The last five years had not been kind to Thor, nor had he been kind to himself.

I saw the extent of the damage when I arrived back on the ship with Rocket and Bruce. Hair grown out, into dreadlocks. Beard grown out wild and stained with crumbs of food. Even his clothes suggested he didn't care about his appearance anymore. Even Stormbreaker did not look like it was maintained—that was perhaps one of the biggest blows of all.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what was behind Thor's drastic changes. Thanos had truly done his number on us all. Even after his execution at Thor's hand, he still inflicted wounds.

On the ride back to New York, I checked in with Pepper, told her that it was going to be some time before I would come for Gracie. She said she would figure out the best way to tell my daughter and that she would be in good hands. I trusted Pepper on that.

Bringing the core group of Avengers back together had been a success. Natasha had tracked down Clint, someplace in Tokyo she had told me. In the years since I had last seen Barton, he seemed to take on a new look. There was a different air about him, too.

Those we recruited we more or less caught them up on what was going on. Those working on how we would travel through the Quantum Realm got to work, from the transportation method down to what outfits would withstand the travel.

Those who had no hands on either of the projects either watched or went and did their own thing. I used the time to call Pepper and actually talk to Gracie. I'd pulled Steve aside as well.

"You're being good for Pepper, right?" I asked my daughter.

"Yeah," came her small voice. "Pepper says I'm staying with her for a few days."

"You are," Steve agreed. "Mommy and Daddy have some work to take care of. We're sorry we can't come get you sooner, kiddo. We'll make sure to check in like this."

"Okay. I like Pepper, Mommy. I made a friend, too!"

"With Morgan?" I asked.

"Yeah. She's really fun."

"That's good to hear." I grabbed Steve's hand when I saw tears brimming in his eyes. "Well, Gracie, Mommy and Daddy have to go. We'll talk to you soon, okay?"

"Okay."

"We love you, Gracie," said Steve.

"I love you, too."

I exhaled, not realizing I had been holding in my breath during the brief talk with Grace. Steve nearly broke down in front of me. I tucked my phone away, pulling him to me.

"We're doing this to make the world better for her," I reminded him. "She is what we're fighting for, among all the others we lost."

"Right. I just...I never imagined..."

"Getting right back to work? I know."

"Hey, lovebirds," greeted Todd.

Steve and I jumped apart as though we had been caught.

"Crap, what's happened?"

"Nothing," I said quickly. "What's happened?"

"Scott's Quantum Suit works. Clint was able to go back in time and come back in one piece, without any damage. We've got time travel, you guys."

Steve and I looked to each other.

"Team meeting. Since we know the 'how', we need to figure where and when to get the Stones in said times. Come on."

Everyone had gathered in a room: the core group of Avengers, Rhodey, Rocket, Nebula, Todd, and Scott. Holograms displayed each Infinity Stone. Steve, Tony, and Bruce seemed to take lead on this debrief, the rest of us got comfy on couches or standing nearby.

"Okay, so the 'how' works," said Steve. "Now we gotta figure out the when and the where. Almost all of us has had an encounter with at least one of the six Infinity Stones."

"Well I'd substitute the word 'encounter' for 'damn well near been killed by' one of the six Infinity Stones," Tony quipped.

"I haven't," said Scott, "I don't even know what the hell you're all talking about."

"Well, you're gonna learn today," said Todd.

"Regardless," said Bruce, "we only have enough Pym Particles for one round trip each, and these stones have been in a lot of different places throughout history."

"Our history," Tony added. "So, not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in."

"Which means we have to pick our targets," said Clint.

"Correct."

"I need to correct myself about the Pym Particles," said Bruce. "Most of us will be able to do one round trip each. Some of us won't be able to join the pack."

"Meaning some will need to hold down the fort," said Todd. "I'll stay."

"I will, too," I volunteered. "Can't let you run the whole place by yourself. The thought is scary."

"Good, Todd and Kiara will hang out here while the rest of us travel through time," said Tony. "Can we refocus, you know, with the Stones?"

"Let's start with the Aether," said Steve. "Thor, what do you know?"

All eyes went towards the back of the room. Thor sat in a chair, sunglasses over his eyes, and a...hand down his pants. I frowned at his appearance.

"Is he asleep?" asked Nat.

"No, I'm pretty sure he's dead," said Rhodey.

"Allow me." I rose from my spot, walking around back to Thor. I gave a mild pull on his beard, to which he stirred and nearly hit me in retaliation. "Hey, sunshine. Welcome back to reality. We need some info on the Reality Stone. You've seen it, been around it. Share with the class."

"Why did you need to pull on my beard?"

"Well, hey, there are a lot of ways I could've done it. I could've settled for lighting a fire under your ass, since if I lit your beard on fire, you might not have noticed. Come on, up you go."

Thor was a little slow to get moving on his information about the Aether. Despite looking sleepy, it didn't deter him from giving me a rude stare.

"Where to start?" he mumbled. "Umm...The Aether, first, is not a stone, someone called it a stone before. It's more of a...an angry sludge thing, so...someone's gonna need to amend that. Here's an interesting story though, many years ago...My grandfather had to hide the stones from the Dark Elves." He waggled his fingers, almost as if imitating a ghost. "Wooooh, scary beings. So Jane," an image of Thor's former love appeared on one of the displays, "oh, there she is. That's Jane...she's...an old flame of mine...she....she stuck her hand inside a rock this one time...and then the Aether stuck itself inside her...and she became very sick. So I had to take her to Asgard, which is where I'm from."

"As am I," I blurted before I could stop myself.

"And we had to try and fix her—Jane, not Kiara. Kiara isn't even part of this story. We were dating at the time, you see—again, Jane and I, not Kiara. I got to introduce her to my mother...who's dead."

An uncomfortable silence fell over the room. This hadn't intended to become a therapy session.

"And, oh, you know, Jane and I aren't even dating anymore. These things happen, you know. Nothing lasts forever." Tony started to push Thor gently towards his seat, but Thor wasn't leaving so easily. "I'm not done yet. The only thing permanent in life is impermanence."

"Awesome," said Tony. "Eggs? Breakfast?"

"I'd like a Bloody Mary, thank you."

"He's really lost it," Todd whispered to me.

"He's gone through a lot," I reminded him carefully. "Thor has handled his emotions...well, you see it."

After some time, we all gathered around a table for a meal. Infinity Stone talk continued.

"Quill said he stole the Power Stone from Morag," said Rocket.

"Is that a person?" asked Scott.

"Morag's a planet. Quill was a person."

"A planet? Like in outer space?"

"Oh, look. It's like a little puppy, all happy and everything. Do you want to go to space? You wanna go to space, puppy? I'll get you to space."

"You know," Todd side-barred to me, "out of every meal conversation I've ever had with anybody, I think this is my favorite."

I rolled my eyes. "Seriously? Given what we need to do still?"

After our respective meals were over, we were back to the planning room. Back to more Infinity Stone conversation.

"Thanos found the Soul Stone on Vormir," said Nebula. She hadn't contributed much to this discussion until now. She was very quiet, very apprehensive, guarded about all of us.

"What is Vormir?" asked Nat, scribbling notes on a pad on her lap.

"A dominion of death, at the very center of Celestial existence. It's where...Thanos murdered my sister."

No matter what, this Infinity Stones conversation seemed to bring about uncomfortable silences.

"Not it," said Scott. The poor attempt at a joke did not help.

After some time, most of our brains were fried. Those who wanted to continue to brainstorm about the other Stones were more than welcome to do so. I was not one of the said brains to keep thinking about our targets. My brain was mush at this point.

I retired to my old room, Steve had eventually found me.

"All this talk make your head hurt, too?" I asked jokingly.

"Not as bad as you might think," he admitted. "Are you sure you want to stay behind for this?"

"If there's not enough Pym Particles, there's not enough." I shrugged. "Besides, I'm always happy to spend time with Todd. We'll have each other to talk to while you guys are retrieving the Stones. What, did you want to trade places?"

"No, no. And I doubt anyone would want to switch regardless. It was just a thought." Steve joined me on the side of the bed.

"I hope once we set things right we never have to speak about any of this for a long time."

"Well, when Gracie is old enough, it'll be a hell of a story to tell her."

"She's got a long time for that, Steve. Until she shows interest in superheroes, I'm keeping this quiet."

"Agreed."

"Oh, good, you're not making babies in here," came Natasha's quip. She peeked her head into our bedroom. "Good news, we just solved the rest of the wheres and whens for the Stones."

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Bruce, Tony, and I put our heads together. They're gathering the others so we can get the full picture and assign teams. Come on."

**Some part of me really digs this chapter title.**