Picture is my Glory/Pietro edit.

Music is "Still Here" by Digital Daggers nightcore.

All rights go to their rightful owners.

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"I have to protect the one thing I can't live without. That's you." ~Tony Stark to Pepper Potts

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Hey guys!

This is the last chapter :) There will be an epilogue after this, but this is the last "chapter". I hope you have enjoyed this story! I sure have enjoyed writing is :)

Thank you all so much!

~Save_Pietro_Maximoff

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CHAPTER FORTY

Getting out of the prison was the easiest thing I've done in a long time. Going there was hard, but what came after was a dread.

I had only been here mere days, and I intended to make the best of it. I started collecting my dozens and dozens of boxes of Marvel comics to bring back with me to the Marvel world. Bad idea? Most definitely, but me being there with my knowledge has already changed the course that world will take. All the terrible things that happen, I can help prevent them, so why the hell not?

I place box after box by my front door. Comics, a few valuable things, memories. Pietro said he would come through the portal after the trail and help me move them (quickly) through to our new world.

I hear a slight tapping on my door, and I smile. "That must be my boy," I whisper to myself. I straighten up and hurry to open the front door.

Standing outside, looking as young as I remember her from this world, is Aspen Penrose. My heart drops and a lump rises in my throat. A few tears prick my eyes as I try to control my emotions.

She smiles at me, completely oblivious to the past week I've been through. I drop my comic-filled box and grab her, pulling her to me in a tight embrace. "Whoa!" she exclaims, laughing. She hugs me back but is clearly confused. "What has you so worked up, Morning Glory?"

I laugh, thinking I'd never hear those words from her again. Pulling back, I wipe my eyes and smile at her. "I'm so sorry."

Aspen rolls her eyes at me, still confused. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

I shake my head. "I just... I just missed you, is all."

"You just saw me a week ago, silly." We walk into the room and I close the door after her. "How did the trial go?"

"Guilty on all three charges. He's going away for a very long time. Forty-five years."

She smiles a bit. "Oh, thank God. I hate to say I'm happy, but to say anything else would be a lie."

I burst out laughing. "You have no idea how relieved I am."

Aspen scrunches up her nose. "I think I do, actually." She looks at all my boxes. "You going somewhere?"

I sigh. "Nah. Just clearing out some old junk." I look into her eyes in wonder. I had forgotten that this world is separate from mine. She's real here, she's alive here. "How is Vlad?"

She blushes a little. "He's good. He asked me out on a date, you know."

A huge smile breaks across my face and I take her hands in mine. "That's great, Penzie! I have a feeling you two will be perfect together. My best guy and my best girl."

She laughs and shakes her head, the slight pink tone in her cheeks deepening. "Oh, you. Always romantic and dramatic."

I shrug, swinging my arm around her slender shoulders. "What are best friends for? And I'm not nearly as bad as Arry."

"Oh, gosh no. Definitely not."

"How are Cordelia and Arry fairing?"

"They're great! But you should know that. Arry is getting a chance to go to that theater school in NYC, remember? And Cordelia is going to New York with Nathan."

I sigh, smiling. All my friends turned out well here. They're all okay, happy, getting along in life. I couldn't be happier that somewhere, in some far off reality, the one I was born in, everyone I have ever loved is safe and sound.

She gives me a side hug and turns towards the door. "I didn't mean to barge in. I just wanted to see how things at the trial went."

"Why don't you stay a while?" I ask, my eyes tearing up again at the thought of her leaving. "I don't have any plans. We could go out or something. Invite the guys over?"

She shakes her head but gives me a hug. "Sorry, hun. I have a animal shelter meeting in an hour. We're going to try to build one in Queens, New York City! Isn't that amazing?"

I smile, remembering that that was the first thing she told me when I arrived in Marvel world. "I have a great feeling about that project."

She walks backwards towards the door. "Might take a few years, but eh," she shrugs, "It's worth the wait."

I walk with her to the door. "Will I see you soon?" I ask.

She smiles and winks at me. "You know you will! Marvel Wii games and pizza every Wednesday, remember?"

I nod. "How could I forget?"

After one last, long hug, she blows a kiss my way. "Bye, Morning Glory! I love you!"

"I love you more!"

"I love you-"

"-Most!"

After my best friend is out of sight, I slump down the door frame, my legs failing me. Hands are shaking, tears are falling, hearts are breaking. I'll never be able to come back after today. It's too risky to open the portal too many times. I can come back maybe once, twice more, but I have to save those for Black Death emergencies.

I'll never see her again. My Aspen is alive here and that was the last I'll ever see her.

I hated her funeral. After being here two days, I went back to the Marvel world for Natasha's help on Pietro's government files. One day. Of all days, it was her funeral.

She's burried in her hometown under the cherry blossom trees and willows. It's not far from New York, but for heavy hearts and shattered souls of her best friend and husband, there will never be a harder road to travel.

Vlad said words, as did I. Pietro came. The rest of the Avengers did, too. The new mutants were present. Cordelia, Arry, Nathan, my childhood friends and their families came. Aspen's family was there. So were her work friends and dozens of people who knew her and her work.

I never knew how many people she blessed with her life until I saw the pile of roses at her grave. I counted them. There were hundreds.

I feel a pair of strong arms scoop under me, cradling me to a hard and warm chest. I don't need to open my eyes to know it's Pietro. His scent, his manerisms, they scream his presence. I wrap my arms around his neck and cry into him. He must've seen Aspen leave the building as he arrived.

"Baby..." he says in a sympathetic tone, rubbing my back with his hand. He helps me back into my room and closes the door.

I can barely speak. The tears are falling too fast, too hard, making it impossible to speak. Pietro knows. He always knows what I need, and right now that's silence and his arms.

He sits down on the floor by the door, his back against it. I am resting on his lap with one arm around my back resting on my waist and the other running through my hair in comforting motions.

"She is alive here," he whispers after a few minutes. "She is okay here. That is good, is it not?"

I nod into his neck. "I just... I miss her so much, Pietro. I can't... I can't..."

"Then do not," he whispers to me, tilting my chin up to look him in the eyes. "Let me heal you. Let me help you through this."

I look deep into his eyes. "I must seem so silly to you. I'm crying over one girl, when there are four million casualties back home."

"No, no." He places his lips to my forehead. "Not silly, nor anything else bad. You are hurting. I know how it feels. You feeling like you are slipping away."

"Sometimes I dream she's still here," I mumble.

"That is normal, sweetheart." He places kisses all the way down my jaw.

"Is it normal to dream that I was the one that died instead? To wish it, almost?"

Pietro sighs, rocking me back and forth. "I wish I could change it."

I shake my head. "What's done is done. I know one thing I can't live without, and that's not Aspen. That's you." I look up to his concerned face and smile a bit. "I have good news."

"Yes?"

"He's guilty. Forty-five years."

Pietro smiles and kisses me hard on the lips. "That is great, Возлюбленная!" Another kiss, then another. Enough to make me smile and laugh again.

"I'm so relieved."

"As am I," he chuckles, rubbing circles on my waist.

I'm going to do it. I'm doing to tell him.

"I have a surprise for you," I say, biting my lower lip.

I'm going to tell him the news.

"What is that?" Pietro asks, eyebrow raised.

I'm going to tell him my secret.

"I'm pregnant. We're going to have a baby!"

END CHAPTER FORTY