I didn't want to be that person, but...I was starting to think that Carol was going on a goose chase. She'd shipped herself away as soon as she was able, and we hadn't heard from her since.

Pepper dropped by every day, sometimes hunkering down with us for a few nights. I could understand her need to be around people. Not having Tony had to be hurting her.

Todd and Nat continued to train, to occupy their minds instead of dwelling on the depressing facts that stared us in the face every day. Thor was scarcely seen, same went for the raccoon. Steve and I mainly kept to ourselves.

I wasn't sure who in the facility was hurting the most in this. The wound was still fresh, and if anything, it was itching now. Reminding us that it would always be there.

Since I wanted complete solitude, I opted to train with my fire on the rooftop of the facility. I went through my usual exercises, testing out my moves. I noticed that my emotions as of late had driven how well my fire listened to me. On the days where I couldn't pull myself out of a funk, my training suffered. On the days where my thoughts were nothing but vengeance, my flames often switched from its traditional colors to blue.

Today was a vengeance day. While my fire didn't amp up to blue yet, it sure felt it was working its way there. My veins ran hot, a light sweat on my brow. I thought of the faces that were dusted, each blink of my eyes showed me another. And another. And another.

We failed them. We're still failing them. They're gone, forever. If I get the opportunity, I will kill Thanos myself. For those we lost. For slaying half of the Asgardians, innocents who were merely looking for a new home.

Startled at hearing footsteps, I chucked the knife of flame that I had. Steve thankfully ducked.

"I really got to stop finding you on rooftops, Kiara," he said teasingly.

"Nobody else seems to think of how private it is up here, so I take advantage. Any developments about Tony?"

"Unfortunately, no. Actually, I came here to find you to ask you something."

"Like what?"

"The world's way different now, nobody can deny that. But, if we allow it to rule our lives, we're not...we're living at our best."

"I don't hear a question in any of those."

"I was thinking you and I have a date night, just the two of us."

Again, not a question. Thinking about it now, aside from when we shared a room, we hadn't had any us time as husband and wife. Spending years on the run and being a superhero would do that to a couple. "What did you have in mind?"

"We see where the night takes us. Are you up for it?"

That sounded like a more daunting question than usual. Steve looked as though he was really hoping I accepted. He needs this as much as I do. We do need to get away from the facility for a little bit. We haven't had true privacy to ourselves in some time.

"What could it hurt?"

* * *

A good part of our date was just us walking the town. I couldn't stop observing the new state of everything, even when Steve tried to pull me out of it. He had to be taking in everything like I was. I wondered if his mind was in the same self-blaming state as mine at the moment.

We found a little mom-and-pop book store. I took more interest in it than Steve, he followed me down the aisles. Anything regarding dystopian futures I stayed well away from. I kept towards the romance section, in hopes that I found something worth investing my time with.

"You can browse, too, you know," I teased Steve mildly. "It's not a big place to get lost in."

He shrugged.

Any eye-catching spines I took note of, plucking the books from their respective places. I did this with a lot of books. While the covers would get to me, the synopsis and oftentimes the first few pages...didn't. It was really disappointing.

In time, I did find a few books to settle for, while Steve remained content with following me like a puppy. He can't be doing this just for me. He needs to be enjoying himself, too. Now I wondered if maybe there was a dance studio around that was offering a free lesson or two. Maybe that would help him take his mind off of things.

Once we departed from the shop, back out into the world we went, hand-in-hand. The books I'd bought felt awfully heavy in the bag I carried them in, though they hadn't felt that way when I had picked them up.

As the day winded down, I'd had no such luck finding a place that offered dance lessons. Any clubs that we walked past weren't open yet, or they weren't our type of dancing. Steve was more old-school when it came to dancing, not entirely fond of the new moves that were around these days.

The longer we lingered to find our next place to go into, the more I became aware of the world around us. We bumped into far less people than we would have on a normal night. A lot more people made eye contact in passing, perhaps wondering if anyone nearby was someone they had been looking for since the Dusting happened...

Everywhere I looked, guilt and disappointment stared back at me. All the people we lost. All that blood—dust, whatever—was on our hands. We were incapable of stopping the bad guy. It was a cruel first to endure.

My chest started to feel tight, like someone was squeezing. I even stopped, allowing Steve to move on ahead. The books felt heavier in the bag that I carried. This was such a bad idea. The thought is appreciated, but it's too soon. Still too fresh. Anyone who recognizes us gives us the worst looks...we already know we've failed.

I looked down at the wedding band on my finger. This was supposed to be a date night, and I bloody ruined it. Is that what we do, as Avengers? Do we truly ruin everything we touch, even when we have the best of intentions? Were the Accords right all this time, and we were just too stubborn?

More questions made my brain start to spiral. My eyes were fixed on no point in particular. They finally refocused when they saw Steve come back, almost like a boomerang.

"Kiara?"

He did this for us. I can't...I can't ruin this for him. He'd seemed so happy when I agreed to this.

He let out a huge sigh. "It was a bad idea."

I shook my head. "No, it wasn't. It was really sweet. We haven't had time for just us since..." I swallowed. "I'm too stuck in my own head, Steve. It's something I need to work through. I thought this would help, but all I see when we're walking...all I see is failure. Death. Disappointment." The book store wasn't enough of a distraction. We took too long lingering outside.

"Let's go back, then. We'll end the night early."

"Bed?"

"Bed."