ØØØØ

AMBER AWOKE TO a little girl jumping on the bed and giggling loudly as Tony and Pepper stood by the door. She sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes and yawning, soon realizing she wasn't in the room she was supposed to be in, in fact, she was in Morgans.

"Oh god" Amber mumbled, "I'm so sorry. I must've fallen asleep while reading to Morgan last night". The girl got up quickly, making Pepper and Tony chuckle.

"We know. We came in here last night to check on Morgan and saw you two fast asleep. You looked too peaceful for us to wake you" Tony begun.

"I guess I was exhausted." Amber concluded, "Sleep isn't really my best friend."

"I just want to thank you for watching Morgan last night while we went out... it's been a while since Tony and I could actually go out" Pepper smiled, "Now go change, I have coffee and breakfast waiting in the kitchen."

Amber grinned slightly and slid passed the married couple and walked towards her temporary bedroom. The girl opened her small suitcase and pulled out a pair of black jeans and a white casual crop top. Amber ran her hands through her hair and quickly braided it before strolling towards the kitchen.

Morgan sat on her chair, eating cereal while Pepper and Tony were on the couch just huddled together. Amber smiled softly at the trio. They were her family, even though they weren't blood-related. The girl ruffled Morgan's hair and walked towards the coffee jug to pour herself a cup.

Amber leaned against the counter as she sipped on her coffee. She hummed softly as she took a bite out of a slice of toast, Pepper had made for her. "Amber! Let's go play" Morgan exclaimed, running towards the older girl and tugging on her arm.

"Ok peanut! Let's go" Amber replied, placing down her empty cup, letting herself be dragged away by the four year old. The two ran outside onto the grass where Morgan dragged her into the small hideaway tent.

Amber looked around the small tent and spotted a blue and gold helmet just sitting in the corner. "Uh.. Morgan?" Amber spoke up, "Is that your dads helmet?".

Morgan looked up at the older girl with innocent eyes, "I found it in the garage" The girl said slowly.

Amber chuckled and shook her head, "You probably shouldn't be messing around with it, peanut, it's not a toy" she tried to explain.

"Pwease don't tell dad" Morgan begged, her lips pouting and her hands clasped together.

"I'm no snitch" Amber winked, high-fiving the smaller girl. The two sat there for hours, just playing whatever Morgan's heart desired.

"MORGAN, AMBER, LUNCH!" Tony called out from the cabin, Amber glanced at Morgan before picking her up and swinging her around making airplane noises as the girl giggled.

"Pilot Peanut, coming in for landing." Amber announced in a deep tone, as she carried Morgan on her hip. The younger girl ran her hands through the older girl's hair as they walked towards the house.

Amber stopped abruptly upon seeing another car parked in the driveway. She gulped upon seeing Natasha and Steve looking towards her and Morgan. Amber let her eyes drift behind the two to see, Scott? Wasn't he supposed to be dead? The girl shook her head, ridding her thoughts as she pulled Morgan closer to her and approached the three.

"Amber? What are you doing here?!" Steve questioned, looking towards the two girls.

"I could ask you the same question" Amber replied stiffly, placing Morgan on the ground and crouching in front of her, "Morgan, will you please go get your dad for me?". The little girl nodded and ran off towards the cabin, Amber stood up straight and crossed her arms as all eyes were on her.

"Why are you here Steve?" The girl asked tiredly, as she mentally rolled her eyes.

"We could ask you the same Amber..." Natasha responded gravely, repeating the girls earlier remark.

Amber scoffed loudly, "When did you start to care?" She asked harshly, she relaxed slight at feeling a hand being placed on her shoulder reassuringly. Tony stood beside her his face straight but Amber could sense his shock.

Natasha's eyes never left Amber as the older girl looked up at Tony who was biting the inside of his cheek in anxiousness. The girl looked down, just tired of always being thrown into the middle.

ØØØØ

"Now, we know what it sounds like..." Scott finished, he had just explained the entire plan to the two former Avengers. Amber sat on top of the deck railing, her arms crossed and her lips pursed in thought.

"Tony, after everything you've seen, is anything really impossible?" Steve begun,

"Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck scale, which then triggers the Deutsch proposition. Can we agree on that?" Tony spoke up, rubbing his temples as Scott, Steve and Nat all look puzzled. Science is barely any of their field.

"Lost in time wouldn't necessarily be the best outcome" Amber reasoned out loud, she'd learned a lot from Tony over the past few years, his science lingo was like a second language to her. The three others looked towards her in mild surprise but the girl avoided their gaze as she tried to think of anyway in which this plan could actually succeed.

"In Layman's terms, it means you're not coming home." Tony continued monotonously, looking up at the three.

"I did." Scott interjected, a grimace lacing across his face.

"No, you accidentally survived." Tony butted in, "It's a billion to one cosmic fluke. And now you wanna pull off a... What do you call it?"

Scott grinned as if trying to hide his pride, "A time heist?" he said,

"Yeah, a time heist. Of course, why didn't we think of this before?" Tony mocked, "Oh, because it's laughable? Because it's a pipe dream?''

"The stones are in the past. We can go back and get them." Scott tried to explain,

"We can snap our own fingers." Natasha helped, " We can bring everyone back."

"Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?" Tony snapped,

"I don't believe we would." Steve spoke up calmly, folding his arms.

"Gotta say, sometimes I miss that giddy optimism. However, high hopes won't help if there's no logical, tangible way for me to safely execute said time heist. I believe the most likely outcome would be our collective demise." Tony sighed.

"Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel. That means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events -" Scott rambled, taking a seat on the other deck chair.

"I'm gonna stop you right there, Scott." Tony interuppted, "Are you seriously telling me that your plan to save the universe is based on Back To The Future?".

Scott shook his head as if he were embarrassed, "No..." he lied, making Amber chuckle to herself.

"Good. You had me worried there. 'Cause that'd be horse shit. That's not how quantum physics works." Tony continued.

"Tony... We have to take a stand." Natasha said weakly.

"We did stand." Amber spoke, "And yet, here we are. This is our future. It's time you realized that." Natasha and Steve looked at the girl with pitiful eyes, making Amber roll her eyes and turn towards Scott and Tony.

"I know you got a lot on the line." Scott told Tony, "You got a wife, a daughter. But I lost someone very important to me. A lot of people did. And now, now we have a chance to bring her back. Bring everyone back. And you're telling me that won't even..."

"That's right, Scott, I won't." Tony said, "Even. Got a kid. I deserve this Steve. Morgan deserves this, Pepper deserves this and Amber deserves this."

The five were interrupted by tiny footsteps running towards them. Morgan ran towards Amber and Tony, she fist pumped her godmother before jumping onto Tony's lap.

"Mommy told me to come and save you two." Morgan lisped, as Tony hugged her with a small grin.

"Good job munchkin, We're saved". Amber smiled lightly at the younger girl. Tony grinned up at the older girl before turning back to the Avengers.

"I wish you'd come here to ask me something else. Anything else. Honestly, I... I missed you guys, it was... Oh, and table's set for seven." Tony stated, getting up and squeezing Morgan to his chest.

"Tony, I get it. And I'm happy for you, I really am. But this is a second chance." Steve tried to convince the other man.

"I got my second chance right here, Cap. I can't roll the dice again. If you don't talk shop, you can stay for lunch." Tony replied, walking towards the kitchen.

Amber turned to walk after him but a hand on her wrist stopped her. The girl turned to face Natasha whose hand was clutching her wrist. "Can we talk?" The older woman asked softly, as Steve and Scott walked towards the car.

Amber sighed and ran a frustrated hand through her hair. "If we must." She replied, following the woman down to the edge of the lake. The two sat in silence for a few seconds before Natasha cleared her throat and faced the girl.

"You've been distant".

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Eh.

Fun fact: I had a mental breakdown and I went on a 2 hour cycle before publishing this

I love you all <3