A/N: Hey guys! I'm back :) Won't keep you long, but I'm sorry it's a day late. Enjoy :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel Disney, ABC or the Avengers.


The next morning saw me off, with Joey tucked under my seat. I was gonna spoil him at his new home, with a giant bed and good dog food. Callie and Elijah, the older ones of course, were going to be ecstatic to see him, as I hadn't mentioned the fact yet. My husbands barely let go of me all morning, and the twins were equally as clingy. I assured them that I was going to be home before they knew it.

Bucky's birthday had passed with me being in Vienna, so I gave him his belated birthday gift. I had tracked down his family and mapped out his family tree, along with records of his parents marriage, photos from his sisters wedding, and everything I could find that once belonged to Bucky before the war. There was a townhouse in Brooklyn that his family still owned and up kept, but it was meant for Bucky when his parents died. His sister had never given up hope, because they never did find his body. So when I contacted them, they were over the moon to actually reconnect with their long lost uncle.

Bucky cried in my arms for hours, thanking me for saving this piece of his past and his family. I wished I could do the same for Steve, but he already had a whole Smithsonian exhibit to himself, and we knew we were his only living family. He didn't need it, and was thankful that I was able to do it for Bucky, whose Winter Soldier memories still cropped up at inopportune moments.

So as I jetted off, with my doggo's head laid in my lap, I cried. Leaving them again after only a few days was horrible. It was bittersweet. On one hand, I wanted nothing more than to stay with them and never leave their sight. On the other hand, I was happy to go back to Vienna to see my older twins.

After the three-hour flight, I was dropped off at the roof of my apartment. Joey was eager to be off the plane, but stopped to smell all the different plants I was attempting to grow. It looked like Callie was watering them, which I was pleased about, as I carefully pulled my rolling suitcase down the stairs. Joey waited for me at the bottom, allowing me to take the lead once I got there. Opening the glass door to the patio, I called out, "I'm home!"

Silence.

Joey immediately set to sniff out everything in the apartment, familiarizing himself with each item and their scents. I pursed my lips, thinking that the twins had to be out. It was around 7pm, so I wasn't worried. Getting my things to the bedroom to unpack, Joey hopped up on the bed and lay down contently.

"Only here. You get to be spoiled here, because you know Steve and Bucky wouldn't allow this back home," I said to him. He seemed to understand, because his eyes looked up and he huffed. Laughing, I took the small take out container and hurried it to the fridge to keep cool for the twins.

"Made it back safely, love you guys. Kiss my babes for me XOXO," I spoke as I typed the text message to the guys.

"Made it back in one piece with my doggo. Would you and your father like to have dinner Friday night? My treat." I texted T'Challa, before hearing the front door open.

"I'm just saying, we need to be prepared to go back soon," Elijah's voice drifted down the hallway. Joey let out a small chuff before hopping off the bed and padding carefully down the hallway, with me right behind him.

"Oh my god, Joey! How did you get here?" Callie exclaimed, getting down to greet the golden retriever. Joey looked back at me, asking for permission, and I nodded.

Bounding over to her, he sniffed her hands, and held out his paw for her to shake.

"Your fathers decided I needed him here for protection," I said coming around the corner.

"Mom," Elijah said, hugging me tightly. Callie shot up and all but leapt into my arms, "I'm so glad you're back!"

"I wasn't gonna stay away forever," I smiled, kissing each of their heads. Elijah's was a bit harder to reach due to his height.

"Not to sound ungrateful, but did you bring us something?" Eli asked, looking hopeful.

"I did and it's in the fridge," I smiled, as Joey found a spot to curl up next to a wall heater.

"It needs to be cold… it must be food!" Elijah exclaimed running for the kitchen.

"Eli! Wait for Mom," Callie chastised her brother as we walked to the kitchen slowly.

"It's cake! Wait, its…"

"So you do remember," I smiled sadly.

"My butterflies," Callie whispered, seeing which cake it was.

"I thought it would be symbolic, that you'd get a piece of your first birthday back," I explained, taking it and putting them on plates I pulled from the cupboard. The kids were quiet as I placed a single candle on both of the pieces and light them with my finger. As I turned back to them, I started singing, "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you…"

"Happy birthday my darlings," I said softly as they took their pieces of cake from my hands slowly, "Happy birthday to you."

"Make a wish," I whispered as they sniffled softly. Callie's eyes overflowed with tears as she looked over at Elijah. He nodded softly, giving her a small smile, before they both blew out their candle. Almost as if they could read each other's mind, like they had wished for the same thing before.

And I had a feeling that I knew what it was.

"Everything will be right again. I promise you both, you'll get a chance to live past whatever Thanos tries to throw our way," I said, cupping each of their faces with my palms.

They both smiled widely as Elijah said, "We trust you Mom. You've already changed a lot."

"Have you stuck you head forward to see what's changed?" I asked as they dug in. Callie nodded, "But I didn't see much. All that's different so far is that the White House attack didn't happen. It was London instead."

"Wonderful," I said dryly, "But ARSENAL's Defense Net was up?"

"Yes. For a short while. There was a solar flare that fried the main reactor and it shot that ripple effect to the other three. The failsafe didn't kick in. But you made it so Asgard's Bifrost wasn't able to pass through the net, meaning we couldn't receive the armies of Asgard, Vanaheim, Alfheim and Svartalfheim. They couldn't pass through. We were outnumbered and by the time the net dropped entirely we were mid battle and it took too long for the armies to amass. Thanos got all our whole team in one foul swoop, as we were responding to London's distress call."

"So instead of assuming the fight is on Earth, we need to scope out a place where we can take the fight to Thanos," I said, feeling my brain start firing on all neurons. Grabbing my tablet from the computer, I called Quill. He explained that there were a number of deserted planets, one he knew would support us earthlings for sure.

Sending off word to Thor via Jane's cell, he said that Asgardian's and their kin on the three other treaty worlds don't need oxygen like humans do, so they would all be fine. Now, I just needed the Nova Corp to approve the use of the planet, as well as having my Dad work with their engineers to design our own space craft. Quill was eager to help, as was Rocket, and before the night was over, I could breathe again.

"How about that?" I asked, looking at Callie. She cocked her head to the side and held up a finger, signally to give her a minute. I watched in amazement as she opened a portal with a single wave of her hand, and stuck her head through. I looked at Elijah, a worried expression on my face and he gave me a reassuring smile, "She does this all the time."

"It's much better," She called through the portal, "I'd need to do some recon to be sure, but this may work."

"Okay. I'll set things in motion. In the meantime, because I trust you both so much and I know the super soldier serums you have will metabolize things fairly quickly, how about a birthday drink?"

"Really?" Elijah asked, wondering if I had lost my mind.

"Just one, and besides, I was drinking much younger than you are supposed to. It's only fair. Plus I'm here to monitor you. Doesn't make it as much fun when Mom's watching," I winked.

"Alright, beer, or wine?" I asked, knowing both of them were skeptical about my offer.

"I'll try a bit of wine please," Callie asked softly. I smiled and turned to Elijah who said, "Beer."

Grabbing Elijah's beer from the fridge, leftover from Steve and Bucky's last visit with the kids, I set it down in front of him with the can opener. He popped the lid and took a sniff. Shrugging, he took a careful sip. Callie watched him cautiously, waiting for him to either decide he liked it or hated it.

"It's fair. Nothing special."

"Vodka, whiskey and scotch are much better. I hate beer, but you should wait until your fathers and I can talk about it before venturing into hard liquors… back in your present." I said grabbing a glass from the cupboard and pouring a sweet wine for Callie.

"Okay, so, I swirl… sniff and then tiny sip?" She asked. I chuckled, "You've been watching me. Do I still have two bottles at dinner?"

"And another before bed while you handle with reports, and supply orders. And especially after you stopped breastfeeding Ollie. You claimed you'd been without for way too long," She smiled, before taking a deep sniff of the wine. She coughed a little and that was to be expected.

"It's okay. When I first got into wine, it took a while to appreciate it. Now I can have an Argentina Malbec and not even blink at the acidity."

"Ooh," She said, after her first sip, "That's not half bad."

"It's the sweetest wine I have. Meant to be paired with dessert, but just as good for having it with dinner. Man, I miss wine," I sighed, rubbing the protruding belly at my middle. It was worth it to help Bruce and Natasha. How many Aunts can say they were this involved with the pregnancy?

"Well, right after you have Auntie Nat's twins, you can have all the wine you want," Elijah chuckled, before I noticed he was too comfortable drinking his beer now.

"Who snuck you alcohol?" I said, raising an eyebrow. He paused, eyes widening in fear, knowing he'd been caught.

"Uncle Clint…" He said slowly, before adding, "Callie's had beer before too!"

"You tattle tale!" She said, rounding on him.

"Okay, hold up. Before you kill each other, can I ask when this happened?"

"When we were officially 18ish, Uncle Clint took us out to his farm. I also didn't help that Ollie had just been born and you were figuring out where he would sleep, considering the apartment was only two bedrooms."

"Well, know that I know about it, I'm gonna make sure you are watched by Aunt Laura and Uncle Clint knows the consequences. It wasn't long ago that I was telling Cooper and Lila the perils of drinking. Least he could do was extend the favor," I huffed.

"Don't be too mad, Dad already, or rather will, get on his case," Elijah said, finishing his beer.

"Can you do jumping jacks for me?" I asked, teasing him as I offered him his second and last of the night. In all honesty I was glad that they were out of the fridge. I had more room for food. Grabbing a pint of Ben and Jerry's from the freezer, I asked, "Two more spoons?"

"Please!" Callie exclaimed, taking mine and digging into the Cherry Garcia.

"I'll pass. We had a big dinner," Elijah explained. They had gone out for groceries but instead thought to wait until I got home.

"I'll go tomorrow after session. I also want to take T'Challa and T'Chaka to dinner on Friday night, so I'll make something in the slow cooker for you guys in the morning. I still have to get Joey a bed and food," I sighed, as my doggo found a spot on my good couch.

"I remember you would have flipped if he did that on base," Callie said, staring at me wide eyed.

"This is like a vacation for him. He knows the rules at home, but here its different. Besides, he just had a long flight. Oh, can one of you take him out to do his business?"

"I'll take him," Elijah said, calling Joey over and taking the leash from the coat rack by the front door.

"Thank you," I smiled at him, as my phone buzzed. As I read, I heard the door closing, We will. We'll call you tomorrow.

After reading that I noticed I had another message, this time from T'Challa.

Father and I would love to join you. Where shall we meet?

"7pm at Restaurant Le Ciel," I texted back.

We will be there. See you tomorrow morning. 9:30am.

"Oh goodie! You and Joey are my bodyguards tomorrow ."

"Mom, have you dealt with Zemo yet?" Callie asked after a worried expression came over her face. I felt my blood rush from my head, realizing I still had a loose end to deal with. Crap.