Nora's POV- Four Months Later
"Being brainwashed from the age of three does not seem so bad now." Aiden said.
After the First order was linked to Lianists we had the brilliant idea of infiltrating a church faction to get a better idea of what was really going on. We were doing this by posing as a married couple and doing all of this without anyone knowing. Hence why we were both currently trying on outfits to appear warm and inviting.
"You were brainwashed into being an assassin. Religion when not taken to an extreme can be a good thing." I said. "Gives people hope."
"So you're okay with having a cult that worships you?" He asked.
"Fuck no." I said making Aiden laugh. "I curse like a sailor, I like to drink, like probably more than any doctor should and those people…"
"Your loyal followers…" Aiden corrected.
"Those insane nutjobs… they worship the idea of me but if they truly knew me they wouldn't be." I said. "Who in their right mind would think that a teenager who had a sentient being leech off of her for years and put her the worst situations possible where a lot of people died because I made that call and I stand by that choice, is someone that should be worshipped?"
"Every choice you made you did because you thought it was the right choice." Aiden said.
"And I stand by them but that doesn't change the fact that I made those choices. People died." I said. "And yeah, I chose the greater good every time but that doesn't make it any easier to live with."
"People don't worship you because of what you did, they believe in you for the same reason we all do. Aya put you through hell. You lost more than anyone I've ever known and you had powers that made you stronger than anyone else but you never let it get to you. You were a selfless undying optimist that put others before herself until the very end." Aiden said. "That's why those nutjobs worship you."
I stared at him for a minute.
"They're still nutjobs." I said.
"No arguments here." He said.
Third Person's POV- March 2015
"Hey Wren." Aya said with a sad smile. "It's been a while."
"Aya? Where the hell have you been?" Wren said looking around. "Where's Nora?"
"Wait you can actually tell them apart?" Pietro said surprised. Wren ignored him and kept his focus on Aya still waiting for an answer.
"She's not here. That's actually why we're here." Aya said.
"Where's Nora?" Wren said growing impatient. Considering his days were numbered he was well in his right to be. "Aya where is my wife?"
"You need to calm down." Aya said.
"Uh Aya…" Pietro said trying to get their attention.
"You took Nora off to who knows where two weeks ago and you just showed up without her don't tell me to calm down!" Wren shouted.
"Aya…" Pietro said feeling shaky.
"It's complicated and I will tell you everything but I need you focused and calm." Aya said.
"What did you…" Wren started.
"AHH!" Pietro shouted and both Wren and Aya turned to him. Pietro was slowly started to disappear and fade away.
"Shit, breath." Wren said switching into doctor mode. "It's going to be okay just take a breath."
"I… Ah." Pietro gasped as he collapsed to the ground.
"What's wrong with him?" Wren asked Aya.
"Time's correcting itself." Aya said.
"What are you talking about?" Wren said checking Pietro's pulse to see if there was something he could do.
"He's a time remnant. He moved back in time by accident and created a copy of himself. There can't be two identical singularities in the same plane of time so time is correcting itself before that happens again." Aya said and Wren realized what was happening.
"He's being erased from time." Wren said.
"I-it's cold…" Pietro stuttered.
"It's okay." Wren said kneeling down and taking his hand. "It'll pass." Pietro turned to him and looked at him through teary eyes before giving him a small smile.
"H-he looks l-like y-you…" Pietro coughed out before he vanished into thin air.
"Tell me what's going on right now." Wren said glaring at Aya.
"Your Nora is safe, she'll come back." Aya said and Wren took a closer look at her. Visibly Aya looked exactly the same as she always did but something about her felt different.
"You're different." He said trying to figure out what it was.
"I'm not your Aya." She said. "I'm from… after."
"You're from the future." Wren said and Aya nodded. "Must be really bad if you're messing with the timeline. Creating paradoxes when you're normally the one warning Nora to avoid them."
"There was an incident and… And I need your help." Aya said.
"Nora's…" Wren said panicking.
"I lost control and accidentally blasted her, severing our connection and sending her through time alone." Aya said.
"You lost Nora?" Wren asked. "Your host? The girl…"
"I live inside of, yes I know. I messed up and I'm going to get her back but I need your help to do that." Aya said. "I only managed to get here because Pietro could move faster than time when I slowed time down. But if I want to move forward where Nora is stranded I need you."
"You want to piggy back off of me when I teleport." Wren said.
"It's our only choice." Aya said.
"Where we going?" Wren asked.
"Back to the Future." Aya said making Wren snort. "Don't ever tell Nora I said that."
"Of course." Wren said smirking as he offered Aya his hand. She took it and they disappeared in a flash of light.
Nora's POV-
"That's awfully kind of you ma'am." I said using a Texas accent as I took the dish of apple turnovers.
"It's no bother dear." The lady said. "You and your husband should come over for dinner sometime. We have family dinners every Sunday, have the whole church over. We'd love to have you two join us."
"Well I'd have to check with Adam, Work can get a bit busy. Business trips and the hospital…" I said.
"Nurses do work long hours." She said.
"I'm actually a…" I started.
"Ready to go dear?" Aiden said putting an arm around me.
"Helen was just telling me about a family dinner she's having this Sunday." I said.
"You two should really stop by." Helen insisted.
"We'll have to see if we can make it but we'll try our hardest." Aiden said giving her a charming smile.
"Well I hope to see you two there." She said before hugging us. "Drive safe."
"You too." I said before we turned to the car.
"She gave you apple pie?" Aiden asked.
"Apple turnovers. She saw that you really liked them." I said.
"They're dry and have too much sugar but I needed an excuse to eavesdrop on the priest and his inner circle." He said as we got in the car.
"Get anything?" I asked.
"Besides the fact that they're going to a strip club later for the priest's bachelor party nothing." He said.
"At least I got us an invite to the 'family dinner'" I said.
"We're not going. This was a dead end. The worst thing these people have done is unintentionally give people diabetes with their pastries." Aiden said.
"Good, I can't wait to get out of this dress." I said looking at the bright yellow flowery lace dress I was wearing. That combined with my blonde hair… "It's too bright."
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"You're a walking ray of sunshine." Aiden said sarcastically and I gave him a look. "Where'd that accent come from?"
"You do remember I grew up in Dallas right?" I said.
"You have an accent?" Aiden asked surprised.
"Everyone has an accent." I said.
"You have a Texan accent?" He said.
"I started getting one as a kid. It wasn't as pronounced as I made it out to be here but Nana still had me work on getting rid of it before I left for college." I said. "I was already going to stick out because of how young I was, didn't want to add to it."
"Guess you never really know everything about a person." Aiden said.
"That's just details. Knowing the important stuff is what matters. Like how right now you're thinking about how much you want to get the taste of overly sweetened dry turnovers with a nice cold beer." I said and he smirked. "I could go for one too."
"Let's stop by and change first… you look like a banana." Aiden said making me laugh.
We dropped by the motel we were staying at and quickly showered before getting dressed. I slipped on some leather tights with some thigh high black suede boots, a black v-neck sleeveless tunic and toped it with an open black vest.
.
"Better?" Aiden asked as I got back in the car
"Yeah. You'd think after months as a blonde I'd be used to it by now but it's still too bright. And with all that yellow… yikes." I said and Aiden just gave me a look and made a face. "What?"
"I didn't say anything." He said not taking his eyes off the road.
"But you thought it." I said.
"People wear black to funerals." Aiden said. "I think you may be… mourning yourself."
"What?" I asked.
"You spent a month moping and either laying in bed not getting out of your pajamas for days. You didn't eat unless Friday or I reminded you. The last time I saw you like that was after Wren." He said.
"I had a lot to process I'm fine." I said.
"You're making lists and going around making sure everyone has the closure they need but you're bottling it all up. Distracting yourself with research or missions but not once have you tried to talk about it." Aiden said.
"What's there to talk about?" I asked. "I already know more than I was ever supposed to know. It's going to happen. End of story."
"You won't even say it." Aiden said.
"Oh look a bar with a mechanical bull. Good to know those are still around." I said looking out the window. He didn't say anything just let out a loud sigh and kept driving.
By the time we got to the bar he wouldn't even look at me. Just got out and walked right in there. I sighed annoyed leaning against the car I look up enjoying the sun on my skin, feeling the breeze run through my hair. It was a nice day. Then something caught my eye.
At first I thought it was just a reflection of light in a mirror or something but as I focused on it I realized what it was coming from.
I ran across the street, towards a six story building. It looked to be some sort of warehouse that was converted into an apartment complex. I found a fire escape on the side of the building and I started climbing all the way up.
These boots were not meant for climbing. I got up on the roof and caught my breath before walking over to the girl standing on the ledge.
"Excuse me." I said. The girl turned to me sobbing. She couldn't have been older than eighteen or nineteen. She was wearing distressed torn jeans and a grey top with some strange writing on it. She was also wearing a round metallic pendant with small rhinestones. That must have been what the sun reflected off of.
"Leave me alone." She cried looking down.
"I just want to talk. Is that okay with you?" I asked and she didn't say anything. "My name's…" I started walking closer to the ledge but not too close. "Anna. What's yours?"
"Lauren." She sniffled just as someone below shouted that there was someone on the roof.
"Nice to meet you Lauren." I said and we stayed quiet for a while of course that was enough time for the commotion downstairs to get bigger.
"People are the worst." She said. "Look at them just waiting for the show."
"Some of them are." I asked. "The others are worried. Pretty sure they don't want you to fall."
"It isn't falling if it's on purpose." Lauren said.
"Where did you serve?" I asked.
"What?" She said.
"Your dog tags. They're military." I said.
"They're not mine." She sniffled.
"I gave mine to my best friend, The second time I gave them to her. The first time though, I gave them to my grandfather." I asked.
"Why did you choose them?" Lauren asked.
"The first time, I didn't really have anyone else to give them too. The second time I was going straight into all the action. Our trainer told us that we should give our tags to the person who would hold us accountable if we didn't come. For me that was my best friend. If I didn't come back for them Jess would have hunted me down and dragged me back from wherever the hell I ended up." I said tearing up a bit. "Who gave you theirs?"
She didn't say anything just cried more. I didn't say anything just moved a bit closer but she flinched.
"Sorry." I said.
"You should go." She said.
"No." I said.
"Are you deaf I told you to leave?!" She shouted.
"No." I said. "I'll leave if you leave with me."
"The only way I'm leaving is if I take the short way to the street. Now fuck off!" She shouted.
"Sorry Lauren. I'm not going anywhere." I said sitting on the ledge and taking a peak downstairs. The crowd had gotten bigger and there were a few local news crews. Oh boy.
Third Person's POV-
Aiden was at the bar. He finished his beer and switched to something stronger. He was on his third drink and growing more frustrated by the minute. Where the hell was Nora?
"Can I get you another one?" The bartender asked.
"Is there another bar close by or ice cream shop… park?" Aiden asked.
"Excuse me?" The woman behind the counter asked.
"Sorry I got in a fight with my friend and she ditched me. She either drinks or runs when she's stressed or cries over ice cream when she's sad so I wanted an idea of where to start looking for her." Aiden said.
"Is she your friend or your girlfriend?" The bartender asked.
"She's family." Aiden said rolling his eyes. "And a pain in the arse… in the best way possible."
"Well as long as she doesn't like hanging out on rooftop ledges I think she'll be okay." The bartender said putting another drink in front of him.
"What?" Aiden looked at her confused.
"The girl on the news? It's happening right across the street." The bartender said and Aiden took out his phone. He looked through the local news channels and they were all playing the same thing.
A girl on the roof with a complete stranger trying to talk her down.
The footage was very fuzzy and it was impossible to identify who the two people on the roof were.
"She wouldn't…" Aiden muttered.
We have a chopper approaching the premises now. It appears to be two women, one standing on the ledge and the other is sitting beside her. Let's zoom in.
The girl on the ledge was tall, long brown hair brown eyes with freckles on her cheeks but the girl next to her sitting down on the ledge squinting because of the bright light of the chopper. She was dressed in all black with blonde hair that went a bit past her shoulders. The girl looked up and Aiden saw he face.
"Shit." Aiden cursed. "Friday? Damage control mode."
"I'm alerting Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes now." Friday said.
"No! Just…" Aiden started.
"This is a level three Cronus Damage situation." Friday said.
"Shit." Aiden cursed again putting some money down on the bar before running out.
Nora's POV-
"Ow that's bright." I groaned as the helicopter flashed a light on us.
"Must be a slow news day." Lauren said looking up.
"So tell me about him." I asked.
"I don't want to talk about him." She said looking down.
"Brother? Sister?" I asked and got nothing. "Boyfriend?" I asked and her lip trembled. "Yeah that's tough."
"How would you know?" She snarled. "He was everything to me. He was all I had and now I'm all alone. I have no one."
"My soulmates went down in the war. Both of them" I said and she stared at me speechless. "And when that happened I got dark. I made mistakes and I actually did what you're doing right now. I stood on the ledge of my apartment building and I looked down. I couldn't think of a single reason to go on. I would have done it but I got interrupted so I went home and I swallowed a hand full of painkillers and washed them down with a bottle of cheap wine. I was ready. Then a really good friend of mine made me throw them up and called me an idiot."
"Nice friend." She said sarcastically.
"She's all about tough love. Point is you may think you lost everything but you didn't." I said. "You're alive. You have your entire life ahead of you. A very long one that not al- everyone gets. Don't throw it away. If he loved you as much as you loved him he wouldn't want this. He'd want you to live a long and happy life so that when it is finally your time you can tell him all about it."
"How do I get through it? Waking up every day without him?" Lauren asked.
"What's the one thing you've always wanted to do? What's your dream?" I asked.
"You mean like visit the moon?" She asked.
"You want to be an astronaut?" I asked arching an eyebrow.
"No I mean…That's too boring…" Lauren said.
"It can be anything, just off the top of your head what's the first thing that comes to mind?" I asked.
"I want to end gender inequality." She said. "Male, female, intersex, the whole spectrum. No matter what your pronoun I want equality across the board."
"That's a big goal." I said smiling.
"It's impossible." She said.
"Impossible is just a word for something that hasn't been done yet. It's a big goal, not impossible. You take it by the day and you focus on that goal." I said. "Everything you do is a step towards that. That's what'll get you through the day. The people and things that come up along the way, that's what will make you live again but first you have to give them a chance to be there." I said offering her my hand to help her down.
She stared at it before slowly reaching for it and stepping down. She was crying and pulled me into a hug.
"Oh wow we're doing this now." I said hugging her back. "Okay. We should probably go downstairs now. Its cold."
"Yeah." She choked out before we headed inside. "I need to change and… and sleep"
"Yeah you do but first you need to go to the hospital." I said.
"But I'm…" She started.
"You spent the last six hours standing on a ledge contemplating suicide. You can't be alone." I said. "You need to find your person. Someone you can talk to, no judgement, understanding. Do you have anyone you can stay with?"
"I have a friend… from dance class." She said.
"Call her and have her come over." I said. "And talk to her or anyone."
"What about you?" She asked.
"I need to talk to my person." I answered waiting for her to get inside her apartment before taking the back stairwell and going out an alley. I had only taken a few steps before I felt someone move behind me. They came towards me. I quickly spun around and threw a punch that they blocked.
"Mom!" Wren exclaimed.
"Wren?" I said.
"Hey." He said before putting a hand on my shoulder. I closed my eyes and he teleported us out of there.
Once I felt the floor again I opened my eyes and I was standing in front of Aiden, Steve and Bucky who all had their arms crossed and were giving me the same angry look.
"Hey guys." I said.
"What the hell were you thinking?!" Aiden yelled.
"I was helping someone." I said.
"On live TV?" Steve said.
"The girl was alone the TV crews and the crowd showed up later." I said walking over to get a glass of water.
"Nora you can't just..." Bucky started.
"Help people? because if I remember clearly that's what we do." I said.
"Yes from the shadows." Aiden said.
"The only reason you're allowed in the field is because you don't draw attention to yourself. You stay in the shadows and you know damn well why Nora!" Steve yelled.
"What the hell was I supposed to do Steve?! Let her jump?" I asked.
"No." They all said except for Aya who appeared out of nowhere.
"Yes." Aya said.
"Seriously Aya?" I asked. "She was just a kid. Who was alone and scared. I wasn't going to let her die."
At that second Connor decided to walk in. "Hey so I managed to wipe the video from the web but anyone who saw it live or decided to record it well they got a pretty good look at Aunt Nora's face." Connor said.
"And how many people saw that broadcast?" Wren asked.
"A couple thousand plus all the other people who saw the video before it was taken down." Connor said.
"How many exactly?" Bucky asked.
"Roughly… thirty thousand give or take a couple hundred." Connor said.
"Shit." Bucky and Wren cursed.
"Damn it." Steve cursed.
"Fucking hell." Aiden cursed.
"Guys they saw a face. A random face and it was probably blurry." I said.
"Mom." Wren said showing me the footage on his phone. There was a clear image of me squinting and wrinkling my nose a bit. Not my best look.
"Wow that camera had a really good resolution." I said.
"Can you try to be serious for a minute?" Aya said annoyed.
"Okay so they got my face on camera but they don't know that." I said as the phone started ringing.
"I have to take this." Steve said walking out of the room just as Bucky's phone started ringing.
"I have to take this one too." Bucky said walking out too.
"Statistically speaking everyone in the world has a doppelganger somewhere. Or there could be some cousin a thousand times removed that looks like me. It happens." I said.
"Mom there's rules. The basics of time traveling. We don't interfere with big events. We don't mess with our own timelines and we stay away from the spotlight." Wren said.
"I wasn't interfering." I said. "I didn't risk running into other me, and as far as I can tell the only thing I encouraged Lauren to do was to become an activist for gender equality which lets face it should not be an issue at this point in time."
"Remember back when younger you started spilling secrets to Steve and your father and you told her it wasn't her time and to stay out of it?" Aya asked. "It's not your time so stay out of it!"
With that she just disappeared.
"I'm not going to apologize for saving someone's life." I said.
"And you shouldn't… this just complicates things a bit." Wren said.
"I'm going to see if we can alter the video in case anyone tries to re-release it." Connor said.
"Get PR to monitor and spin things if they have to." Wren said.
"They're already on it." Connor said as he walked out just as Wren's phone started going off.
"It's the hospital." Wren said reading what was coming through.
"Go." I said.
"We've got things here." Aiden told him giving him a nod.
"If anything…" He started.
"Go." Aiden and I said at the same time before he teleported out.
"You're mad." I said.
"I'm not mad you saved someone Nora, I'm mad because of how reckless you were." He said glaring at me. "You know the rules. You wrote them down. You drilled them into all of our heads so that if you ever showed up like this we'd know what to do. I watch your six and you watch mine but I can't do that if you run off on your own. That's not how this works."
"I didn't think it through it was just instinct. Something caught my eye, I wasn't sure it was really there until I got to the roof of that building and at that point there was no going back." I said. "I'm sorry I ditched you at the bar. I should have checked in but if I didn't go there would be a blood splatter on that side walk instead of a girl giving life a second chance. Maybe it didn't make a difference for the good of the world but it made a difference to her and that matters."
Aiden just stared at me.
"You couldn't have just pulled her off that ledge?" Aiden said annoyed.
"I would have but then she would have just gone back home and swallowed a bottle of pills." I said and Aiden stared at me. "I have a dark and twisty side."
"Right." He said.
"Aiden, a word?" Steve said sticking his head in.
"Sure." Aiden said. "Think you can handle staying out of trouble for a few minutes?"
"You want to hand cuff me to be safe?" I asked sarcastically.
"Don't tempt me." Aiden said before getting up and walking out. I sat there for a minute bored before my stomach started growling. I headed out of the conference room and decided to go look for a snack. Connor always kept snacks in his lab. He was busy making calls somewhere else so I just walked into the lab and started looking through the cabinets.
"Hi." Someone said making me jump in surprised.
"Whoa. Sorry I thought there was no one in here." I said looking at the brunette dressed in a very cute and flirty green dress.
"Oh Connor had to go deal with something." She said. I looked at her closely and then her outfit.
"You're Morgan!" I said putting it together.
"I am…" She said chucking anxiously. "Connor talks about me?"
"Oh yeah. All the time." I said and I realized the embarrassing mom/aunt thing I just did. "He said you're an astrophysicist and a genius. I read some of your work and I have to agree."
"Thank you…" She started. "I'm sorry I didn't get your name."
"Oh I'm Nora Martell." I said shaking her hand.
"Nice to meet you Nora." She said smiling politely.
"Just popped in here to get some snacks. Didn't feel like walking all the way across the compound." I said looking through the drawers. "Connor stashes them everywhere…" I said before I found a pack of oreos. "Aha."
I put the pack on the table and offered her some. She smiled and took one.
"Big plans?" I asked.
"It's our sixth date. Not counting our video call dates." She said. "Had a whole night planned. Whole night."
"Oh. Oh!" I said realizing what she was getting at.
"Guess I should have known dating an avenger, no plans set in stone." Morgan said disappointed and I felt guilty. "But at least I get to see where all the magic happens."
"He does have all the toys." I said.
"You're a scientist too?" She asked.
"I mostly do field work but I dabble." I said.
"What field?" Morgan asked.
"I'm a doctor but I have PhD's in Thermonuclear astrophysics, biochemistry, engineering…" I listed. "Been working with genetics recently."
"How old are you?" She asked in disbelief.
"Uh…" I started.
"Boss you're needed back in the conference room." Friday said.
"Better get going." I said. "It was nice meeting you Morgan."
"You too Nora." She said.
"Just gonna." I said grabbing another oreo making her laugh. "Bye."
Steve, Bucky and Aiden along with Connor were sitting around working on things. I walked in and went straight to Connor taking his tablet out of his hand.
"Hey!" He complained.
"You're done." I said.
"Nora we need to…" Steve started and I shot him a look to shut it.
"Stand up." I told Connor who looked at me confused but did so anyway. I straightened out his shirt and messed with his hair a bit which made him start fussing. "Stop. Morgan's in the lab waiting for you. Friday can handle it from here or I can. You are going to take her out and have some fun."
"But." Connor said looking at his uncles.
"Don't look at them. I'm telling you to go so go." I said.
"Are you…" Connor started.
"Yes I'm sure. Go." I said and Connor surprised me with a hug.
"Thanks Auntie." He said before running out of the room.
"I don't think I've ever seen him run that fast." Bucky said.
"He's got an important date." I said. "What's the damage?"
"We're not sure yet." Steve said. "We just have to wait and see but for now you two are staying put."
"What about the first order? We have leads." I reminded them.
"That's on hold." Steve said. "Until we get a handle on the situation you two are benched."
"Guys it was a local news channel from a small Midwest town. So a couple thousand people saw it, by tomorrow they'd probably forgotten all about it." I said.
"Either way we're playing it safe. What were you two doing in the Midwest anyway?" Bucky asked.
"Aiden's guy heard some chatter about a domestic terrorist talking to the first order about doing some work for them. We decided to check it out." I said remembering what our stories were if anyone asked. "It was a Dead end."
"Well your room's ready." Steve said.
"I'm not staying." I said getting up.
"Nora…" Steve started.
"Small town in the Mid West Steve. Hardly anyone in New York watches their own local news let alone the local news from another state in the Midwest." I said. "We're going."
"Told you." Aiden said standing up. "Keep me updated if anything comes up."
"We will." Bucky said before we left.
We got in the car and drove home in silence. It was routine at this point. We didn't talk about anything involving it unless we were in one of our apartments. Pretty sure Aiden does that so if I end up breaking down no one else will see it.
I walked into the apartment and headed to the couch. I was still pretty hungry so I looked up what was still open. I had just settled on our favorite pizza place when Aiden walked in.
"I'm ordering pizza you want the usual?" I asked.
"Yeah." He said walking over and putting a fancy bottle of vodka down on the coffee table.
"This is the good stuff." I said looking at the bottle.
"Been saving it for a while." He said. "Figured now's a good a time as any."
"You want to yell at me." I said.
"Nope." He said grabbing two glasses and coming to sit down. "I told you I wasn't mad you saved her and I meant it. It's been a long day Nora but you saved someone and that's a win. We don't get a lot of those so we're celebrating."
"Okay." I said taking a glass. We finished our glasses and went for a second drink.
"You were right." I said and he just arched an eyebrow. "I'm not dealing with it, I can't even say it because if I do… I can't do it. I'm not ready."
"I know." He said. "I shouldn't have push you into trying to talk about it but when you are, I'm here."
"Thanks." I said.
"That's enough of this." He said pulling out two controls and handing me one. "Time for some fun."
"I feel like I'm not the only one avoiding something here." I said.
"You're not benched because we don't know the damage. The website that reposted the video online, it was the Lianist church website. Connor took it down as fast as he could and re-posted another video with your face redone so they wouldn't be able to tell it was you but it got over thirty thousand views before it went down." Aiden said. "They wanted to keep you in the compound on lock down until they figured things out but I talked them down. We're going to be on a tight leash for a while and it might be a while before they let us out in the field."
"They're going to be watching us." I said.
"More than they already are." Aiden said.
"Good thing I have army experience." I said making Aiden look at me confused.
Third Person's POV- 2016
"Ow…" Pietro groaned as he woke up.
"Are you okay?" Wanda asked fussing over her brother.
"What happened?" He asked.
"Aya had some issues she was trying to fix." Clint said.
Steve was pacing and Bucky was brooding in the corner while Tony was tapping his fingers impatiently on the counter.
"Should she be taking this long?" Tony asked.
"Tony…" Rhodey said.
"It's been an hour. You'd think that someone who could time travel wouldn't keep people waiting." Tony said.
"Keep it down." Aiden said glaring at Tony. As he gently rocked Wren in his arms. The infant had finally stopped crying and was biting on a toy wide awake watching his grandfather.
"Any clue as to where…" Steve started before there was a flash of light when Aya and a very familiar red head appeared in the common room.
"Uh that's just as bad as I remembered." Wren said leaning on the couch.
"That took longer than expected. Harder to aim." Aya said.
"Wren?" Natasha said.
"Natasha." Wren greeted. "Birdbrain."
"Spencer." Clint greeted.
"You went back in time to get Wren." Tony said. "That makes sense."
"Hey tin man. Colonel." Wren greeted Rhodey finally straightening up. "Bucky."
"Hey." Bucky greeted with a nod.
"Captain." Wren said and Steve shifted a bit awkwardly.
"Good to see you brother." Aiden said.
"Same…" Wren said noticing Aiden was holding a baby with red hair and blue eyes that was looking right at him. "Is that a baby?"
"Yeah…" Aiden said looking at Aya for help. "His name's Wren."
"You named him after me?" Wren said surprised.
"Wren Aiden Spencer-Stark." Aya said and Wren turned to her shocked.
"Spencer-Stark? As in…." Wren said processing it as he stared at the baby. "He's… That's…"
"He's your son." Aiden said walking towards him. "You're a dad."
"He's my son…" Wren said processing the news as he teared up. "I have a son…"
The baby stopped chewing on his toy and reached out to Wren.
"Think the little bugger wants to…" Aiden said trying to get Wren's attention but he was already taking his son into his arms.
"Hi." Wren said cooing at the baby. "You're strong little man aren't you." He said making the baby smile. "He has Nora's smile…" Wren said tearing up as he hugged his son and kissed the top of his head. He never thought a family was in the cards for him but there he was holding his son in his arms for the first and possibly last time. He understood now why Aya was so desperate to get Nora back, and why she was so willing to risk everything to do so. His son needed his mother.