2018 ― Upstate New York
"You're home, Tony. You're safe."

Twenty-three days.

It's been twenty-three days since Thanos snapped his fingers and wiped half of the universe from existence. Katherine Rogers' son, Christian, and Natasha's twin sister, Nikita being part of the billions that lost their lives. She had been confined to the Avengers building ever since they got back from Wakanda. Steve had a hard time getting her to talk, eat, or really do anything. The loss of a child was every parent's fear.

Steve also couldn't get his daughter Amaya to really do much that didn't have to do with fighting. Where Katherine was devastated that her son was gone, Amaya was pissed her brother was dead. She wanted to find Thanos and kill him herself. She felt like part of herself died when Christian disappeared, and what made her even angrier is that the one person who understands how she feels, Wanda, is dead too.

Amaya channeled all of her anger into fighting. She was always either taking it out on a punching bag, the wall, or anything she could get her hands on. What also added to Amaya's frustration with that, learning that half of the world disintegrated when Thanos snapped his fingers, she had no idea whether Peter had survived the snap or not, and she was terrified of him being gone.

While Steve was trying to keep his wife and his daughter together, he couldn't even find the time to process his own grief of losing his son. He felt like he had to be strong for Katherine and Amaya, and for the rest of the Avengers in general when on the inside he felt like he was falling apart too.

He walked into his and his wife's bedroom to see Katherine was laying in bed like she has been doing since they returned from Wakanda. Her back was towards the door, and she was laying on the far end of the bed. Steve walked over and got down on his knees in front of her, seeing that her eyes were closed. He moved some of her hair back behind her ear and kissed her forehead. When he attempted to stand up, Katherine grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"Hey... I'm right here." He whispered as she slowly opened her eyes. The sight broke Steve's heart. They were puffy, red, and he could tell she had been crying for the majority of the morning. Katherine grabbed his hand and squeezed it, feeling like the words she wanted to say had been caught in the back of her throat and she couldn't make it out.

She brought his hand up to her side, and Steve heard her sniffle. "Will you please lay with me?" She whispered. Her voice was hoarse and broken from the crying. Steve nodded his head, standing up from the ground without dropping her hand, as Katherine scooted over to allow room for her husband to get in bed next to her. Steve wrapped his arms tightly around his wife, holding her close to him, as he ran his fingers down through her hair and down her back in a repeated motion.

"We're going to get him back, Kath..." Steve whispered to her. Words that seemed like they were impossible to Katherine, and she shook her head.

"How? He's gone... our...-our son is dead. And Nikita, she...-" Katherine trailed off, she couldn't even bear to say it.

"We're going to get them back," Steve whispered again, kissing the top of her head.

"What if we don't?" She asked. She looked up at her husband and she could see the pain in his eyes, she could also see that he was trying to mask it. He was trying to stay strong, and she knew exactly who he was trying to stay strong for. He was trying to do it for her.

"We will." He said.

"Steve... you don't have to hide your pain... not from me." She whispered to him, laying her hand on his cheek. She saw his eyes begin to glisten with tears, before she nodded her head, encouraging him to just let it out. Steve laid his head down on top of Katherine's when he tucked her head onto his chest as his tears began to fall. Katherine could hear his sniffles and she hugged his torso tightly.

"If anyone in our family was going to disappear, it should've been me... not him," Steve said, and Katherine shook her head.

"Steve... It shouldn't have been any of us. Everyone should still be here... half of the planet should still be here. None of this was okay... and we weren't strong enough to stop him." Katherine whispered shaking her head.

"Kath... it's not your fault." He said.

"He disappeared right in my arms, Steve." She said, starting to cry all over again, which only made Steve cry more as he hugged his wife tighter. He didn't want this to break his family apart, but he was scared that it might.

"I know," Steve whispered, she could hear the tears through his voice, knowing that he was crying and that what they needed at that moment was each other. They both hugged each other a little bit tighter, as close as they could, still feeling like they needed to be closer.

"We have to get them back," Katherine whispered. Steve nodded his head, before kissing his wife on her forehead while continuing to rub her back.

"We will."

―

Katherine finally found it in herself to finally get out of her bed. When she walked to her bathroom, she saw her husband lift his head and look in the mirror and she noticed his beard was now shaved. She leaned against the doorway with a slight frown on her face.

"Shaving the beard? I thought it was sexy." Katherine's soft voice spoke out. Steve turned around, smiling at the sight of his wife. She had her hair tied up in her signature bun that she always puts in when she's in the field. He also noticed that she had one of his t-shirts with the front tucked into a pair of shorts she was wearing so that the shorts were actually visible.

"Maybe when all of this is over, I'll let it grow back." He said. Katherine nodded her head before she felt the ground beneath them shaking. Katherine looked up at her husband in concern and he wiped off his face as the two of them rushed outside.

Natasha, Bruce, Rocket, Rhodey, Amaya, and Pepper all rushed outside as well. Katherine looked up to see a large spaceship coming down, but then she noticed the glow underneath the spaceship and a smile almost came onto her face knowing exactly who it was. Katherine watched as her old friend Carol Danvers brought the spaceship safely down to the ground and her glow went out, leaving her blonde hair flowing over her shoulders. The familiar red, blue, and gold uniform turned her way and Carol looked at her with a smile.

Amaya's eyes lit up, she was holding out a spark of hope that Tony and Peter were going to walk off of that ship so that she could know that everything was okay. She figured she could somewhat bear the loss of her brother if she had Peter by her side. She held her breath in anticipation as the ship was brought to the ground.

The doors open and out came walking a blue woman that Katherine has never seen before, followed by her godson, Tony. How skinny and fragile he looked broke Katherine's heart. Knowing that for the last 23 days he's been lost in space. Steve walked to Tony's side to help him off the ship, while Katherine quickly approached him as Tony spoke.

"Couldn't stop him," Tony said to Steve, who shook his head.

"Neither could we," Steve said. Katherine had tears in her eyes as she approached Tony and she wrapped her arms around him, but not too tightly seeing that how small he was, she felt like if she hugged him too tightly she was going to break him. Tony's arms wrapped back around her as Katherine cried more.

"I thought I lost you, Anthony." She whispered to him. Tony only kissed her forehead while keeping his arms around her, before she started crying more.

"I lost the kid," Tony said, shaking his head while he referenced Peter Parker. Watching him disintegrate in his arms was heartbreaking and Tony felt like he should've done more to protect him, but there was nothing more that could've been done.

"We lost, T... We lost Christian." Katherine cried.

"To the snap?" Tony asked, looking over at Steve who silently nodded his head. "I'm so sorry." He whispered to the couple as Amaya walked up to her parents.

"Uncle Tony, you're okay," Amaya said. Her own tears came to her eyes. Tony unwrapped one arm from around Katherine to wrap it around her daughter bringing them into a group hug.

"Hey, kiddo... Yeah, I am." He said back to her, kissing her forehead. Katherine kissed Tony's cheek a couple of times just happy to have him standing in front of her, especially because she had no idea if he had disintegrated when Thanos snapped or if he died. She was just so relieved that he was here.

"Uncle T... where... where's Peter?" Amaya asked, looking back on the ship, hoping that maybe he was about to walk out. Tony looked at her with a frown on his face, as he gently squeezed her before kissing her forehead again.

"Maya... I'm so sorry... I... we...-" Amaya cut him off. Taking herself away from Tony's embrace and backed up from the three adults. She covered her mouth as tears came to her eyes.

"...-No... no. So I lost my brother and my boyfriend...-Oh my god..." Amaya's words were broken up by the fast tears coming down her cheeks. Steve frowned while wrapping his arms around his daughter and hugging her tightly, leading her back inside of the Avengers Tower, while Katherine looked at her godson, laying her hands down on his cheeks.

"I'm so sorry... I failed you, Anthony... and I'm so sorry." Katherine whispered to him. Tony shook his head, before pulling Katherine back in a hug, happy to be home, to be back with her, and to get back to Pepper.

"I'm so sorry you lost Christian... but you didn't fail me, and you never have," Tony whispered back to her. Katherine kissed his cheek a few times, before wrapping her arms back around him and hugging him close, but not too tight, so that she didn't hurt him.

"You're home, Tony. You're safe."

―

Welcome to Endgame, guys!! I'm excited but my heart is already broken because of the scenes I will have to write and how they will affect Katherine.

Don't forget to vote/comment.

xoxo.