"My birthday is May...May...29th..."

"The suit and I are one."

"(Y/N)...(Y/N) will find me," Tony whispered to himself, his knees pulled to his chest as he rocked back and forth for comfort. His entire body was shaking, tremulous from both exhaustion and the beginnings of starvation, mixed with his building panic at the inability to remember even the most basic parts of himself. "Don't worry, Tony, she'll be here. She...always there...her name...what's her name?"

"My mother is...Maria."

"My birthday is May...something..."

~~~

You had been walking for a few hours now, each turn leading to nothing, and none of the surroundings looking anything like what you had seen in your mind. Maybe it really was a dream like Sam and Wade had said, but it had felt so real that you still didn't fully believe that to be true. Tony's voice sounded like he was right next to you, and when you saw his face in your mind, it was in such clear detail that it had to be how you would see him when you finally found him. You would find him, even if it meant the end of yourself to do it.

Putting a stop to your thoughts of him so that you could focus again, you turned around and studied the foliage and terrain in each direction, frustrated when you didn't know which way you should go. It all just looked like an endless repeat of the same tree over and over again now, and you were growing both weary and frustrated as each second ticked by. "Dammit," you groaned, "I don't recognize any of this. Sam," you called out over your comm, "please tell me you have something at least hopeful to report."

"Sorry, (Y/N), I've got nothing so far," he answered solemnly. "Where are you now?"

"It looks like I'm just to the south of where we started, along the river bank. I've seen a few smaller caves but no sign of him in any of them. I thought I had a trail of footprints for a bit, but they faded out."

"Yeah, I've got about the same. Hey, less-hot Wilson," Sam chuckled, "how about you?"

"Well, my conceited yet fugly friend, I'm doing pretty shitty, thank you for asking. I've got some sort of diarrhea like goop all over my leg from some swamp hole that I stepped in, and I had to kick a wild turkey's ass when he tried to attack me. That little fucker should be dinner, but those claws are vicious, did you know that?"

"I did," you sighed, "that's why you don't engage, dumbass."

"But he started it!"

"Guys, maybe we should just bring it in for the night-"

"Shut up."

"Excuse me?" you huffed, standing taller at his attitude. "Wade, you don't have to be such an ass-"

"Seriously, (Y/N), shut it," he pressed, "I think I heard something. Just hang on." The line went silent, leaving you and Sam waiting impatiently; you swore that you could hear Sam's pounding heartbeat through your comm, but it was hard to distinguish it over your own.

"(Y/N), don't get your hopes up, okay?" Sam warned after a few minutes. "It might have just been another turkey and now he thinks he can win."

"I'm not getting my hopes up," you lied, already having bitten off both thumbnails and starting to work on your next finger as you waited, only to be received with silence. "Dammit, this is killing me, Sam."

"I know, honey, just breathe."

A familiar twinge bubbled up in your throat, and a sharp pain grew from your stomach and up into your chest, leaving you trying to breathe despite its persistence. "Oh, no," you groaned, doubling over, "come on, not now, kid." A heavy wave of nausea tipped you off balance, making you stumble slightly to lean against a nearby tree. A few forceful retches later, you felt a little better, but your teammate was now both worried and fully disgusted by what he had to listen to.

"(Y/N), I'm on the way. Just hold your position there."

"I'm okay. I'm okay," you panted, "just shitty timing. Really, really shitty timing." You bent over and allowed another strike take over, trying to keep yourself as composed as you could, despite the sweat now soaking you and the swimming sensation in your head from the pressure. "I just need to lie down for a minute."

"Guys, you still there?"

"Wade...what happened?" you asked through your controlled breaths. "What did you find?"

"Well, I'll never forget your dad's birthday, that's for sure. He keeps repeating it over and over."

Sam jogged up to you and knelt down at your side, hurrying to saturate one of his extra shirts with his water to hold against your forehead to help cool you down. He helped you sit on the ground and leaned your back against a large boulder, lifting the back of your shirt just slightly so that the bare rock could cool your skin. You jolted at the sudden sensation and brought yourself back to attention and to the moment at hand. "I can go. You stay here, okay?"

"No, I need to be there," you persisted, trying to swat his hands away. "He found him, and I need to be there."

"No," he argued firmly, "you need to sit your ass there and wait like I told you. We can bring him here, (Y/N)." When you still didn't listen, Sam pushed his hands against your shoulders and leaned in with most of his weight to keep you in place. "Wade! Get control of this woman!"

"(Y/N), do as the man says. I'm bringing him to you, so knock it the fuck off before I have to do it for you."

When you leaned back and away from his hands, Sam could only shake his head in disbelief, even though he had seen Wade use his magical powers over you several times now. He sat quietly and watched you, again offering the cool cloth against your head while the two of you waited for the other Wilson to appear with Tony. In all of the years that he had known you, you were never one to concede so easily, and this had readily become a mystery that he would get to the bottom of if it was the last thing he ever did. "Alright, how does he do that? What blackmail could he possibly have that's this powerful?"

"Sam, drop it."

"Come on, (Y/N), I'm your best friend. If you can't tell me..."

"I'm not telling you."

"Why not?"

"Because..." you sighed, closing your eyes to another wave from your stomach, "you'll tell Steve."

"I won't, I promise!"

"Hey, I told you," Wade interrupted from a few feet away, "she'll never say what it is." He was practically carrying Tony to you, most of your dad's weight being supported as he tried to do his best to walk along side of his masked escort. The two men stumbled slightly as they got closer, until he was able to put Tony down on the ground at your side so that you could finally wrap your arms around him and feel that he was still alive after it all.

"Oh my god, I can't believe we found you," you gasped, pulling him in tight, "how do you feel? Are you okay?" You pushed back and looked at him fully, inspecting every inch of him that you could see for injuries, but the one that was the most concerning was the one that you wouldn't be able to see. His eyes lacked their usual light and dark circles had formed beneath them, aging him terribly, and as he looked back at you, the questioning familiarity stabbed at your heart and sent fear through you as to what was happening to him.

"(Y/N)?" Tony asked uncertainly. "Is that right?"

"Yes, that's right," you answered slowly, glancing from Wade to Sam and back to Tony, "have you been having a hard time remembering things since the fall?"

"My birthday is May 29th."

"Yes, it is."

"Okay, good. I worried that it was wrong." Tony turned and looked back to Wade, pausing for a moment and then looking at Sam, his face contorting into a look of confusion at what and who he was seeing. There was a hint of recollection in his mind, but it was fleeting, and each time that he tried to reach out and grab the thought, it escaped him. "Who's the guy who found me?" he leaned in, whispering guardedly with his eyes focused back on Wade.

"That's Wade Wilson. Deadpool."

"Never heard of him...or have I?"

"You have, but it's okay. Well get you checked out when we get back home and see why your memory isn't working...so well..." you stopped, turning away harshly and struggling to hold your composure as you began to retch again.

"Here, baby," Sam hurried his attention back to you, grabbing your hair and rubbing your back slowly, "just breathe through it. We'll get back home and Wanda can help get that settled down, okay?"

"I swear, if a man had to go through pregnancy, this planet would have died out a long time ago," Wade sighed with a shake of his head. "Then once they get through this, they still have to pass the watermelon through a straw only to have it latch on and suck dinner out of 'em like a damn parasite."

"Hey, you're having a baby?" Tony asked eagerly. "Who's the dad?"

"Oh, shit," Sam muttered, trying to avoid your eyes and the pain he was sure to see there.

"Steve is, Dad."

"Oh, hell no. Over my dead body, young lady. When in the hell did you hook up with that fossil?"

Wade saw the tears in your eyes right away, before they had even built up to wet your lashes or threaten to spill; he stepped away and lowered his head to cover his voice so that you didn't listen in to his call. He wasn't sure who to contact back at the compound, but he figured there was only one person that you would want him to try, no matter how uncomfortable it made him. He set his personal feelings for the Captain aside, pushing himself to remember that this wasn't about him. "Uh, Captain...Steve?"

"Go."

"I think that Stark is gonna need a full once-over, top to bottom. He's cracked his brain pretty hard and isn't thinking right."

"How so?"

"Dad, we have three other kids. We've been married for years," Wade heard you say in the background, finding himself turning empathetic towards a man who had never so much as given him the time of day; especially as far as anything concerning you.

"Well, the high point of the convo right now is that he hates the hell outta you. Called you a fossil. No clue that you and (Y/N) are married or already have a litter waiting at home."

"Son of a bitch."

"Woah, Captain, let's watch that fucking language," Wade huffed, "this is a family story."