Tony's precious tablet chimed like an angel, meaning one thing: Hermione had reappeared once more, but a few blocks away. An unusual location for her, but Steve was relieved she was still alive after their last meet up had been cut short so suddenly because of "people".

He had worried these past few days, but the fact she could break through dimensions again meant she had to be okay, right?

He would have given anything to even get a message across dimensions, but they had made so little progress on their side, unable to even locate Wanda to rope her into helping out, that he'd been starting to despair. So this flicker was good news: completely in the wrong place, but there nonetheless. She was alive and letting them know.

However, after a whole minute passed, her blinking dot was still right where it had appeared, a steady dot on the tablet's map. He waited. Two minutes and counting.

"What if it isn't a flicker?" he asked Bucky.

He didn't want to get their hopes up, but this was unusual. When she projected herself, it was always near him because he was her anchor. If he wasn't there, she couldn't keep the projection up for very long. Not for three whole minutes at any rate. Bucky met his eyes and nodded without hesitation, so maybe he'd been thinking along the same line.

"Jarvis, find a live feed of this location."

"Yes, Sergeant Barnes," the AI replied. Almost instantly, still photos and video feeds started popping up on the tablet. Steve would never not be impressed by Jarvis. However, before they could start going through them, Hermione's dot on the map vanished.

It had just been a flicker after all. He still wanted to know what she had been up to. What was so interesting about that part of the city? Wasn't it near that place he'd been stalking out? Was she pointing them to where the bald lady's lair was? Even if it wasn't, they might see Hermione to have an idea how she was holding up, so Steve asked Jarvis, politely, if he could go through all the data to find anyone who looked like Hermione.

"Stevie!" Bucky exclaimed, pointing at the tablet where the dot was now blinking right there on Stark Tower.

Steve was ready to run down all the way to the entrance, but Hermione was already right there in front of them, thin, pale, and disheveled, but most assuredly solid. The half chuckle, half sob that came from her only served to confirm it. She was here.

She'd made it.

They were in each others arms, needing to feel the other was real, but Hermione was shaking, so he tilted her head up, worried she'd fallen ill, but finding she'd been crying instead.

"Are you alright? Are your hurt?" he asked while Bucky hovered over her, searching for any sign of injury.

Hermione shook her head, tears falling anew.

"I don't know why I'm crying now," she said, wiping her eyes. "I didn't cry once in all this time, but I was so scared… I was so scared I'd be stuck there forever…"

"We'd never have left you there, love," Steve said, cupping her cheek.

"Not without us," Bucky added, wrenching another wet chuckle out of her, before he pulled her into a hug of his own. "You look exhausted."

"I am," she said. "Must be dimensional jet lag or something. Can't say I could do much, stuck on the other side, especially when I couldn't see you guys anymore."

Which prompted many questions on their part, moving their discussion to the kitchen when she said she had more trouble finding food for the past week as the mirror dimension had been so badly shattered, but not wanting to stray too far from their location in case she couldn't return since her apparitions shattered the mirror dimension a little more every time. Without a word, Bucky headed for the kitchen. Curious, they followed to see him breaking eggs, whipping up an omelet with ease when Hermione smiled.

"You look more like yourself," she mused and Steve had to agree. With his new arm, Bucky's confidence had grown almost to the point of his former swagger and charm. He had also gotten really into cooking since, according to him, it was a great way to train the fine motor skills of his new arm. Not that he was complaining. Bucky was a good cook and Steve was always hungry.

Eager to please her, Bucky dropped the whisk, and offered her his new hand to inspect. Much like he had, Hermione trailed her fingers over it, lacing hers with his, then pulling it against her face and closing her eyes.

"It's so real," she marveled. "Tony is amazing. How does it feel for you?"

"Pretty fucking real, doll. You might want to stop doing that," he warned with a heated look, but he was the one to trail his new fingers down her cheek to her lips, teasing her for a bit before dropping his prosthetic. "Eat first. You deserve it after escaping on your own."

Hermione deflated and sat heavily on one of the kitchen stools while Bucky resumed his whisking. Steve draped himself around Hermione, too happy to have her near again.

"I didn't. I tried, all this time, but I failed. All I managed was to break the mirror dimension a little more."

Was she… pouting? Steve bit his bottom lip, trying his best not to show his amusement. He knew she was a sore loser, but this was ridiculous. Would she rather still be imprisoned just to have the satisfaction of escaping by herself?

"The Bald Bitch let you out?" Bucky asked, pressing the sizzling butter viciously into the pan as if he was imagining her in his grasp.

"No… I think she's dead…" she shook her head. "I have no idea what went down, to be honest. There was a battle in the mirror dimension between her faction and another. She lost, I know that much, but the man who took over her position let me go."

"Just like that?" Bucky asked suspiciously.

"Just like that," she shrugged. "He didn't agree with her reasons for locking me up."

"Do you know who these people are?" Steve asked.

"Not really. He called himself Dr Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme."

"Jarvis?" Steve asked.

"Right on it, Captain," the AI replied, pausing for a few seconds before sending the information on the tablet.

They all leaned over to read a newspaper article from a few years back about a famous neurosurgeon getting into an awful car accident.

"That one's not on me," Bucky said before flipping over the omelet.

Steve raised his eyebrow.

"What?" Bucky said defensively. "Looks like 'car accidents' were a Winter Soldier Special, and I just happened to be active and in New York during that time, so I don't want that one pinned on me. I don't want that guy taking it out on Hermione if he thinks I was responsible."

Steve shared a look with Hermione. They couldn't deny the coincidence made him look bad if anyone wanted a scapegoat.

"But how can you be sure? You don't remember most of your… missions as the Winter Soldier," Hermione asked.

"Except these last few years. They barely kept me on ice and only wiped me a couple of times, so those memories are coming back to me easier, but I sure as hell don't remember that smarmy punk."

Steve glanced down at the doctor's picture Bucky was pointing at, in his tuxedo and perfectly combed hair, with mesmerizing eyes and high cheekbones… This guy was pretty good looking and memorable, he supposed, despite that arrogant air. In fact, he reminded Steve of the carefree, flirtatious Bucky from before the war.

"He didn't bother you, did he?" Steve asked her.

"No, he seemed alright. A bit full of himself, but he did save me from that hellhole."

"I don't think that's what he was asking, doll," Bucky chuckled. "We all know you have a soft spot for dark haired gents like myself, and I think Stevie here is feeling a mighty bit insecure."

Hermione looked from Bucky to him, then burst out laughing.

"You can't be serious," she said, voice lilting in amusement. "First of all, I do not have a preference for tall, dark, mysterious gentlemen."

"I never said-" Bucky sputtered, only to get cut off.

"Secondly, why would I ever have eyes for anyone else when I have you two?" she laughed again, then shook her head. "Boys, honestly."

"Fine, fine…" Steve said, trying to get out of being teased to death. "So we're all out of danger for now? No aliens, Bucky's arm is taken care of, no old ladies with a grudge, Strucker's cell has been taken down, Wanda and her brother defected, and the rest of HYDRA has been manipulated into doing SHIELD grunt work… what's left?"

"Those stones…" Hermione said with an imperceptible shudder. "And who the bloody hell is Wanda?"

After resuming the part of the battle in Sokovia Hermione had missed, she looked wistful.

"So you think she's like me? Another witch?"

"Not like you. She was turned into a witch, not born one," Steve replied apologetically. "But I think you'd like her. She's fearless, and righteous, but she has her heart in the right place."

"Should I be jealous?" Hermione teased.

"Never," Steve said, leaning in for a kiss before a steaming omelet appeared between them.

"Eat first. Cuddle later," Bucky ordered and Hermione gave a salute before diving in.

She looked ravenous and ate everything Bucky put in front of her until Tony and Banner strode in.

"Honey! You're home!" Tony greeted her. "How was your trip? Did you bring me a souvenir?"

Hermione smiled at him with her cheeks full of cake, looking very much like a hamster.

"What? No food in the other dimension?" he chuckled.

"Food, yeah. Tasted as good as licking a mirror though," she replied after having swallowed down Bucky's apple pie. "Thanks for taking care of the boys while I was gone."

"I knew I shouldn't have asked for them in the divorce," Tony teased. "They're eating me out of house and home."

Hermione snorted at that big fat lie, then asked Bucky for more pie, but he'd already had a plate ready for everyone as well as a pot of coffee. Tony stared at it with narrowed eyes.

"Is it poisoned?" he asked.

Steve elbowed him, but Bucky calmly stirred his own mug.

"Would I tell you if it was?" he shot back before taking a long sip.

"Right…" Banner said with a sigh as he stabbed his slice of apple pie with his fork. "If we're done with the verbal sparring, would someone mind filling us in?"

Steve glanced at Hermione, nodding not so subtly towards the doctor.

"Oh! Right," she recalled. "Hail Hydra!"

Banner had a look of utter bewilderment as Hermione then stared at him without further explanation.

"He's good. Or the part that isn't dormant is at least, but I doubt I can, or even want to use legilimency on the Hulk, no offense."

Banner did look quite offended though, so Steve took up the burden of explaining both the HYDRA-isn't-dead mess as well as Hermione's unlawful imprisonment in another dimension, since her own priority right then was food, and Bucky couldn't talk about HYDRA without adding a ton of cursing to it.

"So these stones are pretty important, eh?" Tony concluded. "Bet that's where the next spot of trouble is coming from."

"More trouble than what happened in London?" Banner snorted.

"Meh, that was nothing," Tony replied. "Done with before I could even suit up."

"What happened in London?" Steve asked.

Granted, this was his own fault as he had not been watching the news of late, and if it happened in London, there was no way SHIELD had managed to keep it from the public.

"Portals. Aliens. The usual. Thor took care of it. He could have dropped by to say hello though."

Steve didn't know why he'd asked. He knew he wouldn't like the answer. He pinched the bridge of his nose, because really, he shouldn't be surprised, and just accept that alien attacks were a common occurrence from now on. At least they were pretty good at fighting them off. That had to count for something, especially because you could just punch them in the face, or mandibules, or whatever squishy part they offered. The stones though? That was another story. They were older than time, more powerful than anything else they knew, and they seemed to have a mind of their own.

"Maybe Thor knows more about these stones," Steve said as he connected the two conversations they'd been having. "Hermione, you said the Tesseract had been hidden on Earth by the Asgardians," he said, waiting for her to confirm with a nod. "And that yellow stone was extracted from Loki's scepter, so I'm guessing it's an Asgardian artifact too? Where is Thor right now? Can we get in contact with him?"

Tony shook his head, while typing on his phone.

"No, I just saw him briefly on TV during that portal mess," he looked back up at him. "I sent a text to his girlfriend. If anyone knows, it'll be her. That was a pretty good idea, Cap."

"I saw another stone," Hermione said in a small voice that was very unlike her. "Dr Strange has a green one. He asked me if I knew what it was."

"Did it attack you like the other two?"

Hermione frowned.

"Kind of. It tried to reach out, but not aggressively like the other two. More like it was trying to prod me, like it was… curious."

"The stone?" Bruce asked, having never witnessed it happening before, or even heard about their unhealthy attachment to Hermione.

"The energy residing in the stone," Hermione corrected. "Whatever it is, it's sentient. I'm sure of it."

"Can't this sorcerer tell you more about them?" Tony asked.

"I doubt it. He didn't offer the knowledge, and I wasn't going to jeopardize my freedom insisting on it. I don't care if that makes me a coward. Those people live on a whole other level. I've never felt so powerless before."

"You're really not," Tony snorted.

"I am. We all are," she looked at them each in turn.

Steve and his strength and never-ending stamina. Bucky, just as strong, but much faster. Tony and all his gizmos, but just a squishy human on the inside of his armour. And-

"Well, maybe not you, Doctor Banner," she amended. "But there's this whole wave of new meta-humans, mystical sorcerers, and even Gods… we're like a minor league team trying to compete with the champions."

"Nope. I, for one, refuse to be outdated. I'll just upgrade," Tony stated. "You just got back, right? Maybe you need a nap. Your room's still free if you want."

Hermione glowered at him, and maybe Tony could choose his words better, but he wasn't wrong. After the ordeal she went through, trapped and alone, it was normal to feel beaten down. He'd know. It was all his childhood in a nutshell.

"I'm such a failure," she sniffled, confirming his thoughts. "I couldn't escape, couldn't fight the sorcerers. Heck, I couldn't even do anything against Buck-"

Bucky's eyes widened at the mention of their fights against the Winter Soldier, when he wasn't himself just yet. Steve sighed, knowing he was going to blame himself for the state of her next, and then he'd have his two sergeants to comfort. Not that he minded, truly, but they could be a handful.when they both spiralled.

Tony and Banner skedaddled when the tears appeared. Cowards. Steve took the handkerchief from his pocket and exchanged Hermione's spoon for it.

"You do look exhausted, love. We shouldn't have pushed you so much before you could rest."

"But-"

"I know, I know: you're worried and you can't rest if you're worried. But you don't need to be. There's always a solution, right? You don't think you're strong or fast enough? Even if we tell you otherwise? Then we'll just train until you feel you are, right Buck?"

Bucky nodded.

"You'll be able to knock me on my ass, doll, I promise. I won't even let you win. You'll beat me fair and square."

"But you also need to accept you're not alone, not anymore, and you don't need to be the strongest, the fastest, or the best. I never understood why you always thought you did, but you don't, alright?"

He waited for her to nod, amused when Bucky nodded too.

"Whatever is coming, we'll all play our part, big or small. Even the smallest cog in a machine is necessary to make the whole of it work, right?"

Hermione sniffled and nodded once more, before turning her big doe-like eyes on him.

"Did you pick up a new hobby while I was gone?"

Steve's cheeks warmed, and he tried not to hide the vintage watch on his wrist he had saved from the trash, knowing it would only bring attention to it. He'd been bored staying in the tower waiting for Hermione, and Tony had all these tiny screwdrivers and tools on hand. Bucky had picked up cooking, and no one teased him about it, but somehow, him repairing old, broken things did.

"Can't hide anything from you, can I?" he said before sweeping her off her feet, to take her to their room as Bucky trailed behind them, none of them willing to have her out of their sight after she had disappeared for so long.

She didn't seem to mind anyway, not even when they both stared at her while she fell asleep, clinging to them like she was afraid they'd vanish into thin air.

"It's just exhaustion, right?" Bucky whispered once her breathing evened out. "I've never seen her like that, not even during the war."

Bucky was right. Hermione was ever the optimist. Even after they'd met and she realized she wasn't in her time period, and then not even in the same world, she hadn't been so beaten down. She'd cried, sure, but more out of grief for what she'd lost, which was a normal reaction. The closest she got to spiralling was when she'd been under the Red Skulls tender care and when they thought Bucky was dead, but she'd stayed strong. Today though, the way she talked about herself like she was nothing, a failure… that wasn't like her.

"I'll call Sam," he decided.