Hey everyone I'm so sorry for the delay. Due to some recent events in my life I've had a pretty bad case of writers block. It took a while for me to get out of this slump but I think I'm back. I decided to recharge my batteries by starting another story to get the ideas going. If anyone's interested it's called Fated Marks. I'm going to be jumping around between the two so updates may be a bit slower than before but don't worry I have no intentions of abandoning this story. This story is my baby and I will finish it. Thank you to everyone who's posted reviews to check up on how I'm doing. I am fully recovered and taking things one day at a time. So with out further ado here's the next chapter of Nora's story. This on may seem familiar but it is different and it's for a reason. Let me know what you think. Thank you and Enjoy :)
Avengers Compound- Third Person's POV
"She murdered our son!" Sharon shouted.
"She saved your life. I know that you're grieving so am I but Nora did nothing wrong!" Steve shouted.
The rest of the avengers were sitting in the common room trying to watch a movie when Sharon and Steve stormed in. All it took was Pietro accidentally switching the channel for them to know what they were fighting about.
"Did he really mean that little to you? Nora moved on. She doesn't love you like I do. She got married and had another man's kid and you can't stop following her around like a lovesick puppy! I've been here for you everyday for the past three years and the instant she walks in you forget about me, about us!" Sharon cried.
"She's my soulmate. I love her and I love Bucky. I was honest with you from the beginning. No matter what happens I will always love them." Steve said.
The team heard a slap and then Sharon stormed out.
Steve walked out and gave them a look before walking to the gym.
"I'll go check on him." Sam said.
"We're having a girls night." Natasha said.
Wanda nodded in agreement.
Nora's POV-
I was sitting down in the living room enjoying a cup of low fat chocolate froyo when there was a knock at the door.
"Friday?" I asked.
"It is Miss Romanoff and Miss Maximoff boss." Friday answered.
"That's weird, let them in." I said. I straightened up and got up to greet them. "Hey, I wasn't expecting you two. Did I forget our plans?"
"Oh no we just though you could use a girls night." Wanda said.
"We brought wine and pizza." Natasha said.
"Thanks, I'll go get plates and glasses." I said getting up.
I came back and we started eating. They both kept giving each other looks.
"What is it?" I asked.
"We don't…" Wanda started.
"We saw the news, we know you're going to trial and we wanted to check up on you." Natasha said.
"Is that it? The looks on your faces just screamed end of the world or something. I'm fine. A bit annoyed at having to go to trial but the odds are on my favor. I just hate having to see it on the news constantly." I said. Then the monitor went off and Wrens cried played through the room.
"Can I go get him?" Wanda asked.
"Sure though I should warn you its probably time for a diaper change." I said.
"No worries I did a bit of babysitting back in Sokovia." She said with a smile.
"Then go ahead." I said.
Wanda went up the stairs and headed for Wren. Once she was out of earshot Natasha started talking again.
"How are you really?" Natasha said.
"I had a meeting with my boss at the hospital today." I said.
"And?" Natasha said.
"Until the trial and everything settles down the board wants me to step down as head of the ER. I still have a job I just got demoted." I said sadly.
"Can they do that?" Natasha said.
"They fund the hospital so yeah. They can't fire me without risking a lawsuit but this is legal." I said.
"I'm sorry." Natasha said.
"Don't be, you're not the one suing me besides now that I don't have as many responsibilities I can take a longer maternity leave." I said.
"I think I may have something that may be able to help you." Natasha said. "When I dumped all of SHIELD and HYDRA's files in the web I didn't just dump mission files, I dumped personnel files as well." She handed me a flash drive.
"Dare I ask?" I said.
"If I have to keep listening to Carter's whining and half assed manipulation I will strangle someone." Natasha deadpanned.
"The beach house is all yours if you need it. The ranch too." I offered.
"Sounds nice but it's not a good time. Steve's a bit distracted so I'm running the team at the moment." She said annoyed.
"Well if you ever need an extra medic you have my number." I said.
"I may take you up on that offer just to annoy Carter." Natasha said.
"I'll be happy to help with that." I said with a smirk.
"I think he's hungry." Wanda said.
"He's always hungry aren't you Wren." I said making him smile. I took him in my arms and quickly grabbed him a bottle.
"So how are you really?" Wanda asked.
"I'm dealing." I said.
"Everyone says hi." Wanda said.
"Tell them I said Hi back."
"You should stop by sometime." Wanda said.
"Yeah that's not really advisable at the moment. It can be viewed as tampering with the opposition and I'd rather not complicate things more than they already are." I said.
"Is this okay?" Natasha asked.
"Yeah as long as we don't talk about the case which is more so I don't stress out more than I already am or make you two pick sides." I said.
"No shop talk." Natasha said. "Where's Aiden in all of this?"
"He's out for the night, he needed some alone time, at least that's what he told me." I said.
We spent the rest of the night talking about an upcoming mission they had. Something about people trafficking enhanced people and selling them to the highest bidder. They were all going out to a warehouse to check it out. Wanda told me how Pietro had decided to go back to Sokovia for a while and help with the rebuilding.
By the end of the night I was feeling significantly more relaxed.
Third Person's POV- The Following Day
"Nora come on, it'll be fun. Vision is helping me upgrade some knew protocols into the Iron Legion." Dad said.
"Not that that doesn't sound fun, you do realize I'm in the middle of dealing with a lawsuit and I have a meeting to help prep myself for the interrogation I'm going to have to go through right?" Nora said as I changed Wren's diaper.
"You need to relax, you have this one in the bag." Tony said.
"I can't today dad. Besides It'll be kind of hard to focus with a baby crying at random intervals. I'll just sit this one out." Nora said.
"You're no fun, We still on for tomorrow?" Tony said.
"One hour prep with the PR team followed by a meeting to set up the Stark scholarship fund at MIT, yeah we're good to go. I got Aiden to babysit." Nora said.
"Okay then I'll see you tomorrow." Tony said before hanging up. He walked into the Compound and went to the conference room.
"The Warehouse has three exits on the north, east and west sides of the building. We'll split up in groups of two. And go in. Our priority is clearing the area of civilians. Once they're clear we go in and take out the traffickers. We need to know any connections they have, who their buys are and the location of any other warehouses specifically the location of the auction." Steve explained. "We leave in thirty minutes."
With that everyone dispersed and went to go prep.
"This is a big one, you sure you don't want Vision to tag along?" Tony suggested.
"These people specialize in dealing with enhanced, I think it's better if we kept the mind stone as far away as possible. I'm already regretting not having Wanda sit this one out." Steve said.
"If you need back up you know how to reach me." Tony said before going to get Vision.
Tony left to the tower with vision while the rest of the team except Clint who was away on another mission.
The team arrived to the warehouse and proceeded as planned. All civilians were cleared before they went in to do their final sweep. Everyone split up. Sam went to go check amongst the stacked crates. He got through one aisle and started on the other when there was a flash of light.
He walked a bit closer and saw a young girl. He recognized the signs and he knew what was going on.
"Uh guys, we have a problem." Sam said. "We have a code Cronus."
"What now?" Steve said.
"Nora did say this could happen at any time." Natasha said.
"Is she older or younger?" Wanda asked.
"That's the thing she's really young, like four years old young." He answered.
"Three and a half actually," the girl mumbled.
"Bring her over to the quinjet. We need to get her to safety." Natasha said.
Steve took that as his cue to call Tony. He grabbed his phone and dialed.
"You rang?" Tony greeted.
"We found something. We need you and Vision at the compound, we should be there in half an hour maybe less." Steve said.
"We'll be there, what can I expect?" Tony said.
"It's something you need to see for yourself." Steve said.
"We're on our way." Tony said before hanging up.
"You can't be here." Natasha said.
"What?" Steve said.
"It's a past version of Nora." Natasha said.
"Yeah when she was four… Oh when she was four in 1944. This is where she went." Steve said. I'll go watch over the clean up and deal with the locals." Steve said.
"I'll go ready the quinjet." Natasha said.
"Hey it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you," They heard Sam say over the comms. "My name is Sam Wilson. What's your name?"
"Nora Stark." They heard the younger version of their friend answer.
"Okay nora. We're in a warehouse in New Jersey. My team just took down some bad guys that were hurting people. We're checking the warehouse to make sure we got everyone but it's still not safe to be around on your own. Can you come with me? I'll leave you with a friend of mine that can take care of you?" Sam offered.
It was quiet for a minute before they heard Sam tell them they were on their way.
Rhodey was finished scanning the premises and flew back to the quinjet. He was standing outside when he heard someone call out to him.
"Uncle Rhodey!" He heard a little girl shout. He turned around and he saw her run up to him. As she got closer he realized he was looking at the younger version of his daughter.
"Nora?!" He said before kneeling down to scoop her into a hug. "You weren't kidding about her being younger man."
"Yeah did not expect this." Sam answered.
"She's so cute." Wanda said making Nora smile shyly.
"Yeah she is, is he…" Sam started.
"He's getting a ride back in one of the cars." Rhodey said.
"He said we were clear to go. Natasha and Agent Smith are already inside." Wanda said.
"Thanks Wanda, come on kiddo let's get outta here." Rhodey said carrying Nora inside. He strapped her into a seat before Natasha came out of the cockpit to check in on everyone.
"This is her?" She asked Sam as he looked at Nora. She couldn't help to see how much Nora had changed and what had stayed the same. She could also see the similarities between her when she was younger and her son.
"Yeah." Sam asked.
She smiles at Nora before asking Rhodey, "Did you call Tony?"
"Yeah he said he'd head to the base with Vision as soon as he was out of his meeting, but knowing him he's probably waiting for us there already." Rhodey answered.
"Dad's coming?" Nora perked up at the mention of her Dad.
"Yeah kid, he's going to be really surprised to see you." Said Rhodey.
"More like shocked." Natasha muttered.
"Uncle Rhodey where are we going?" Nora asked.
"We're going to… the place I work at." Rhodey said being vague.
"I thought you were in the army?" Nora asked.
"Air force." Rhodey corrected.
"And you flew planes?" Nora pointed out.
"I got promoted." Rhodey said. It wasn't technically a lie.
"Then why aren't you flying the plane?" Nora asked.
"Nora if I give you a candy bar will you stop asking questions until the plane lands?" Rhodey said a bit annoyed though he did have to admit she had a point.
"Okay." Nora said happily as Rhodey handed her the candy.
Ten minutes later they landed and got off the plane. Nora was amazed at all the planes and technology being used in the hanger.
"Wow what type of engines do those use?" she asked.
"Those would be modified electro magnetic turbine powered by the arc reactor. Less noise, no pollution, half the flight time." Tony said walking up to meet thegroup.
Nora turned to see who had answered and smiled when she saw her father. "Dad!" She said jumping into his arms.
"Nora?!" he said surprised as he returned the hug. There were flashes of a camara that made them break apart. They saw Natasha standing to the side looking at the photos she had taken on her phone.
"Who let the paparazzi in?" Tony snarked.
"Had to record the look on your face when you saw your daughter as a four year old after nineteen years. At this rate I'll have enough for a scrap book." Natasha answered.
"Romanoff let them be. I'm sure Friday will get all the compromising pictures we need for later." Maria Hill teased.
"Go ahead just remember I'm the one that designs all your cool gadgets." Tony said. Nora thought over everything she heard and looked at her dad. He looked different. There were grey hairs on his head and he had a few wrinkles.
"Dad, why are you so old?" Nora asked. Everyone quieted down and stayed quiet trying to figure out the best way to answer that question.
"Nora I'm not old I age like a fine wine." Tony said trying to brush off the subject.
She looked pensive for a minute before she retorted with, "Well you are what you eat." That made everyone laugh.
"Di-did she just burn you?" Sam asked not being able to stop laughing.
"She did, way to go Nora." Rhodey said raising his hand for a high five, which his niece gave him.
"Is that any way to treat your old man?" Tony said pretending to be offended.
"You did just admit you were old." Nora deadpanned.
"I can't win with you." He sighed. "Come on mini me, I have a friend of mine you should meet." Tony led her out of the hanger and towards the common room. The rest of the group hesitated for a minute before following after them.
In the common room Vision was sitting on the couch reading a book. When he saw them coming he stood up and walked towards them. Vision looked at the girl with a bit of curiosity. He could see the resemblance between the girl and Nora. That is Nora. The voice in the back of his head said. When Nora saw him she instantly went to hide behind her father.
"Nora come on. Its okay. He's a friend." Tony said trying to get his daughter to stop being so shy. He looked at the Vision and nodded at him. He walked over to get closer to them.
"Hello Miss Stark. I am Vision." He greeted. Nora just peeked at him from behind her father and gave him an awkward wave.
"Hey Nora, do you know why Vision's red?" Tony asked his daughter. She just shook his head no. "He's an android." Tony said knowing that would peak his daughter's curiosity.
"Really?" She said moving to his side to look up at him.
"Really. He can do a bunch of neat tricks. Isn't that right Vision?" Tony said giving Vision a look.
"Yes, I am able to manipulate density making myself intangible, have increased durability and project energy beams." Vision said.
"So you can walk through walls, make it so no one can touch you and you're super strong." Nora simplified making everyone realize that their friend had always been a genius even as a kid.
"That is correct." Vision said.
"That's not all he can do." Tony said giving Vision a look. "Close your eyes, it's a surprise." Nora smiled and closed her eyes. Vision stepped closer and put two of his fingers on her forehead. Everyone just stood there for a minute and watched as Nora started glowing. When the light faded they saw an older version of their friend that was still younger than the current Nora they knew. Her hair was a lot longer and she looked a lot more optimistic and happy. She didn't look like she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders.
She looked around and saw everyone just staring at her. "Hi Dad, miss me." I said.
Tony didn't say anything he just hugged her, taking her by surprise. When he finally let her go he said, "We need to talk." He said very serious maybe even a bit angry. Tony had just realized that this was a version of Nora before she got back to Switzerland. If he could talk to her maybe he could fix some of his past mistakes.
"Sure but, uh can I get a change of clothes." She said looking at herself. The clothes she wore as a kid were still on her but torn and uncomfortably tight.
"Oh, right. Can one of you.." He asked Wanda and Natasha.
"Sure. Come on Nora." Wanda said leading her to one of the hallways.
Once Nora was gone he turned to Rhodey. "Where's Rogers?"
"He got a ride back in one of the cars, we didn't want to risk interfering in the timeline." Rhodey said. "Which by the way, I know what you're going to try to do and don't do it. Nora's told you about it before and you know what'll happen."
"What am I supposed to do, you saw her. She's just a kid and she had no idea what's coming her way, the hell she's going to have to go through."
"What breaks us makes us." Sam said. "For better or for worst, Nora became the person she is today because of what she went through. She became a mom because of the path she went on. Do you really want to mess with that?"
Tony sighed. He knew he was right; His relationship with his daughter had never been stronger. Somehow they had gotten past their differences and built on it. he wouldn't trade that or his grandson for anything even if it meant letting her suffer to get to that point.
"Ignore her." He heard Natasha tell Nora.
"What's her deal?" Nora asked.
"Relationship issues." Natasha answered being as vague as Nora had advised her to be.
"Oh." Nora said not asking her to elaborate.
When Tony saw her he stood up and said "You're grounded." He may have understood that what happened was necessary but that didn't mean there weren't things he still had to work through.
"Uh Two things. One I'm eighteen, you can't ground me anymore and two what for?" Nora asked confused. He took her hand and pulled up her sleeves to show the soul marks on her wrists.
"Oh that…" She said.
"Yeah that. What the hell Nora? Why didn't you say anything?" He said upset.
"I wanted to tell you but I didn't think you'd react well." Nora said
"Why would you think that?!" He yelled.
"Well for one, the conversation we're having right now and the fact that you're yelling." She answered calmly but obviously getting a bit scared.
"Okay I'll give you that one." Tony said and then sighed. "I shouldn't have yelled."
"I should've told you years ago and I was but when they showed up Nana said to keep it between us and then I found out I was never going to meet them so what was the point of telling you. Then life happened and here we are. On the plus side your handling the time jumps way better then I did when they started." Nora said.
"I've had a couple of months to wrap my head around the idea that my daughter time travels." Tony said.
"Yeah, so have I." She said with a sad smile. Tony looked at his daughter and saw right through that sad smile. It's the same smile she would give him anytime he would leave after a visit.
"You know what sounds really good right now? Surf n' turf. A big juicy steak and some lemon grilled shrimp." He said.
"That sounds amazing." She said imagining the steak.
"Let's go then." He said getting up and reaching for his sunglasses.
"Seriously?" Nora said not expecting that answer.
"Of course, let's go I know a place in Montauk." He said like it was nothing.
"Dad that'll take us hours to get there." Nora said.
"Not if we take my helicopter, which just so happens to be on the roof." He said with a smirk. "Or we can stay here and eat whatever it is Rhodey's baking." She grimaced at the thought of what he suggested.
"Let's go!" Nora said standing up following him. One helicopter ride later we were eating surf n' turfs at a beachfront seafood restaurant.
While they were out Steve finally got back from New Jersey. He spent the entire time thinking of what he remembered from when Nora was a kid. He remembered how much energy she had, He remembered the two months Bucky and him had spent worrying over why she hadn't returned an lastly he remembered everything that happened afterwards. How he had taken out his anger and sadness over losing Bucky on her. No matter what he did she always stayed by his side. He didn't deserve her, she deserved better. This was his chance, maybe he could fix some of his mistakes or at the very least give her some guidance on how to handle things that were waiting for her back in 1944.
"You're back." Sam said.
"Yeah, traffic was terrible as always. Where's Nora?" Steve asked.
"Uh well she's no longer four years old. Vision worked his magic and got her back to her right age. Not as young as she was but not as old as we know her to be." Sam said.
"So she's eighteen again. That's good." Steve said. "Where is she?"
"She's with her dad, they went out for dinner." Sam said.
"Stark took her out? Is he insane? If she runs into herself or finds out something she isn't supposed to know yet, it could have consequences." Steve said.
"It's just dinner she'll be fine." Natasha said.
"I'm calling him." Steve said grabbing his phone. The phone rang but he was sent immediately to voicemail. "Damn it Stark." Steve kept trying until finally he answered but before he could say anything someone started talking.
"Listen up Spangles, My dad and I are in the middle of a nice dinner. I've had a long day and I'm enjoying some father daughter time for the first time in a very long time. So for the rest of the night you're going to delete this number from your contacts list and leave us the fuck alone. And if there's a global threat, you and the rest of your top-secret boy band can deal with it. You have an android with a freakishly high IQ figure it out." Nora said and hung up.
Steve just stood there dumbfounded. His soulmate had just blown him off.
"What he say?" Sam said.
"Nora blew me off." Steve said sadly.
"Oooh, damn, no luck with past her either." Sam said. Steve just glared at him. "Sorry."
Steve just stayed up doing paper work and ate dinner with the team. He stayed up waiting for them to return. Apparently Rhodey had the same idea.
"They should have been back by now." Steve said.
"You need to relax, they'll be back when they feel like it. Tony used to do this all the time and if Nora's with him He'll be extra careful." Rhodey said.
"How can you be so calm about this?" Steve said.
"I know my daughter and I know Tony. They'll be fine. They both need this. The past year's been hard on him and you better than anyone know what Nora went through at that age." Rhodey said with a double meaning behind his words.
"If there's something you want to say just go ahead." Steve said.
"You really need me to say it?" Rhodey said.
"You've obviously been thinking it." Steve said.
"I don't know what exactly you did to make Nora end things with you or make her not even want to look in your direction but whatever it is fix it. Nora puts up a brave face and she's a hell of a lot stronger than the kid we saw today but you're not. You can lie to everyone but the thing is you're a bad liar. We all hear you fight with Carter and honestly we've had enough. You can't lead a team if you're attention is divided. You're miserable and have been for months. I'm on my daughter's side all the way but it's really messing up the team dynamic to see you wallow. What's done is done and you think that by changing what happened in 1944 will change things here but it won't. Stop beating around the bush and fix things here in the present." Rhodey said.
With that they went back to sitting in silence until Friday notified them that Tony and Nora had come back and were in need of assistance. They went to go find them and found them drunk and stumbling over their own feet. Rhodey walked Tony back to the common room while Steve tried to get Nora up. Steve got her up but she started falling again. Steve caught her just in time. He decided it was better if he just carried her back to the common room.
"Mhm, you're comfy." Nora slurred resting her head on the Steve's shoulder. "You're like Steve. You look hard but you're just a giant teddy bear. Nice, and soft and warm."
That made him chuckle. "Go to sleep Nora." Steve said.
"I wish Steve and Bucky were here. I'm scared." She mumbled.
"Scared of what?" Steve asked confused.
"I need to save them. I'm running out of time. I don't want to loose them. They're the best thing that ever happened to me. I don't know what I'd do without them." She said starting to tear up.
"You can't save everyone Beautiful. Just let it happen, it'll work out in the end." He said.
"I can't, I love them." She said falling asleep. Steve had to choke back a sob as he heard her say that.
Steve put Nora down on the couch in the Common room. He moved her hair off her face and kissed her forehead. Tony was already asleep on the other couch after Rhodey managed to get him there.
He stood there and watched her sleep peacefully. Steve got a throw off the back of the couch and draped it over Nora.
"It's hard isn't it?" he heard Tony say. He turned around and saw that he was sitting up. "Seeing her like this?"
"Yeah, At least you get to talk to her." Steve pointed out.
"It's not as easy as you think. I never realized how much she's grown until today. She's so much lighter." Tony said.
"She's younger, still has a lot to go through." Steve says.
"Is she happy, back in 1944 with you, and everyone?" Tony asked.
"Yeah, she's happy. It wasn't all bad, there was a lot of good too." Steve said with a sad smile.
"Good, she deserves it." Tony says. "You should go, can't take the chance."
"Yeah, I know." He leans down and kisses her one more time before walking out.
The Next Morning
Nora woke up with a hang over and a huge appetite. Tony was still asleep on the other couch so Nora decided to get started on breakfast. She made coffee and then started beating the eggs and milk to make the batter for French toast. After all the toast, eggs and bacon were ready, Rhodey, Sam and Wanda walked in.
"Something smells amazing." Sam said.
"Is that…" Rhodey said his eyes wide open.
"French Toast, fruit, Eggs, Bacon and Waffles. The Coffee's also done if you guys want some." Nora said. She grabbed a mug and poured some coffee in it. There was no way Tony would wake up unless there was coffee. She walked over to him and put the coffee mug on the coffee table before she shook his shoulder, waking him up.
"Urg." He groaned.
"There's coffee right in front of you dad and breakfast is ready. I made waffles." That made him open his eyes and sit up right away.
"How are you so functional this early?" he asked.
"Don't know. Just woke up with a giant craving for carbs." Nora said walking back to the kitchen. She plated the food and served everyone. She was just about to sit down for food when someone appeared out of thin air in the middle of the kitchen.
"Dad, I've been looking everywhere for you." Present day Nora said until she saw the younger version of herself. "Shit."
"Fuck." Younger Nora said. They stared at each other seeing the differences between them.
At that moment Younger Nora started getting the chills but more intense than normal. Her knees started to buckle and she fell to the floor. She started getting intense abdominal pains and screamed in pain.
"Nora!" Tony yell. Past Nora started glowing and disappeared.
"Shit, I forgot I needed to check on that." Nora said.
"What just happened?" Sam asked.
"What's going on I heard screaming?" Steve said running in.
"I interfered in the time line. Aya had to rush past me out of here and the strain caused some side effects. It's also why I was gone for two months. She didn't have time to aim." Nora explained.
"Are you going to be alright?" Tony asked concerned.
"I'll be fine, as far things that have cause me pain go, that one wasn't a big deal. What is going to be a big deal is if we're late for meeting with Pepper." Nora told her father.
"Crap, I forgot." Tony said.
"I'll stop by the tower so you can take a quick shower and change. I'll shoot Pepper a text and tell her my sitter is running late." I said.
"Thanks kid." Tony said. "Well guys I'll see you around."
"Bye guys." Nora said putting a hand on her dad's shoulder and teleporting them away.
Steve stood there processing everything he had just heard. Rhodey was right, What's done is done, he could only focus on the present and he knew what he was going to do. He was going to fight for Nora, He was going to make things right.