"You're late," Elizabeth mused with a small smile at Tony as he walked through the large doors of the Compound. She held Alpine in her arms as she looked to see Steve walking beside Tony with his shield in hand, making Elizabeth raise an eyebrow at him. He shrugged, saying it was no big deal.
Elizabeth turned and continued to walk beside Tony as they made their way through the compound. "You should be lucky I'm even here at all," he retorted as he took off his signature sunglasses before putting it in the pocket of his blazer. "I see the cat is still alive," Tony looked to Alpine with a scowl.
As if the cat understood what he said, Alpine reached over and clawed at his covered arm. The action made Tony back up carefully. He leaned down to the cat and glared at it. "You're lucky you're too small for a coat," he commented and Elizabeth pushed him back.
"Stop messing with the cat," she chided with a shake of her head. "So I suppose we're getting the whole team together?" Elizabeth asked Tony and Steve, the latter nodding his head at her words.
She clicked her tongue as she thought about where she last heard the rest of them were. "That might take awhile," she informed the two as they came to a stop by an empty conference room. "Pietro," she called down the halls loud enough that he would hear in whatever room he was.
The compound being a large place with more rooms than people, those that permanently lived there would often use Pietro's abilities to their own benefit. Pietro appeared next to Tony suddenly, making the older man jump and glare at him.
"Oh great," Tony gave a fake smile to Pietro who returned it with just as much sarcasm. "You're still here."
"Can you ask Natasha to meet me at her office," Elizabeth asked Pietro who nodded, always happy to burn out whatever energy he had. Which all of them knew was an ungodly amount. Pietro left their side and returned a minute later, his hair all messed up from his short but quick journey.
"She is on the way," Pietro informed her and Elizabeth nodded, thanking him quickly before he sped off once again.
Tony blinked at their interaction with a frown on his face. "You could just call her?" He suggested, not understanding her methods.
"My phone's on the other side of the compound," Elizabeth stated with a shrug. "Plus, this is faster." Tony shook his head at her and Elizabeth bid goodbye to the two of them before heading off to find Natasha.
As she walked down the hall, it was silent minus the light tapping of her shoes against the hardwood floor. Alpine meowed in her arms softly and she placed the cat on the ground gently, letting the feline wonder around as it usually did.
She passed by Wanda in the kitchen, waving at the red head with a smile. "I heard Stark is back," Wanda muttered between sips of whatever contents were inside her red mug. Her brother always was one for gossip.
"You heard right then," Elizabeth said as she slowed her pace to talk with Wanda for a second. "He's in the conference room with Steve," she continued with one hand in the pocket of the dark jeans she wore.
Wanda raised her eyebrows at the statement. "Those two?" She began unsurely. "In the same room together, alone?"
"They'll be fine," Elizabeth assured, waving Wanda's lack of faith away. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to talk to Natasha," she continued before making her way up to Natasha's office. She rounded the corner and saw the older woman already sitting on the edge of her desk, staring at the holographic screen in front of her.
Elizabeth stood on the other side of the screen, facing Natasha who stared at the locations of the rest of the team. The words looked backwards to Elizabeth but she stared past them to look at Natasha.
"He figured it out," Elizabeth said even though she knew that Natasha already heard the news from Pietro. "Tony can do it, time travel."
"We'd still have to try it out first," Natasha spoke and looked past the words on the screen and locked eyes with Elizabeth. The white tips of her long hair tinted blue from the other side of the screen. "Do a test run and all that."
Natasha was still scarred from their recent test run turned failure with Scott and Bruce. Not exactly eager to have another one of her friends come back looking a lot different than when they left.
"We also need to get the rest of the team here," Elizabeth added as she jutted her chin to the screen. "We could use all the help we could get."
Natasha sighed and Elizabeth could feel her doubt creeping in slowly. "We don't even know what would happen," she thought aloud with a frown. "It could all fall apart."
"Maybe," Elizabeth agreed with a shrug. "But if there's one thing I do know, it's that Tony loves to be right."
***
Elizabeth unlocked the door to Emilie's apartment using the key she was given. As she walked inside the apartment was empty but the lights were on. She walked a few feet to the stove to see a pot of boiling water on the fire. The pot nearly overflowing.
"Emilie?" Elizabeth called out with her hands clenched by her sides. She got no response and immediately her heartbeat quickened. She turned off the stove and listened for any other noises in the apartment.
There was the sound of running water coming from the bathroom and made her way over to the sound. Carefully, she leaned against the wall by the bathroom door as she tried to sense the emotions of the person inside.
Anger and sadness was evident in the person but there was no hostility so she relaxed slightly. She had raised a hand to knock on the door to check on Emilie but stopped when she heard a muffled male voice from inside.
She recognised that voice, Elizabeth thought and it all clicked why Emilie wasn't feeling too great. Knocking on the door, Elizabeth spoke. "Emilie?" She asked softly. "Emilie are you okay?"
There was a reply that she couldn't hear over the sound of the running water. Sighing, Elizabeth turned the door handle to find it unlocked. "I'm coming in!" She announced before opening the door, her free hand covering her eyes just in case.
Elizabeth heard a light laugh from Emilie. "It is not pretty," She began in her French accent that was slowly disappearing. "But you can open your eyes."
Opening her eyes, Elizabeth looked ahead to see the open shower curtain. The water running from the shower into the empty space. There was a thin layer of steam in the room as she looked around for Emilie.
Elizabeth's eyes softened when she saw Emilie sitting on the tiled floor with her back against the wall. She was fully clothed and had her knees bent up with her arms pressed against them. Her head was bent over the phone in her hand.
Reaching over, Elizabeth turned off the shower. Without the loud sound of water pattering on the tiles, she could hear Emilie's quiet sniffles and what the voice on the phone was saying.
"Hey, Em," Luke's voice came out through the phone and Elizabeth saw as Emilie smiled through the tears at the nickname. "Um, I don't know what kind of snacks you want and you're not picking up the phone. Meaning you've probably already started Clueless without me-"
The voicemail stopped when Emilie turned her phone off, looking up at Elizabeth with teary eyes. "That was from six years ago," she stated as she wiped at the tears in her eyes. "But it feels like a lifetime ago."
Elizabeth leaned her back against the wall and slid down until she sat beside Emilie. "You know, sometimes I think I forget what his voice sounds like," she began as she tried to keep her voice steady.
She thought of the last thing that Bucky had said to her and cursed when she remembered that it wasn't even a full sentence. She was to blame for that, she had been the one not ready to accept that that was their goodbye. The unspoken words driving her mad even after all this time.
"But then I go to sleep and it all comes back. So I don't think the people you love could ever really be gone." Elizabeth finished with a sad smile knowing that her dreams were the only place where she could truly be happy. The place where they had managed to say goodbye properly or even one where they never had to say goodbye at all. But then she remembered their small one in a million chance.
She placed her hand over Emilie's knee, making her look at Elizabeth. "We might have a way of bringing them back," she said slowly and watched as the gears turned in Emilie's head. "We have a chance to-"
"That's what you told me five years ago," Emilie cut her off and Elizabeth saw the instant regret in her eyes. "I'm sorry, that wasn't fair," She immediately apologised when she saw the look of hurt that crossed Elizabeth's face.
"You're not wrong," Elizabeth replied as she recalled what she told Emilie over the phone all those years ago. "It's just, something is different now. Someone who was supposed to be gone, is right back at the compound."
Emilie shook her head as she held back tears in her dark eyes. "Please don't, " she began and Elizabeth could feel how tired she was. "Please don't give me hope."
"I'm sorry I'm so late to give it to you," Elizabeth said as she moved her hand to squeeze Emilie's one tightly. "We're gonna get him back."
Emilie let a small smile slip onto her face just as she pulled Elizabeth into a hug. And as Elizabeth wrapped her arms around Emilie, she knew the him she was thinking about was not who Emilie had in mind.