Y/n's POV
"Well we might have found a way to time travel." Steve said plainly. Tony rolled his eyes, he was already doubting us.
"No wait. See the quantum realm has messed up times so if we work out how to control all the chaos we can use it to enter in one time period and exit it in another. But we need something to control it if that's even possible and you're the man who has all the plans and the tech and the brains. It's all to do with quantum Physics. I went into the Quantum realm, accidentally got stuck but then somehow got brought back. What was five years for everyone else was just five hours for me. If we get this right we can do a... a time heist." Scott told the unimpressed man hurriedly.
Tony looked at him with blank eyes and then began to pour a glass of orange juice. "Sounds like you've all gone a little loopy whilst I've been gone. Time travel is impossible." Tony huffed.
"No. We know what it sounds like." Scott replied quickly.
"Tony, after everything you've seen, is anything really impossible?" Steve asked.
"Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck scale, which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition. Can we agree on that?" Tony asked, looking from face to face. There was no response from anyone but Harriet and I shook our heads. He handed a glass to Steve who thanked him.
"In layman's terms, it means you're not coming home." Tony said seriously. Would it really be that drastic?
"I did." Scott told him.
"No. You accidentally survived. It's a billion-to-one cosmic fluke." Tony stuttered, messing over his words as he tried to get his point across. "And now you wanna pull a... what do you call it?" Tony handed a glass to Scott and Nat, his expression still baffled.
"A time heist." Scott said a little too proudly, making me sigh. He really wasn't selling this plan.
"Yeah. A time heist. Of course. Why didn't we think of this before? Oh because it's laughable? Because it's a pipe dream?" He looked at us all, a frown on his face.
"The stones are in the past. We could go back, we could get them." Steve spoke calmly.
"We can snap our own fingers. We can bring everybody back." Nat said firmly.
"Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?" Tony said in slight disbelief.
"I don't believe we would." Steve replied, there once again was the hopeful figure of America.
"Gotta say it, I sometimes 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." Tony sat down, looking up at us. "I believe the most likely outcome will be our collective demise." He admitted. That didn't sound too great I had to admit.
"Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel. All right? It means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events-" Scott took a seat beside Tony as he went on.
"I'm going to stop you right there, Scott. Are you seriously telling me that your plan to save the universe is based on Back to the future? Is it?" Tony rested his elbow on the table to get closer to Scott.
"No." Scott shook his head.
"Good. You had me worried there. Cause that would be horseshit. That's not how quantum physics works." Tony explained. Nat was looking disappointed at his pessimistic or realistic words depending on how you looked at it. I gave her a little nudge and Harriet patted her on the head.
"Tony." She muttered. "We have to take a stand." She looked at him hopefully.
"We did stand. And yet, here we are." Tony sighed. Nat looked around at the tranquil lake and I smiled. I continued to sway and bounce and hum quietly to keep Haz quiet.
"I know you've got a lot on the line. You've got a wife, a daughter. But I lost someone very important to me. A lotta people did. And now, we have a chance to bring her back... to bring everybody back, and you're telling me that you won't even-" Scott's voice began to raise.
"That's right Scott. I won't even. I can't." And as he said this Morgan came out from the house.
"Mommy told me to come and save you." Morgan told her father as he picked her up and put her on his lap.
"Good job. I'm saved." He hugged her tightly. I frowned, understanding where he was coming from, and holding my own daughter made me consider the safety of this. "I wish you were coming here to ask me something else. Anything else. I'm honestly happy to see you guys. I just..." He shook his head. He paused for a moment as he raised from his chair, Morgan clung to him tightly.
"Oh, look, the table's set for six. I know there's eight but we can squeeze you in if we-"
"Tony, I get it. And I'm happy for you. I really am. But this is a second chance." Steve stopped him as he went to head inside.
"I got my second chance right here, Cap. Can't roll the dice on it." He frowned.
"Tony. So do we. But don't you think we owe it to our friends, to our family." I tried to reason with him. "But also this isn't just about us Tony, we're talking about the entire universe. Half the universe, do you realise how many people that is? We were just the lucky ones but people have it way, way worse than we do."
"There's too great a risk, we just need to be thankful we were given the chance to make this decision." He looked at me, then at Haz. "Um, if you don't talk shop, you can stay for lunch." He told us and went on inside. Steve and Scott looked as if they didn't want to. But I knew Haz would want a break from the car and I wanted to go in.
"Erm, no it's ok-" Steve began.
"Yes, we would love lunch if that's alright with Pepper." I smiled, subtly glaring at Steve to shut up.
Tony nodded and we followed him inside. We both put down our daughters and Haz ran over to Morgan to say hello. They didn't recognise each other as they had only been toddlers when they last met, so introduced themselves briefly again before Harriet informed Morgan that she actually did know who she was. It was sweet to see Harriet interacting with Morgan. She had her own friends at home but that was only from Ballet as we had chosen to home school her, at least for elementary school. Tony had made the same decisions for Morgan. Morgan was a little younger than Harriet and Harriet was taller. I watched them hug and felt a sinking feeling in my stomach, it was a shame they never got the chance to get close.
Tony led us into the kitchen and dining room where Pepper was preparing dinner. She turned at the sound of our footsteps. She came straight over to me and hugged me, and then Natasha.
"What a wonderful surprise. Oh and hello Harriet. Haven't you grown!" She smiled. "Gosh they have grown since we last saw the girls together. They were still in diapers last time we saw you."
"It's rather crazy isn't it?" Nat sighed, putting her arm around me.
"How have you been? Anything exciting happened?" Pepper asked merrily.
"I can't think of anything in particular, Harriet just had her first Ballet performance last night which she smashed." Nat replied proudly.
"That's amazing!" Pepper beamed.
We helped her finish up the lunch and placed it on the table for everyone. Tony had brought a few extra chairs up to the table for us all to fit.
"Um, Pepper, this is Scott; Scott, this is Pepper, my wife." Tony sighed. Scott held his hand out to shake Pepper's. He shook it hard, smiling as he did so.
"Pleasure to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too." Pepper replied with a light laugh. Scott was a little overwhelming at times.
"So tell me, why the surprise visit?" Pepper asked us all. "It's wonderful to see you all."
"Just thought we'd pop in to say... hi." Steve tried to say casually. He was a terrible liar.
"Hi!" Morgan waved at Cap. Steve waved back, Harriet waved at Steve and before I knew it everyone was waving at each other.
We loaded our plates with the sandwiches and crisps and cakes that Pepper had put out for us. The table fell silent for quite some time and I felt the tension in the air. Tony and the others were exchanging the odd awkward glance.
"Why do I feel like you're not telling me something?" Pepper frowned.
"Huh?" Tony looked up from his cup of coffee.
"You all keep looking at each other like there's something you're hiding."
"Mr Scott wants to time travel!" Harriet said excitedly.
"Haz!" Nat sighed.
"She's only joking, we were just talking about Back to the future on the car ride here." Cap smoothed over it quite well.
"I see." Pepper hesitated. "Because we all know time travel is impossible right?"
"Yes, we do." Tony replied, slightly emphasised. This had gone exactly how I expected, and yet I was still quite disappointed.