Infinite ★ Steve Rogers [6] ✓

Nineteen

-Avengers HQ, New York-

From the minute they landed back home, Ashley took upon herself to keep an eye on Thor and stayed near him just in case. She was worried he would have an outburst or have a moment of regret about leaving New Asgard to come back and save everyone. She wanted to be there for him in a way it seemed no one else had been. At the minute he was sat watching the TV in the kitchen, drinking from a bottle of beer with a pair of headphones on his head that Ashley had given him. She was watching him carefully from the dinner table whilst sipping yet another cup of coffee.

"You don't have to watch him, ya know." Steve said as he took a seat next to her. Steve was shocked to say the least when he saw what Thor was like. He knew he blamed himself for what happened with Thanos, but he never truly knew just how badly he blamed himself. But upon seeing him when they came back, it sunk it just how bad it was. Now Thor missing their wedding made complete sense to him.

"I don't." Ashley said, her eyes staying on Thor. "But I know what he's going through and I don't want him to think he hasn't got anybody to talk to about it. I know what the darkness can do to you if it surrounds you, and what it can make you feel. Call me being over protective but I just want to make sure he's okay." She replied, watching as Thor became surprised at Cooper going over to him and resting his head on his leg. He took a second before he stroked the dogs head gently, making Ashley smile softly at the interaction. "You know, I've been thinking." She spoke, turning to face Steve. "About what you said outside. About having a kid."

"Okay." He nodded for her to continue.

"If all this works. If we go through time, get the stones, bring them back and save everyone, if we actually do that, I think I can retire." She told him.

"You want to retire?"

"It would be a good time to if we pull all this off. I mean, I think Tony still has the ageing serum he made ages ago. If you want to, we can take it, retire and move into a house, live a life we never thought we'd have. I don't know about having a kid though. Don't get me wrong, I would love one. But, I don't know if they'll give us one, even if we're retired. We're always going to be connected and it'll be too dangerous."

"If it's truly what you want, we'll fight to get it." He leaned foreword, putting his hand on her thigh. "We can make changes if we have to. Ashley, I will do anything to give you what you want. Especially a kid." He told her, rubbing her thigh gently. She smiled at him and put her hand on tops of his, taking a hold of it. "So let's do this thing, bring everybody back, and then we can retire and try and have something we couldn't have it before this."

"Yeah." She nodded with determination, making him smile and lean over to place a lingering kiss onto her forehead. "By the way, I still have my old house on standby. Maybe we could retire there."

"Sounds like a plan." He said, squeezing her hand. They shared a smile, before a knock on the door was heard. They looked towards the door and were surprised to see Natasha walking in with Clint behind her. Ashley quickly got up and went to them, smiling at Clint before hugging him tightly.

"God, I'm so glad to see you." Ashley told him before pulling out of the hug, which let her get a better look at him. He looked so different, with his hair cut in a mohawk style and one arm covered with tattoos. Losing his family clearly hit him very hard, and Ashley expected it to. She knew loss like nobody else. Before Thanos she'd lost so many people she loved, and after the big ones of her father, Steve and Bucky, Coulson and Peggy, it took a while for her to begin to move on. She could understand how both Thor and Clint had lost themselves after losing so many people they loved.