help—the man unwilling to let her fight him alone and withholding some power from the stone that was now gone from his body. But Thanos had other plans. Missiles rained down from his ship, hitting his own army and doing damage to the Avengers as well. Wanda was knocked off her feet and many were forced to take cover under shielding from mystic arts users as Strange himself became occupied holding back the water from a busted dam.

"Help! Somebody help!"

Peter was getting overwhelmed by aliens and Steve used his quick thinking to throw his hammer for Peter to get pulled by. His webbing was cut and he almost fell, before Jess swooped in, grabbing him and the hammer, passing him off to Valkyrie to knock a missile out of the way. Peter was soon thrown to the ground though, unable to do anything but cover his head and pray no missiles would hit him when they suddenly stopped. All eyes went up to find the missiles shooting into the clouds and Jess landed beside Peter in concern.

"You good?"

"Y-Yeah. Yeah, I'm, I'm good. I think, anyway."

Thanos's ship was easily destroyed as Captain Marvel made her entrance, landing beside Jess and Peter as he held the gauntlet in a death grip.

"Hi, I'm Peter Parker," he muttered, still in shock.

"Hey, Peter Parker. You got something for us."

"Oh, including me now, are we?" Jess snorted as she helped Peter to his feet where he saw the army heading right for them.

"I don't know how you're gonna get it through all of that."

"Don't worry."

"They've got help."

Wanda, Valkyrie, Okoye, Pom, the Wasp, Gamora and Shuri joined the group as Peter passed the gauntlet to Captain Marvel who smiled at Jess.

"We should get drinks sometime."

Jess snorted. "Tony would get jealous."

"So, is that a yes?"

"Definitely."

"Could you two flirt some other time?" Valkyrie complained as Jess turned, lifting her helmet with a raised brow.

"What? You're not coming? Girl's night out. Sounds fun."

Okoye sighed. "We'll set up a date later. Can we focus on the alien army first?"

"If we have to," Jess sighed, helmet flipping back down as Peter slowly slipped away, hoping to never again be caught in the middle of a conversation like that.

The group charged in Okoye easily taking care of the child of Thanos while Valkyrie dealt with the flying creatures alongside Wanda and Jess—who used her old trick with the Space Stone to drive the creature into the ground. Captain Marvel though, made a beeline for the opened time machine van, but Thanos got in the way—or would have if Jess hadn't teamed up with Shuri and the Wasp to knock him aside. Thanos wasn't defeated yet though, throwing his sword into the machine and knocking everyone back as a shockwave exploded out of the van, stopping what could have been the end of the battle.

I pushed a slab of concrete off me, sucking in a sharp breath of air and grimacing down at the lead pipe that protruded from my left side. I heated my hand, grabbed it from behind my back and melting it off so I could sit up, counting slowly in my head before yanking the pipe cleanly out with a cry of pain. Damn, damn, God damn, shit that hurts! I could feel it being healed though, lifting my gaze as the stones called out.

Chance.

Soon.

Only you.

Don't fail.

One shot.

Focus.

The last one had me holding my breath as I looked over at where they'd called from. Tony was nearby, throwing a corpse off him as Thanos rushed for the gauntlet.

"What do I do?" I muttered, struggling to think of what I could do in this situation, and knowing I only had seconds.

You're the only one capable.

"Capable of what?" I hissed as Thanos elbowed Tony in the face and Thor rushed in to stop him getting the gauntlet.

You did it before.

An image of me using the Space Stone earlier passed through, focused solely on my hand.

"I don't understand."

You are trusted by us.

We offer you power.

We allowed you to wield it.

You are the exception to this universe.

You can change the flow of everything.

Grab the stones.

I swallowed, thinking back to the images they'd shown me of Tony lying in the gravel, dying while Pepper cried over him. I looked at the battle as Thor and Steve were thrown away and I knew I was running out of time. I caught sight of Tony as Captain Marvel stepped in, doing her best to prevent Thanos from snapping as he finally got the gauntlet on. He was going to move. He was going to do it.

Tony was thrown away and Thanos snapped his fingers only for nothing to happen, turning to Tony as the stones embedded themselves into his suit.

"I am Iron Man."

Tony threw himself at Thanos the same second I did, but I grabbed the gauntlet around the hand as Tony caught him by the wrist. Neither of us having noticed Strange standing just behind Thanos with wide eyes.

He hadn't been able to predict this.

Thanos kneed Tony, punching him away before turning his furious gaze on Jess as she heated up to try and melt the metal gauntlet. He growled, grabbing her with a grimace of pain as her suit burned his flesh, but still managing to slam her to the ground and kick her away. He huffed, standing tall and lifting his hand.

"I am inevitable," he declared, snapping his fingers, but nothing happened.

His gaze snapped to Tony as the man sat up and looked to his hands in confusion.

He could have sworn he'd grabbed the stones.

Jess though, cringed at the thrum of power from the gems embedded in her own suit, drawing their attention to her.

"Jess… Jess, no!" Tony yelled, struggling to get to his feet as she managed a grimace of a smile.

"Sorry, Tony. I-I couldn't let you die," she breathed, seeing Thanos turn to her in shock. "I'm the one… who's not meant to exist here."

She snapped her fingers turning the entire alien army to dust as Thanos watched it all before sitting on a rock as he too began to blow away in the wind, defeated. Tony stumbled over to Jess as she faltered back and sagged against a pile of debris.

"No… No, no, no. Why? Why would you do this?" He croaked out, brushing his hand over the left side of her face that now had burns trailing up her neck.

Peter landed behind Rhodey as others began to head over as well, him looking at Tony and Jess in concern.

"Mr. Stark? M-Mrs. Stark?" He croaked out, starting to head over, but Rhodey held him back as Jess breathed heavily and reached up a shaky hand to grab Tony's wrist.

"I-I saw this… from the beginning," she croaked out, tears in her eyes. "Every night, I-I saw you like this. I wanted to do something. I-I… I had to change something. I couldn't let you…"

"No. No, you didn't have to… You never had to do anything," Tony choked, shaking himself as tears slipped down his own face. "Goddammit, Jess. I would have been fine. All you needed to do w-was keep yourself safe."

"Y-You would have died," she argued.

"Now you're dying!" He cried and she shook her head.

"I-I'm not even… supposed to be here."

"Don't you say that," he said sharply. "Don't you ever say that, Jess. I don't care what some glowing rock says. You're meant to be here. You are here! I… I want you here."

"W-We won."

"That doesn't matter," he brushed aside. "None of that matters, if y-you're not…"

"Tony."

Tony clenched his eyes shut, bowing his head until Jess brushed her hand over his temple.

"Tony, look at me."

He lifted his gaze as Jess cracked a small, soft smile.

"You're going to be okay. I-I promise."

He sagged, leaning forward to press his head against her chest as he let out a choked sob—her hand resting on the back of his head as she closed her eyes.