CHAPTER THIRTY
❝ the quiet life ❞
AGAINST ALL ODDS, Scott Lang was back.
Aster, Natasha, and Steve brought him to the living room, giving him a moment to calm down before firing any questions at him. Scott paced the length of the room, anxiously rubbing his hands together.
Nudging Steve's arm, Aster tilted her head at the frantic man. Glancing down at her, Steve nodded, finally breaking the silence to ask, "Scott. Are you okay?"
Halting in his steps, Scott turned to face them. "Yeah. I'm fine," he said, rubbing both hands over his eyes. Clearly, he struggling with how to put his thoughts into words. After a moment of contemplation, he blurted, "Have any of you guys ever studied Quantum Physics?"
With a confused scrunch of her nose, Aster shrugged. "Yeah, when I was eight."
The confusion on Steve's face shifted to amazement and he shot Aster a look.
"Only to make conversation with Aster," Natasha chimed in, shoving her hands into the oversized sweatshirt wrapped around her. One that was clearly Steve's.
Happy that someone would understand him, Scott pointed at Aster. "Alright. Good So... five years ago, right... right before Thanos, I was in a place called the Quantum Realm," he explained, trying to fill them in. "The Quantum Realm is like its own microscopic universe. To get in there, you have to be incredibly small. Hope, she's my um... she was my..." Scott paused and his eyes grew sad. "She was supposed to pull me out. And then Thanos happened, and I got stuck in there."
Natasha frowned. "I'm sorry. That must've been a very long five years."
"Yeah, but that's just it. It wasn't. For me, it was five hours."
The rest of the Avengers shared a quick, bewildered glance.
"See, the rules of the Quantum Realm aren't like they are up here. Everything is unpredictable—" Scott cut himself off, doing a double take when he saw Aster's half-eaten sandwich on the table. "Is that anybody's sandwich? I'm starving." He strode over and grabbed it before anyone could respond, taking a big bite.
"It was mine," Aster mumbled. "But I'll let it slide since you haven't eaten in, like, five years."
Steve shook his head, still stuck on Scott's previous words. "Scott, what are you talking about?"
With a mouth full of peanut butter and bread, Scott continued, "What I'm saying is, time works differently in the Quantum Realm. The only problem is right now, we don't have a way to navigate it. But what if we did? I can't stop thinking about it. What if, we could somehow control the chaos, and we could navigate it? What if there was a way to enter the Quantum Realm at a certain point in time but then exit at another point in time? Like... Like before Thanos."
Aster's eyes blew wide. "So, a time machine? You're talking about time travel?"
"No. No, of course not. N-not a time machine. It's more like a..." Scott paused, searching for a better name to give it. When he realized that she was spot on, he grimaced. "Yeah, a time machine. I know it's crazy. It's crazy. But I can't stop thinking about it. There's gotta be... some way..." He sighed, shaking his head. "It's crazy."
"Scott, I get e-mails from a raccoon," Natasha deadpanned. "So nothing sounds crazy anymore."
"Quantum fluctuation can mess with the Planck Scale," Aster mumbled to herself, delving deep into thought. She lifted her head and stared at Scott, biting the inside of her cheek. "It's risky. But it's not impossible."
Scott's eyes darted between the three Avengers and a glimpse of hope flitted through them. "So who do we talk to about this?"
Aster, Natasha, and Steve shared a knowing look.
───
As Aster walked up the path leading to Tony and Pepper's cabin, she was sure that her heart was going to burst out of her chest. It was just her for the time being, as the others were waiting in the car to give her some time.
Their property was beautiful. The sun cut through the trees surrounding the cabin, painting speckles of the grass bright green. The lake was so still that it mirrored the blue sky, as well as the softly chirping birds flying overhead. Aster took a breath of fresh air in through her nose, loving the way it filled her chest. It was quiet. But not a bad quiet. Peaceful.
Aster slowly made her way up the steps to the cabin, smiling as she scanned her eyes over the wrap-around porch. The wood creaked under her foot with every step she took to the front door. Coming to a stop at the welcome mat beneath her feet, Aster took a deep breath. Curling one arm around her stomach, she raised the other, about to rap her knuckles against the door.
Before she could possibly knock, the door swung open. Not expecting it, Aster staggered back a step, retracting her hand and locking eyes with Tony.
His face had gained a few more wrinkles since the last time she saw him and his hair had begun to grey a bit, making Aster's chest hitch with the reminder that it wasn't just her that was growing up. That everyone else was getting older too. And she missed five years of time that she would never get back.
Tony didn't say anything, and neither did she for a moment. Finally, Aster swallowed hard and breathed, "Hi—"
Tony's expression crumpled and he stepped out of the door, engulfing her in his arms. Aster closed her eyes, resting her cheek against his chest as he held her tightly. Her arms snaked around his torso and she held onto the back of his jacket with a tight grip.
"Just let me hold you for a minute," he whispered into her hair, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. His heart was beating erratically against her ear.
Aster shut her mouth and hugged him even tighter.
After a moment, Tony pulled back and held her gently by her biceps. He pursed his lips and studied her with teary eyes. "You couldn't have woken up while I was there yesterday?"
Breathing out a laugh, Aster sniffled. "You know I like to make your life difficult."
He grinned and tugged her back into his arms, holding the back of her head. "Right. Well, it took you long enough."
"Oh, my god."
Aster peeked over Tony's shoulder and saw Pepper standing in the doorway, holding one hand over her heart and the other over the relieved smile on her face. She looked the same as always, though she was dressed in more comfortable clothes rather than the usual pencil skirt and heels. Just like Tony, her face had gained a few wrinkles as well.
Tony stepped away from Aster, but his hand slid from her hair to her back and stayed there as Pepper swept the teenagers into her arms. "Oh," Pepper let out, pressing a kiss to Aster's head. "How are you feeling, sweetheart?"
"I'm okay," Aster assured her, doing her best to smile. "I promise."
Pepper wiped away a tear as she released the teenager, nodding at Aster's words. "You're okay. Good, good. I'm putting together some lunch, why don't we go inside?"
Aster smiled and followed Pepper inside, with Tony following right behind them. Her eyes traveled around the woodsy interior of the cabin, impressed with the high ceilings and cozy environment. It was the opposite of what Tony's houses usually looked like.
Walking through the first doorway to the left, Pepper took her place behind the kitchen island and continued chopping vegetables like she must have been doing moments prior. Joining her side, Tony leaned over the island and squinted at the various salad ingredients. "Are these our gojis?"
Pepper shot him a look. "They are not."
"What's wrong with ours?"
"Your alpaca ate them all," Pepper said, making Tony let out a sad noise. "All of them."
Aster was standing there, wide-eyed and immensely confused. "I'm sorry, I think I misheard. Did you say alpaca?"
Tony smirked and rounded the island, coming up behind the teenager to whirl her around and point out the window. To Aster's surprise, there truly was an alpaca, standing in the backyard along with half a dozen chickens. Aster's lips parted in surprise and she murmured, "That was the last thing I expected to see ."
"Yeah, Gerald is our family pet," Tony emphasized, shooting his fiancée a look.
Pepper laughed. "It's not my alpaca, he's eating my gojis."
Grabbing a handful of the store-bought goji berries, Tony held them over the salad bowl. "Okay, they're gonna be nice in the salad—"
"No," Pepper whined, quick to block his hand with her own. "Don't, don't, don't. Could you put it down? Get out of my kitchen."
"Okay," Tony gave in, knocking over a stack of plates in his attempt to back away. He cringed, catching them right before they could topple to the floor. "Whoops. We're good here, right?"
Aster stifled a laugh when Pepper closed her eyes for a brief moment, taking a deep breath so as to not freak out. It was comforting that their dynamic hadn't changed at all. "Yeah, we're great." Pepper continued cutting the vegetables, though she raised an eyebrow in Tony's direction. "Tell Madame Secretary lunch is in five."
Redirecting his gaze over to Aster, Tony smiled a little. "Wanna go meet your little sister?"
Aster stared at him for a long moment before hesitantly nodding, silently following him when he opened the back door and walked out onto the porch. The nerves that had finally dissipated moments ago returned and she felt her stomach twist.
Who knew she would be so scared of a four-year-old?
She and Tony walked out into the backyard, making their way over to the tree line. Letting her nerves get the best of her, Aster wrung her fingers together and her steps slowly came to a stop.
Hearing her footsteps come to a halt, Tony stopped and turned. He frowned at her, taking a step back in her direction. "Ace?"
"...I don't want to confuse her. Or stress her out," Aster quietly said.
Tony's eyes softened and he held a hand out, beckoning for her to come closer. When she did, he slung an arm over her shoulders and pulled her to his side. "Morgan knows who you are. Pep and I have brought her to see you. And she begs me to tell her a story about her big sister every night." Under his breath, he added, "Trust me, no matter how tired that kid is, she doesn't give up without a fight."
Aster felt herself relax a bit. "She's a Stark. Of course she doesn't."
Tony chuckled above her. He pulled back and squinted at her, able to see right through her as he always had been. "And you are just as much my kid as she is, got it?"
Aster smiled a little. "Got it."
He led her into the woods, walking along the bank of the lake until they reached a tiny little tent. Next to it was a set of small chairs, and a table with a few teacups sitting at it. Tony clapped his hands together a few times, calling out, "Chow time!"
When he sat down on one of the toddler-sized chairs and picked up stuffed animals, Aster giggled.
"Maguna?" Tony sang. "Morgan A. Stark. You want some lunch?"
Suddenly, the front of the tent was pulled aside and a little girl with a silver and blue Iron Man helmet on popped out, holding a thruster aimed at her dad. "Define lunch or be disintegrated."
Aster breathed out a quiet laugh. She was definitely Tony's child.
Tony splayed his hands up in surrender. "Okay, You should not be wearing that, okay? That is part of a special anniversary gift I'm making for Mom." He gently took her by the arms, laying a kiss on the side of her helmet. Carefully pulling the helmet off of Morgan's head, Tony brushed her brunette hair to the side and smiled softly. "There you go. Are you thinking about lunch? I can give you a handful of crickets on a bed of lettuce."
"No," Morgan whined, pouting at him through her big brown eyes. She looked like both of her parents, but those eyes were all Tony's.
"What?" Tony dramatically let out, turning both of his palms upright. "Hey, that was Aster's idea, not mine."
Morgan tilted her head at her dad's words, confused until Tony pointed a finger over in Aster's direction. The toddler turned and finally noticed her big sister standing there, going wide-eyed at her presence.
Aster glanced at Tony, who gave her a reassuring nod. Clearing her throat, Aster lowered herself to the ground, bringing herself eye-to-eye with Morgan. She smiled warmly. "Hi, Morgan—"
Before she could say anything word, Morgan gasped and ran straight at her, throwing her small arms around Aster's neck. Aster was nearly knocked off of her feet at the sheer force of Morgan's hug, stabilizing herself before slowly reciprocating the embrace. Her entire body softened when she heard Morgan's tiny giggle by her ear.
The four-year-old pulled back to look her sister in the eyes. "I thought you were sleepin'?"
Aster laughed, nodding. "I was. But I'm not sleepy anymore."
"Daddy said you were hurt."
Glancing past Morgan, Aster watched Tony stare down at the stuffed animal in his hands. She pursed her lips, doing her best not to look sad in front of Morgan. "Well, I'm all better now." Aster raised her hand and held out a pinky. "Pinky promise."
Morgan giggled, locking her tiny pinkie with Aster's. For her age, she was a smart kid. Not that Aster was surprised.
"Hey, missy," Tony said, pulling Morgan's attention back. He picked up the helmet from the ground and held it in front of himself. "How did you find this?"
Shrugging, Morgan wrapped her arms around herself. "Garage."
"Really? Were you looking for it?"
"No. I found it, though."
Aster snorted. "Gotta have a better hiding spot, Dad. Didn't work on me, so it's surely not gonna work on her."
"Yeah," Morgan agreed, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Hm. I'm already being ganged up on," Tony hummed. "You like going to the garage, huh? So does your sister and Daddy." He stood up, and so did Aster. Instead of wanting Tony to pick her up like usual, Morgan turned to Aster and held her arms up, her eyes wide with hope. Carefully, Aster took Morgan under the arms and hoisted her up into the air, placing her little sister on her hip with a smile.
Tony hummed, staring at his two daughters with a gentle smile on his face. He glanced down at the glowing helmet in his hands. "It's fine, actually. Your mom never wears anything I buy her."
Carrying Morgan back to the house, Aster nearly forgot all about the others in the car. The sound of gravel crunching under tires met her ears and her heart sunk with the reminder that they were about to disrupt the quiet life that Tony and Pepper had been lucky enough to find.
Tony watched the black Audi pull up the driveway. He let out a sigh when Steve, Natasha, and Scott got out of the car, glancing over at Aster with a raised eyebrow. Not mad, just confused. She nervously gnawed on her bottom lip, slowly rubbing her hand over Morgan's back. "We may have to set a few more spots at the table."
AUTHOR'S NOTE!
CRYING.
aster and morgan are the best.
tony is just happy to have his girls (and his alpaca).
i pulled that kitchen scene from the endgame's deleted scene pack because it's too funny not to include.
sorry about the slight cliffhanger, but i'm sure you all expect it from me by now.
i put you all through too much lmao.
anyways, what did we think?
lots of science talk in the next chapter, so buckle up!
thanks for reading!
<3 mal