A/N: We had a quite intense ride with the previous chapter. We'll see just how this continues... FIRST, though...

THANK YOU, so much, for your reviews, love and support! They mean more than I can say. (HUGS)

NOW, because I know what you came here for... Let's go! I REALLY hope that you'll enjoy the ride.

Choose

Laura dreaded to imagine how much worse things could get. With Lila sleeping and not needing her to be strong for a moment she had hard time keeping herself together. Especially when she had no idea if her husband was even alive anymore.

That they could still lose so bitterly, after everything…

The universe, however, wasn't done beating Laura down. Because while she waited for news on Clint her phone started ringing. Her stomach knotted at the sight of a number she recognized as Bruce's. She picked up instantly, her hand shaking. "What's wrong?"

"I've… I've been trying to get a hold of everyone." Dr. Cho's tone promised nothing good. There was a horrible, long pause. "We… had to medicate Cooper, because we needed to try and stabilize him. He had a very bad reaction…"

It was like the world was crumbling under Laura's feet. She slumped to the floor, struggling to breathe. Unaware of the doctor at the end of the ridiculously long hallway, who was approaching her with a grim, apologetic look on his face.

Cooper didn't really know what was happening. One moment he was feeling… sick. And then he was… drifting. Floating away.

Despite being a child he knew that he should've been scared. But he didn't really manage to feel anything. The whole world faded to black, then the gray. He held still and let it happen, not even wondering just where he was going if he was actually drifting.

Then a familiar voice echoed in the gray fog. "Coop? Buddy?" The man was right in front of him. "Can you hear me?"

Cooper heard but wasn't able to produce a sound. Because something inside him jolted painfully. He stared, wondering if he was imagining all this. Then breathed out barely audibly. "Dad?" How…? Then it struck him, and the realization brought another jolt. "Am I… gone, too?" He didn't think he wanted to be dead. But at the moment he was at peace with the idea, mostly. And his dad was there with him. Everything was going to be alright. So why was his dad crying?

His dad shook his head and swallowed loudly. "No, Coop. You're not gone. And neither am I. It's…" The man cleared his throat. "It's not time to go yet."

Cooper… wasn't sure how to feel about that. It was still so very hard to feel anything at all. "Oh."

His dad held out a hand for him. Cooper stared at the color bursting through the gray on those fingers, mesmerized. "Let's go home", his dad beckoned. "Together."

Of course Cooper would follow his dad. Always. Anywhere. He took the hand without any hesitation. It was like his dad had borrowed him colors, too, because both their fingers were starting to look normal. Life rushed back into Cooper with such force that it hurt and he shivered.

His dad seemed to notice and instead of holding his hand wrapped an arm around him. It felt almost warm. Safe.

Nothing needed to be said as the dad and son made their way towards the train's nearly closed doors, their bodies pulsating with color and life.

Bruce was right beside Cooper when the child he'd almost declared dead came back to life all of a sudden. With a loud gasp, eyes wide and wild. "Dad!" the boy cried out hoarsely. Tears started rolling when the child's desperate gaze didn't find the mentioned man. "DAD!"

Bruce was rubbish when it came to comforting people. And he knew that Cooper wasn't much better than his dad with handling unexpected physical contact. There was also the matter of Cooper's far from stable powers. But the scientist knew that the child needed support. So, slowly and almost carefully, Bruce wrapped his arms around the hysterically sobbing boy. His own eyes grew moist when Cooper clung to him desperately and cried out once more, barely audibly. "Dad…!"

Dr. Theo Stokes had lost several patients over the course of his decades long career. Which didn't make breaking the bad news any easier. Marching on with heavy legs, he went through what he'd say in his mind. Braced himself for any reaction.

He was only ten steps away from the room and the woman on the floor when running steps approached him. "Dr. Stokes!" The surgical nurse's eyes were so wide that under different circumstances it might've been comical. "I… I don't understand how… There's a heartbeat. It's barely there, but… We've got him. We got him back."

Dr. Stokes stared at her. Wondering if she was joking. Then started running.

Apparently the fight wasn't over yet.

Another nurse jumped with startle when she entered the ICE-cubicle containing Steve Rogers. The Captain wasn't alone. A man with a metallic arm stood beside the bed with an utterly lost look on his face. She shifted with discomfort. "I'm… sorry, but… He isn't allowed visitors yet."

This time the stranger shuddered. It took a few moments before a barely visible nod followed. "I know. I just had to…" The man trailed off, gaze dropping to the floor.

A smile of sympathy made its way to the nurse's face. "I understand." She nodded towards the patient, even if the other man didn't look to see it. "The hit his chest received was a brutal one. But… He's strong. And I'm fairly sure that at this point the worst is over. He'll be alright."

Those words made a tiny bit of the invisible weight sitting on the visitor's shoulders fall. She looked away, feeling like she was intruding on something private, when the man reached out his flesh hand and squeezed Steve's shoulder. The visitor whispered something so quietly that she couldn't catch it, even if she would've been trying to. Then the man turned and walked away without looking back. It seemed to be the hardest thing he'd ever done.

Alone with her patient, she took a moment to calm down. Then reminded herself who she was there for and focused on Steve. Her eyebrows furrowed when she noticed a single tear rolling down his cheek.

On an aircraft Nick Fury pulled off the sheet covering Edith Barton's body. His nose wrinkled in disgust. The sight… wasn't pretty. "Was that level of violence absolutely necessary?"

Natasha nodded. Nothing but certainty and steel in her eyes. "Yes. That was less than she deserved."

Fury couldn't say that he disagreed or judged. He would've very gladly done some damage himself. "Why did you want to see her?" he asked instead. Surely Natasha had every little bit of injury catalogued to her mind. She was the one who… finished Edith.

Natasha didn't answer immediately. Or perhaps what she did was an answer enough. From who knows what covers she pulled a long, chillingly sharp knife. Which she plunged right through the deceased woman's forehead and left there. Considering how dangerous Edith's mind once was, it was almost poetic. "I wanted to make sure that she's dead", the Black Widow replied coolly.

Tony couldn't breathe properly from the impossible weight sitting on his chest. Especially with the man who killed his parents and the man who was supposed to be his friend before almost getting killed by him there. Overwhelming, all of it.

How was he ever going to look Steve in the eye again?

"Excuse me, Mr. Stark?" A nurse walked towards him with an uncertain expression on her face. "Your friend, Natasha… said that I might find you here." She showed him an envelope. "This was left for you."

Tony arched an eyebrow. Who still wrote letters…? "By who?"

"This guy with a metallic arm." The nurse clearly couldn't believe her own words. "He stopped by at one of the hospital rooms and left this there."

Tony was entirely too sure that he wasn't quite able to disguise his shock. Bucky? Why the he hell would Bucky leave him a letter? What could the man possibly have to say to him, of all people?

Tony accepted the letter with a great deal of hesitation. Wondering if he was completely out of his mind. For a few moments he stared at his own name on the envelope. Then, with a great deal of difficulty, he fished out the actual letter and began to read.

'I know that I'm the last person in the world who has any right to ask anything of you. What happened to your parents… You can't even imagine how sorry I am, even if it wasn't really me. I'll always remember that night, like I remember all the lives I was forced to take. If it's any consolation, they're my ghosts as much as they're yours. But I'm begging you to forget about the past and focus on those who are still alive instead of hurting over those you've lost. Not for my sake, but Steve's.'

A taxi driver gave Bucky a long look when he slumped to the backseat but commented nothing. "Where to?"

Bucky opened his mouth. Then closed it again. "Just… away from here."

In some bitter way, it was almost exhilarating. Bucky didn't choose to survive the fall from the train. He didn't choose to become Hydra's tool, a monster. And he didn't choose the sacrifice Steve made for him. Because for far too long he'd had no control over himself.

But now, at last, he could decide for himself – and he chose to save Steve from him, before he'd suck the only family he had left with him into a pitch-black rabbit hole.

'He's saved my life more times than I can count. I don't even want to know how far he'd go for me, no matter how little I deserve it. Because already long before he became Captain America he was willing to do anything for his family. He'd always trying to save everyone. That's who he is. But he won't be able to save me from the monster Hydra turned me into. So I have to draw the end of the line here. He's made enough impossible decisions for me, so I'm making this one for him. Before he loses himself like I once did. And I need to know that I'll be leaving him with his other family.'

The waiting room was getting packed. The battle was officially over, which meant that Natasha and Thor had joined Laura, Lila and the bizarre Sokovian twins who didn't seem to know where to go. None of them was entirely sure what would happen next.

Natasha watched the latest news report on TV with solemn eyes. By then the world knew that Thaddeus Ross was gone and that the man committed to several serious crimes before passing. The Accords had been placed under intense scrutiny and there were massive protest rallies all over the world. Only time would tell if what their team and Charles' crew did was enough to tear down a deal that'd make government's puppets or fugitives out of them. And only time would tell if their team would ever recover from this mess to be the family it once was. But at least, barring any further surprises, they'd all be there to face whatever was coming.

Natasha turned her head when Laura put away her phone. She frowned at the woman wiping her eyes. "Was that Bruce?"

Laura nodded. "Yeah. Coop, he… He's stable. For now." The woman chuckled brokenly at her own inability to control her emotions. "Sorry. This is just all…"

"I know." Of course Natasha didn't know, really. But she did know that the Bartons and Steve would need a lot of support to overcome this long nightmare. Good thing they had a whole team willing to help. The redhead was far more relieved than she would've cared to admit that everyone was still there, alive and fighting on, to receive help.

Laura buried her face to her hands. Pulled in a shuddering breath after another. "I thought… I thought I'd lose them all. The kids… Clint…"

"But you didn't", Natasha reminded firmly. Then did her best to smile, at least a little. "They're Bartons, remember? Too stubborn to just give up."

Laura emitted a brief, slightly hysterical chuckle at that. The sound roused Lila, who'd been clinging to her mom like an octopus in her sleep. The child looked up, worry and confusion evident in her sleepy eyes. Laura brushed her daughter's cheek with her thumb. "Shh, go back to sleep. Sorry I woke you."

Lila clearly wanted to doze off but hesitated. "Daddy? Coop?"

Laura kissed the top of her head. "They're both still fighting to heal." She pulled her daughter closer when the child tensed up. "Go back to sleep, sweetheart. It's going to take at least a few more hours before anything happens." It sounded like such a long time even to her, especially with how tensely and desperately she'd been waiting. It was probably torture on a traumatized child.

Lila didn't really have a choice. Especially with the light sedative a doctor had been forced to give her. Laura held her daughter with all her might, determined to have the one piece of her family she could have in her arms just there.

All of a sudden the room's air changed, electrified. Laura frowned, wondering why. Until she looked towards the room's doorway. Tony stood there, appearing lost, apologetic, tense, tired and unsure. From the corner of her eye she saw Pietro taking a sharp, threatening step forward, only to have Wanda grab his wrist.

The Avengers were still trying to process the fact that Steve shot Clint. And that Tony, in turn, harmed Steve. They'd always had their sometimes loud and violent arguments. Even so, knowing that they were capable of harming each other like this… Knowing that they were capable of almost killing each other… It chilled them.

Tony cleared his throat. "I… get that things are a bit… awkward right now… But… I wanted to ask if there's been anything new."

"They're still in the ICU", Natasha answered when no one else said a thing. "It's still too early to be sure, but… Right now things seem promising."

Tony nodded. Twitched. Wrestled with himself. "Look… I didn't mean to… I wasn't supposed to…"

Pietro sneered. "Story of your life, isn't it? Something always goes wrong."

"Pietro." Wanda shook her head. "Not now." The rest of them agreed. There'd be several long, possibly loud conversations eventually. It was highly unlikely that things would ever be exactly the same again. But now wasn't the time to focus on any of that.

A little tenser than before Tony took a seat a respectable distance away from them, especially the twins. Pretending that he was focused on his phone, the billionaire kept watch on them. Clearly as paranoid and worried as Laura was that something more might go horribly wrong.

In the end Natasha chose. With one more supportive squeeze to Laura's shoulder she got up and made her way to Tony. The man looked up with visible surprise when she sat beside him. "I didn't want you to be alone", was her only explanation.

For once Tony didn't know what to say, so the billionaire said nothing.

Thick silence lingered while they waited for the long night to be over.

'Because your team is a family. And I'm glad he found you all while I was away. Look after him, and each other. Stay together when this nightmare ends and morning comes.

And tell Steve I'm sorry.'

TBC

PIECES OF LYRICS TO INSPRIRE THIS CHAPTER (PLEASE, don't report me for this! I just want to share): 'I have two options, To fight or to fall apart, To rise or to sink, Alone inside four walls I may be scared of life, But I choose life, I choose life, I choose life' ('Valitsen elämän', Jannika B feat Uniikki) (translated loosely from Finnish)

A/N: Pheeew…! It looks like this tale is slowly coming to an end. Unless there are more… surprises awaiting…

SO. How will the Bartons, Steve and Tony deal with everything that's happened? Is everyone really going to be okay? AND, most importantly, was this chapter okay? Or something to be taken back to the drawing board? PLEASE, do leave a note! I LOVE hearing from you.

Until next time! I REALLY hope that you'll all join in for that one.

Take care!

SomeRandomHuman: That's a VERY good question! Oh boy… Let's hope that all Bartons will be okay! (whimpers) AND that you'll enjoy the next chapter as well.

Massive thank yous for the review! Until next time.

MLAkittenz: Heh! But BOY, that was intense, right? Let's hope that they'll all be alright. Body and soul, people and relationships. We are indeed starting the landing of this turbulent ride, so let's hope that it'll end to something happy(ish)…

Colossal thank yous for the review! Until next time.