You followed Steve outside and found him sitting on a bench, staring at the floor despondently.

Before you'd even had a chance to sit down, let alone open your mouth, the sound of an engine broke the silence for you. You and Steve both looked up to see a shiny Audi R8 racing up the drive towards you.

"Tony." you said, looking at the fast approaching car. Steve stood up, the beginnings of a smile on his face.

Tony pulled up in front of you and rolled down his window to talk to you both.

"Why the long face Cap? Let me guess, he turned into a baby?"

"Among other things, yeah. What are you doing here?" Steve asked, watching him as Tony got out of the car and walked around it to get to the back. There was something weighing heavily on his mind; you couldn't decide whether to peek inside his head or not.

"That's the EPR paradox," Tony said, ignoring Steve's question completely, "Instead of pushing Lang through time, you might've wound up pushing time through Lang. It's tricky. Dangerous. Somebody should've cautioned you against it."

You couldn't help it, you smiled, looking away across the lawn.

"You did." Steve said reluctantly, playing his game.

"Oh, did I? Thank God I'm here. Regardless, I fixed it." Tony said, holding up a tiny device to show you both, "A fully functioning Time-Space GPS. I just want peace. Turns out, resentment is corrosive, and I hate it." he finished, throwing a peace sign. Your mouth was open. He'd cracked time travel.

"Me too." Steve said, finally smiling properly.

"Tony... just to double check, you- you worked out a safe way to time travel?" you emphasized in disbelief.

"I guess so. This is it." he told you. The gravity of the situation hit you, right there. This was it.

"We got a shot at getting those stones, but I gotta tell you my priorities. Bring back what we lost? I hope, yes. Keep what I got? I have to, at all costs. And... maybe not die trying would be nice." Tony told the two of you. You nodded in agreement, your mouth still open slightly.

"Sounds like a deal." Steve said, looking back towards you and frowning, "Hey, you alright?"

You nodded again, swallowing hard.

"I just... this is really it, huh? After all this time." you said, a large lump rising in your throat. Steve put an arm around you as Tony popped the trunk of his car.

"I know. But this is good news." he told you firmly, faltering when he saw what Tony had pulled from the trunk. It was his shield.

"Tony..."

"Why? He made it for you. Plus, honestly I have to get it out of the garage before Morgan takes it sledding."

The thought of Morgan sledding on Steve's shield made you laugh; Steve fit his arm into the shield.

"Thank you, Tony."

"Will you keep that a little quiet? Didn't bring one for the whole team." Tony asked him, before hesitating, "We are... getting the whole team, yeah?"

Steve looked at you uneasily, and you nodded at Tony unconvincingly. He sighed.

"We're working on it!" you said defensively, smiling.

"Alright. Good. Where's Lang, is he okay?"

...

Early the next day you were on a private jet with Rocket and Bruce on your way to Norway. Rocket and Nebula had arrived hours previously on the Benatar (you couldn't believe you'd only just learned the name of the ship you'd nearly died on five years ago), along with Rhodey.

Seeing the ship after so long was weird; you hadn't expected to feel such a strong hatred towards it. Tony had taken one look at it and walked back inside.

"Y/N, chips?" Bruce was asking you, bringing you back into the present moment.

"Oh, no, thanks." you said, looking over to Rocket who was eating food like... well, a raccoon.

"Quit staring would ya! I'm missed Earth food, this stuff rocks." he informed you through a mouthful of food. You shook your head, turning away.

"Sorry."

Bruce was watching you as you turned back to look out of your window.

"Hey, you alright?" he asked you. You had no idea of you were alright or not.

"Yeah." you smiled. Bruce just looked at you.

"No. I don't know. This has all happened so quickly. I don't know whether to get my hopes up or not, but it seems like this is really happening..." you told him, realising as you did that you were actually a lot more stressed out than you'd realised.

"I think that we have a good chance of this working out." Bruce told you seriously.

"And what if it does?" you asked. You'd spent all last night thinking about it. It had been five years. You'd known Morgan for longer than you'd known Loki. The thought made you massively uneasy. What if you'd changed so much that Loki took one look at you and..? You didn't know what.

But what if, what if, what if...?

"What are you worried about?" Bruce asked you.

"It's been five years." you said, voicing your fears aloud for the first time.

"And?" Bruce shrugged.

"And... I've changed. I don't know, have I? What if I have, too much?" you rambled, fully aware that you weren't making any sense. Bruce seemed to understand though.

"Y/N, you don't need to worry. I lived with you and Loki for a year and I've never seen two people more in love, not even Tony and Pepper." he told you firmly.

"But he loved me five years ago. That's not me now." you stressed, looking at Bruce desperately.

"If it was the other way around, would you still love him if he was five years older?"

You laughed.

"That's hardly the same. He's like a thousand years old." you said dismissively.

"Aren't... you like a thousand years old?" he asked in confusion. You frowned, looking down.

"Well, yes. Technically... in Asgardian years-"

"Look, point is, stop worrying. He was always besotted with you, and he will be when we get everyone back. I promise." Bruce said firmly, cutting you off. You closed your eyes and shook your head, but with a small smile on your face. There was no point worrying about it yet.

"Does Thor know we're paying him a visit today?" Rocket asked jumping over on to the table separating you and Bruce and looking out of the window, pressing his paws and nose flat against the glass.

"I've tried calling him three times, but he hardly ever answers his phone. He calls it 'the metal box' and talks into the camera." you sighed.

"Let's hope he's not off on any kingly business then." Bruce said worriedly. You smiled sadly.

"I highly doubt that he will be."

A few hours later you were all sitting in the back of a pickup truck heading down towards New Asgard. It was a bit of a downgrade from the private jet, but it was quite nice being out in the cool, fresh air on the open road after hours on the plane. The air smelt different over here; fresh and clean compared to the less than clean air in the city.

Soon you reached New Asgard, and the truck stopped near the port on the edge of the small town the Asgardians had created. You clambered out of the back and paid the driver, turning to Bruce and Rocket who were taking in their surroundings.

"Kind of a step down from a golden palace and magic hammers and whatnot." Rocket said derisively.

"Hey, lay off alright? These people were lucky to escape with their lives." you told him sternly.

"All right, jeez, sorry." he muttered, looking at the fishing boats in the tiny port.

"Y/N! What are you doing here?" Valkyrie's voice carried across the port to you, and you looked up to see her striding towards you, looking suspiciously at Rocket, and then catching sight of Bruce.

"Hey, Val." you smiled.

"Odin's beard, what happened to you?" Val asked Bruce blatantly, referring to his new appearance.

"Good to see you too, Angry Girl. Eighteen months in a gamma lab is what happened to me, what do you think?" he asked, spinning around and holding his arms out.

"I think I liked you better either of the other ways." Val said, moving to stand next to you.

"This is Rocket." Bruce said, choosing to ignore her comment.

"How you doin'?" Rocket asked. Val nodded at him before turning to you.

"Listen, things haven't been good." she said grimly.

"What? Why didn't you phone me?" you asked in concern.

"Sif wanted to, but I said we should hold off in case... anyway, he's not getting better. And besides, I lost that skinny tube you gave me to give the metal box power, so I couldn't have phoned you even if I'd wanted to." Val told you.

"Okay, never mind. Can we see him? It's really important." you told her.

"He's not letting anyone in, but he'll want to see you. It might do him some good." she told you, before turning and leading you up the path behind her.

"Right, listen, Thor hasn't been doing so well. He... he's not like he used to be, so just... don't be rude." you told Bruce and Rocket under your breath as you approached Thor's home, mainly aiming the last part at Rocket.

"What does that mean, 'he's not like he used to be'?" Rocket asked, darting in front of your legs and looking up at you.

"Just be nice, okay?" you asked. Val turned around and gestured at the door.

"Good luck." she told you. You stepped up to the door and knocked, before pushing it open ever so slightly.

"Thor?" you called.

"Are you here about the cable?" Thor called back from another room, his voice slurring. The place smelt of beer. You closed your eyes briefly and took a deep breath before continuing up the hallway.

"The Cinemax ran out about two weeks ago, and the sports were all kinda fuzzy." he said, walking into the doorway while looking over his shoulder with a beer in his hand. You felt Bruce and Rocket's shock as they saw him. He'd put on a few pounds (or... maybe stone), even since you'd last seen him a few months ago.

"Thor." you repeated, and he turned to look at you. His face lit up when he saw you, and you couldn't help but smile.

"Y/N!" he beamed, moving forwards to hug you tightly. You couldn't reply, what with your ribcage being crushed.

"Banner, and Rocket! Oh, it's so good to see you both!" Thor cried as he spotted them behind you, moving past you to bestow hugs on them both as well, which Rocket less than appreciated. You moved through into the living room to find Korg and Miek playing a video game on a huge TV surrounded by empty beer cans and takeaway boxes.

"Hey, Y/N!" Korg said happily, looking at you for a fraction of a second before his eyes returned to the TV screen.

"Hi Korg." you said, before Thor arrived behind you with Bruce and Rocket in tow.

"You know my friends, Miek, Korg, right?" Thor asked cheerfully, gesturing to them.

"Hey boys." Korg said, this time not even tearing his eyes from the screen.

"Long time no see." Bruce said, looking around in distaste.

"You guys want a drink? What are you drinking, we have beer, tequila, all sorts of things." Thor asked the three of you.

"Thor, I think maybe-"

"Thor, he's back. That kid on the TV just called me a dickhead again." Korg announced suddenly.

"Noobmaster." Thor growled, before marching over to Korg. You turned to Bruce and Rocket, who looked at you in horror as Thor started reprimanding a kid over Korg's headset.

"I didn't know he'd got this bad." you told them in concern.

"If anyone can sort him out, it's you." Bruce told you.

"Let's get him back home first." you said quietly, turning back to the carnage behind you.

"Let me know if he bothers you again, okay?" Thor was saying to Korg, before summoning Stormbreaker from across the room to crack open a bottle of beer. You moved forward to take it off of him before he could drink and pushed him gently down on to the sofa.

"Buddy, you all right?" Bruce asked Thor.

"Yes, I'm fine! Why, don't I look all right?" Thor asked indignantly, looking to you for backup.

"You look like melted ice cream." Rocket said bluntly.

"Rocket." you hissed; thankfully Thor didn't seem to have heard.

"Thor, listen. We need your help. There might be a chance we could fix everything." Bruce told him, moving towards him slightly.

"What, like the cable?" Thor asked, belching, "'Cause that's been driving me nuts for weeks."

"Like Thanos." Bruce said. Thor's expression changed from amicable to downright hostile in seconds.

He stood up, putting one hand on Bruce's shoulder and pointing at him with the other.

"Don't say that name." he said, sounding almost threatening.

"Um, yeah, we don't actually say that name in here." Korg said, removing his headset and standing up too.

"Please take your hand off me." Bruce said quietly, gently removing Thor's hand from his shoulder. Thor looked at you over Bruce's shoulder, looking so confused and afraid that it made your heart ache. You just wanted him to be okay.

"Now, I know that guy might scare you..."

"Why would I be? Why would- why would I be scared of that guy? I'm the one who killed that guy, remember? Anyone else here killed that guy? Nope. Didn't think so. Y/N, you were there, and you Banner. You know who killed that guy." Thor said loudly, walking away from Bruce over to a window.

You watched him go sadly, thinking, ignoring Bruce who was looking at you desperately for help.

"I get it, you're in a rough spot, okay? I've been there myself. You wanna know who helped me out of it?" Bruce asked Thor, moving towards him.

"I don't know. Is it... Natasha?" Thor guessed sulkily.

"It was you. You helped me."

"And you helped me." you added quietly.

"Why don't you ask the Asgardians down there how much my help was worth. The ones that are left, anyway." Thor replied, gesturing out of the window and then walking back over to the sofa and collapsing upon it heavily.

"I think we can bring them back." Bruce told him.

"Stop! Stop, okay? I know you think I'm down here wallowing in my own self-pity, waiting to be rescued and saved. But I'm fine, okay? We're fine, aren't we?" he told Bruce sharply, looking over to Korg.

"Nah, all good here mate." Korg supplied unhelpfully.

"We need you pal." Bruce said gently; Thor just shook his head, looking at his feet. You moved across the room to sit down next to him carefully.

"Remember how I can read minds?" you asked him. He didn't reply.

"I don't need to read yours. I know you miss Asgard, and your parents. And Loki." you told him, clenching your jaw as he turned away, a look of pain on his face.

"Thor, we can get him back. We have a chance; we have to take it." you said desperately.

"I can't." he replied weakly, still avoiding your gaze.

"Hey, you said it yourself, you killed Thanos. No one else could do that, not Tony, not Cap. You." you told him sternly.

"I did do that." he conceded, half a smile creeping on to his face.

"Look at me." you said gently, and he finally turned to face you.

"If we're going to do this, we need you."

Thor looked at you long and hard, before giving a tiny nod. Bruce heaved a sigh of relief from behind you, and you smiled at Thor happily before standing up decisively.

"Come on then. And leave the beer."