When Marlena arrived at the Tower, it was bustling with workers from Stark Industries. She assumed them to be preparing the building at Pepper's request. She learned from Steve that Pepper bought back the Tower in Tony's honor for the sake of protecting and taking care of the team and the universe he sacrificed everything for. It was a beautiful tribute, as the team had left so much history and so many memories inside the tower. Marlena had her fair share as well, but in that moment, those memories, and that history, was the last thing on Marlena's mind. She was much more concerned with finding Alena.

Marlena quickly greeted the workers running around and headed downstairs. Bruce wasn't there, but Marlena was okay with that. She wanted to talk to Alena alone, and that was exactly what she planned on doing.

"Hello, Marlena," Alena greeted the brunette from inside her cell.

Marlena stopped in front of Alena's cell door and stared in at her; she was laying on her cot staring up at the ceiling. "I brought you some food," she told her.

"From where?" Alena looked over at Marlena. "Please tell me it isn't McDonald's. Their food is absolutely atrocious."

With the press of a button, Alena's cell door was opening and Marlena was stepping inside. Marlena held out the bag of food to Alena, a soft smile on her face. "It isn't McDonald's, but it's the next best thing."

"Superiority Burger?" Alena took the bag from her hands and inspected it. She wasn't a New Yorker, so she wasn't too sure what she was about to put in her mouth. Marlena could've been poisoning her for all she knew. "What's that?"

"It's a vegetarian restaurant on 9th street," Marlena answered and sat down in the desk chair. "I figured you could use a decent meal."

"Thank you."

Alena sat up and began pulling the food out of the bag. Marlena watched her, unsure of how to begin the conversation. She had a few things she wanted to talk about with Alena, but the one thing she couldn't seem to shake from her mind was Charlie and how exactly she was supposed to help her. She was so powerful, much too powerful to be just nine years old. Marlena knew Charlie was struggling tremendously, and she hated it so much.

"What did you do to help Charlie?" Marlena asked Alena after several seconds of silence.

"What do you mean?"

"When she started growing in strength with her abilities," Marlena answered. "How did you help her?"

"Very delicately," Alena started. She took a bite of the sandwich Marlena had gotten for her. "Until we truly understand how to control our powers, our emotions are enormous triggers, and they were especially so while she and Jay were with me. She would get upset sometimes and hurt a few of my men, so I had to take things down a notch. I praised her for everything she did right and tried to maintain positive energy when she did something wrong, otherwise I would've spent my nights scraping middle-aged men off the wall."

Marlena frowned at the sound of her words. She wished so badly to have been there for Charlie—for both of her children—over the last five years. It was the sole reason Marlena found it difficult to speak with Alena. Marlena was giving her a second chance as she promised, but it did not come without its downfalls.

"What happened that you're asking me this?"

Marlena looked from the floor to look at Alena, her hazel eyes meeting those of her sister's. "I saw Natasha this morning, and I know I'm still a mess over losing her, but I know I didn't do it."

"She doesn't even know she's doing it, does she?"

Marlena only shook her head.

Alena put her food down and scooted forward on the cot. "I hate to tell you this, sort of, but it's only gonna get worse."

"Why do you say that?"

"You, Wanda, and I—our latent abilities were amplified by our exposure to the energy within the Mind and Reality stones," Alena started, her words shocking Marlena. "We were never aware of our abilities until our experimentation, whereas Charlie has always been aware."

"Whoa, wait a second..." Marlena spoke before Alena could say anything else. "What do you mean our 'latent' abilities? We got our powers from the stones, and that's that. Charlie is the only one here that was born with her abilities."

"That's what you think," Alena responded, a chuckle escaping her. "Hydra experimented on a lot of people using the Mind Stone and the Reality Stone. That experimentation killed every last subject apart from you, me, Kellan, Wanda, and Pietro—all of us part of the same bloodline. I've never believed that was a coincidence, Marlena."

"Are you saying we've always had our powers?"

"In a sense," Alena replied. "We were so shielded from such a world, however—a world in which people like us were people you only saw in movies or read about in stories. I know enough about the Infinity Stones to know only beings of incredible power are capable of wielding their energy. You were experimented on with the energy derived from not just one, but two Infinity Stones. It should've killed you, but it didn't. We've always held the capacity for power, Marlena, but we were never aware of it. The difference with Charlie is that she's always been aware. She'll likely be her strongest come her teenage years, when she's her most vulnerable emotionally, and when she gets to that point, the three of us combined wouldn't be able to apprehend her."

"Well, that isn't very comforting," Marlena chuckled dryly and sat back in her seat. She wasn't quite sure she was looking forward to that day. Charlie was already enough of a troublemaker; Marlena didn't want to know just how terrible she'd be were she to reach her full potential.

"Your nine-year-old daughter can conjure up realistic illusions of your dead best friend she was never around to see and you thought dealing with it was going to be easy?" Alena laughed quietly and stood up, leaving Marlena on defense mode. She knew Alena wouldn't hurt her, but being too careful never hurt anyone. "To be honest with you, I think Charlie will be the cause of our collective demise."

"Why?"

Alena stopped in front of Marlena and grinned. "It's only inevitable for someone with such a power to break," she began to pace around the room. "I have, you have—Wanda is likely about to. I'm sure the aftermath wasn't very pretty, nor will the others be."

"I can't let that happen to her." Marlena shook her head quickly. "The last thing I want for her is a life like that."

"Then change it."

"But how?"

"Keep her from her abilities the way Tony and Bruce kept you from yours," she replied nonchalantly. "I mean, you turned out fine, I guess."

Marlena shook her head and stood up, forcing Alena to take a couple steps back. "I can't strip her of her identity like that and I definitely can't keep her on suppressors. There's no way in hell I could do that to her. Bucky would lose his shit if I even breathed the idea in his direction."

"Sometimes a certain sacrifice needs to be made in order to protect yourself, those around you, and even Charlie herself," Alena explained, her eyes meeting her sister's for the briefest of seconds. She sighed and walked back over to the bed. She pulled her sandwich off the small mattress and took a bite, not bothering to worry about her mouth being full as she spoke. "I'm not saying give her suppressors or anything like that, because they suck, but limiting the use of her powers as she grows while also teaching her proper control could benefit you and everyone else in the end."

"I just don't know what to do."

"I'm pretty sure I just told you."

Marlena rolled her eyes at Alena and sat back down, bringing the palms of her hands to rest on the side of her face. She was so tired, not only physically but emotionally as well. She was doing whatever she could to take care of her twins while also trying to take care of herself and everyone else, but it was exhausting work. Charlie was slowly spiraling out of control, Bucky was an emotional mess over Marlena's situation with Steve, and the remainder of her family was still trying to adjust to their return back home. There was so much going on, and Marlena wasn't sure how long it would last. All she wanted for her family was peace and stability, but the process of getting to that point seemed to be a long one.

"I guess I don't have a choice, do I?"

"Everyone has a choice," Alena said to Marlena. The two of them being civil with one another was strange to both the women, but Alena couldn't deny just how tired she was living a life of envy and hate, while Marlena longed for peace and a family. "You just have to decide which one you're going to make."

Marlena nodded and stood up, swiping her hands over her jeans. She was ready to get a start on her day; she hoped spending the day out with her family would help ease her mind, but at this point she wasn't sure even that could help. It was worth a try to find out, however.

"Are you about to leave?" Alena inquired, her tone subtly indicating that was the last thing she wanted. It was lonely inside the tower, and Marlena seemed to be the only one in New York willing to spend a single second with her, aside from their father, of course. Hell, she would've killed for the company of even Kellan, despite how irritating he could be, but she hadn't seen him in days.

"Well, everyone's expecting me back home soon so we can go out. I have to go get the twins from Bucky and then head back to Brooklyn," Marlena answered, shoving her hands into the pockets of her jeans. "I told them I wanted to come talk to you first."

Alena frowned and looked down at the remnants of the meal Marlena brought her. She wished she'd stay, though she wouldn't voice that out loud. "Well, I hope you guys have fun," she replied quietly.

Marlena pursed her lips and started towards Alena's cell door. She was lonely, that much Marlena could tell, but there wasn't much she could do about it. She wished she trusted Alena enough to let her out—to let her be around her family—but she didn't, and she wasn't sure how long it'd be until she could.

"I want you to know that this—coming here to see you and talk to you—is going to be a priority of mine," Marlena began to explain. If she could provide Alena with any kind of reassurance, she would. "Regardless of everything, you're still my sister, and I wanna give you the chance to realize that I'm yours."

"And is that when you'll finally let me out of this unnecessarily luxurious holding cell?" Alena asked.

"Who knows?" Marlena shrugged and inched closer to the door. "I would love to let you out now, but I just need to know I can trust you, and we haven't gotten there yet. I'm still trying to get over the fact you tried to have me killed."

Alena furrowed her brows at the sound of Marlena's words. She seemed genuinely confused. "What do you mean? Killing you was never an option for me."

"Kellan tried to kill me the night I got out of Russia," Marlena explained, her brow raised. "You're trying to tell me you didn't know anything about that?"

"No," Alena responded with a firm tone. She was becoming angry knowing that Kellan had completely disregarded her wishes to keep Marlena safe. "I know I did some very questionable things to you, but I never would've harmed you, Marlena. Not like that. If you don't believe, look inside my head. That was all Kellan. I had nothing to do with it."

Marlena watched her carefully. She almost took Alena up on her offer to search her mind for the truth, but she could see it written all over her face, as well as hear it in her voice. Alena was telling the truth, and the fact of the matter only made Marlena dislike Kellan even more than she originally did.

"Well, that's good to know." Marlena let out a sigh, meeting Alena's eyes briefly. "I'll try to come by again soon, but there's a lot going on right now."

"I understand, Marlena."

"Until then, I'll make sure you're properly fed and taken care of," Marlena told her.

"Much appreciated."

"I'll be seeing you, Alena."

"Goodbye, Marlena."

Marlena hurried out of the cell and locked it before finally heading out of the building. She wanted to get to Sam's as quickly as possible so she could speak to Bucky before going home to get ready. He needed to know what was going on with their daughter, and together the two of them had to make a choice. Marlena would not allow Charlie to live without her abilities or force her to take suppressors, but she needed to do something. She feared Charlie's abilities would consume her as she grew older, and that was the last thing she wanted to happen. Charlie hadn't asked for such a life, and Marlena was going to do whatever she could to protect all of her children from it.

The moment Marlena stepped outside the Avengers Tower, a large hand wrapped itself around the base of her throat and shoved her against the concrete wall. Marlena gasped in surprise and focused her eyes on the face in front of her, not at all expecting to see it.

"Where is she?" Kellan snapped at Marlena, his grip only tightening around her neck.

Marlena reached up to grab his hand, momentarily forgetting she had her abilities to defend herself. She couldn't breathe or think properly, but Kellan didn't seem to care. All he wanted to know was where Alena was. He wanted to take her back home with him, but Kellan had a plan if that failed, and she was standing in front of him almost gasping for breath.

"Cat got your tongue?" His grip only got tighter. "Tell me where she is, Marlena."

Marlena tried to speak, but before anything could come out, Kellan was flying towards the opposite wall, releasing his hold on Marlena. The brunette coughed loudly and collapsed to the ground, though it wasn't long before she was being pulled up by a familiar pair of arms.

"Hey, hey, hey," Bucky's voice could be heard, and Marlena turned her head to look at him, her hazel eyes meeting his blue ones. "You're okay."

Marlena looked to where Kellan laid on the ground, back to Bucky, and then down at the two young children standing at Bucky's side. Charlie was staring at Kellan with angry blue eyes and a balled fist, and she knew then who'd been responsible for discarding him.

"I just—he—" Marlena looked back at Bucky, who was looking at her with worried eyes; she hadn't been expecting any of them to show up, but she was glad they had.

"It's okay." Bucky steadied Marlena on her feet before releasing her.

"Don't worry, Mom," Charlie said as she finally turned away from Kellan. "He won't hurt you anymore."

"Thank you, baby," Marlena breathed out.

Charlie only smiled and Marlena looked to Bucky again. "What are you doing here? I thought—"

"The twins talked me into going shopping with you guys." Bucky sighed and glanced down at his children, "They can be really persistent when they want to be."

"Tell me about it."

"They also said you and Steve would pay for me to get my hair cut, and I figured why the hell not," he chuckled, glancing over to make sure Kellan was still on the ground.

"Why would you wanna cut your hair?" Marlena asked him with a frown on her face. She'd always loved his hair, and she knew she wasn't the only one.

Bucky shrugged and started towards Kellan when he noticed him stirring awake. "Something different, I guess." He grabbed Kellan off the ground and dragged him over to Marlena and the twins; it was a wonder no one was paying attention. "But it looks like that might not happen today."

Marlena looked down at Kellan and sighed. No matter how hard she tried to find the smallest piece of normalcy in life, something always came up, and it was nothing short of aggravating.

"One day," Marlena groaned. "One day with my family is all I want. Is that too much to ask for?"

"I'm literally dragging the answer to that question inside," Bucky answered from his spot at the Tower entrance. "Now, are you gonna come with me or stand out here and wait for someone else to come choke you out?"

Marlena only rolled her eyes and grabbed the twins' hands before heading inside with them and Bucky. It looked as if she wouldn't be getting what she wanted for the day, and that annoyed her more than she cared to admit.