~56~
Clara and Steve decided to stay in Clara's room that night, feeling it would be practical to stay than drive home and back the next day. They laid in bed, listening to each other breath over the faint sound of rain outside. "Do you think it's possible?" Steve asked quietly. His arm was wrapped around Clara's shoulders as she rested her head over his chest. "Bringing everyone back?"
"It feels like a dream," Clara replied just as quietly. "Five years with no hope and suddenly we're given this?" Clara shifted slightly and readjusted herself. "It sounds almost too good to be true."
The next day, the four decided to pay Tony a little visit. As Steve drove, Clara and Natasha explained to Scott a few things that he had missed. They explained into a further depth who Thanos was and why he did what he did. They watched his eyes light up as they began telling him everything, looking like he was taking in every bit of information.
After an hour or so they pulled up to a wooden cabin as Tony carried his young daughter back to into the house. Clara was quick to notice Tony's change in mood as he saw their car pull up. Clara got out and closed her door, meeting Tony's gaze. "What're you doing here?" Tony asked.
"What? I can't pay my big brother a visit?" Clara asked. Tony looked his sister up and down, staying silent as he saw the others approach. "We haven't seen each other in what...four months? Are you really this upset to see me?"
Tony sighed as he readjusted Morgan in his arms. "You know that's not what I meant." He let Morgan go and she ran into the house.
"If it's all the same to you, I tried to keep you out of this." As soon as she finished, the others joined them on the porch. She stood beside Steve as the others greeted their old friend. The rustling of blinds made Clara look over to the window to see Morgan watching them. To make the little girl laugh, Clara made a funny face, one that quickly went away as the business started.
"How're you doing Tony?" Steve asked, trying to ease into presenting their idea.
"Cut the shit Rogers," Tony snapped at him, making Clara send him a stern glare. "There's only one reason why all of you would come here at once. So let's hear it. What's the master plan to undo everything." Tony tapped his hand on the outdoor table in his sarcastic amusement. The four looked around at each other, knowing how stupid they were about to sound. As they explained their master plan, Tony looked to his sister to make sure they were being serious.
"Now, we know what it sounds like..." Scott defended as Tony gave him a stupid look.
Steve leaned on the table to look his brother-in-law in the eye. "Tony, after everything you've seen, is anything really impossible?" he asked.
"Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck scale, which then triggers the Deutsch proposition." Tony explained. He looked at his sister for her to agree. "You know that, don't you?"
"Yes, but..." Clara started.
"Thank you," he cut his sister off. "In Layman's terms, it means you're not coming home." Tony said to everyone else.
"I did," Scott shrugged with a smirk.
"No, you accidentally survived. It's a billion to one cosmic fluke. And now you wanna pull off a..." Tony scrunched his nose as he looked at them in confusion. "What do you call it?"
Scott looked embarrassed as he uttered the name of their plan. "A time heist."
Tony looked at his sister, a look of pure disbelief. "Yeah, a time heist. Of course, why didn't we think of this before? Oh, because it's laughable? Because it's a pipedream?"
"The stones are in the past. We can go back and get them." Scott suggested.
"We can snap our own fingers. We can bring everyone back." Natasha added.
"Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?" Tony asked.
"I don't believe we would," Steve said
"Gotta say, sometimes I miss that giddy optimism." Tony stood up to face Steve. "However, high hopes won't help if there's no logical, tangible way for me to safely execute said time heist. I believe the most likely outcome would be our collective demise." Clara watched as her brother stared down her husband. Scott must've picked up on the tension between the two because he stood from his seat and walked over to them as he explained to Tony what he thought was necessary.
"Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel. That means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events -"
"I'm gonna stop you right there, Scott. Are you seriously telling me that your plan to save the universe is based on Back To The Future?" Tony raised a questioning eyebrow.
Scott let out a sarcastic laugh and looked at them before answering. "No."
"Good. You had me worried there. 'Cause that'd be horse shit. That's not how quantum physics works." Tony said.
"Tony...We have to take a stand." Clara said, crossing her arms and leaning her back on one of the wooden posts.
"We did stand." Tony said, looking in her direction. "And yet, here we are." His voice filled with sorrow again as his memories drifted back to their failure. Tony convinced himself he had moved on, but he'd have his days where he'd think about young Peter Parker or Stephan Strange. He's think of Wanda, Sam, Fury...everyone they had failed to protect.
"So, what?" Clara shrugged her shoulders like the answer she was looking for was obvious. "When you fall down, you're supposed to stay down?"
"Look around Clara." Tony said, gesturing to his house and to his new life. "I've gotten back up without a problem."
"I know you got a lot on the line. You got a wife, a daughter. But I lost someone very important to me. A lot of people did. And now, now we have a chance to bring her back. Bring everyone back. And you're telling me that won't even..." Scott tried his best to get Tony to change his mind.
"That's right, Scott, I won't. Leave it. Got a kid." He said. As if on cue, Morgan ran out from the house and Tony picked her up. She buried her head into Tony's chest and she brushed away the hair out of her face.
"Mommy told me to come and save you." She whispered, but everybody could hear her.
"Good job. I'm saved." Tony kissed her forehead before he turned to face them one more time. "I wish you'd come here to ask me something else. Anything else. Honestly, I...I missed you guys."
Clara turned to Natasha and Scott as Tony walked off and Steve stopped him. "That didn't go as planned." Natasha said as she tucked her hands in her pockets.
"How exactly did you plan on that going?" Clara asked with a raised eyebrow. "Because that's exactly how I thought it was going to go."
"What is it with Starks and being jerks?" Scott sulked.
"Watch it, ticktac." Clara said and she shot a glare in Scott's direction.
"Sorry," he mumbled.
As the three of them had their little chat, Steve had stood in the way of Tony leaving. "Tony, I get it," he started. "And I'm happy for you, I really am. But this is a second chance." Steve tried to get him to change his mind.
"I got my second chance right here." Tony answered. He glanced at Clara as she talked to Natasha. "You're second chance got married to you three years ago. It's about time you two move on from the past and make a new future. Live the life that you couldn't have with the Avengers. Move back to Brooklyn, have a kid, do something."
"After what we let happen..." he looked up in the air as he tried to find the words he wanted to say. He looked bad at Tony, his eyes meeting his as he tried to get his point across. "I can't just live a normal life, knowing there were others who didn't even stand a chance."
"Well look at me," Tony said. "I'm living the most normal life anybody possibly could. If you don't talk shop, you can stay for lunch." Tony offered as the others turned their attention to him.
"Can Auntie Clara stay?" Morgan asked, her arms wrapped around Tony's neck.
"I don't know." Tony faced his sister. "Can Auntie Clara stay?" Clara glanced at the others before bending down to be level with Morgan.
"Let me just say goodbye to my friends." Clara smiled at her niece before she crossed her arms and made her way over to the others by Steve's car.
"What're we supposed to do now?" Scott asked as he threw his hands in the air.
"Let me try and convince him." Clara said, gesturing for Scott to calm down.
"You think you can do that?" Steve raised an eyebrow.
"I've done it before." Clara said, though she wasn't fully sure she could. "But in the off chance I can't, we need a backup."
"Who's backup to Tony Stark?" Scott asked, annoyed that the plan didn't work in the first place.
"Banner." Clara answered. "Hell, look at what he did to himself."
"I don't get it..." Scott started. "What...what did he do to himself?"
"Get Bruce to try and help you. I'll stay here and try and change his mind." Natasha nodded and her and Scott got in the car. Clara kissed Steve goodbye before making her way back up to the porch where Morgan jumped in her arms. Clara glanced at her brother. His eyes were still tired, as if no matter how much amount of rest he had he could never look fully charged. Tony was about to say something, but Clara left, carrying Morgan back into the house.
***
"Why did daddy not like those people?" Morgan asked, filling her tea cup with imaginary tea. The two of them sat on the floor of Morgan's room as they had their own tea party.
"Your daddy doesn't not like those people." Clara answered, looking down as the girl drank her imaginary tea. "They're his old friends."
"Oh." Morgan said quietly. "Why couldn't uncle Stevie stay?"
"Why do you ask so many questions?" Clara said smugly, pinching the girl's cheek and making her laugh. "Uncle Stevie had some work to do, but he'll be at our next tea party, alright?"
"Pinky promise?" Morgan asked, lifting her hand.
"Pinky promise."
"Girls!" Pepper called from downstairs. "Dinner's ready."
"I hope it's cheeseburgers." Morgan said, getting up from the floor. Clara chuckled before picking her up and boosting her on her side.
"You and me both."
***
After dinner, Pepper had taken Morgan to get cleaned up. Clara helped Tony with the dishes, the siblings being quiet at they did so. "Okay, when are we going to address the three thousand pound elephant in the room?" Tony asked as he dried a plate.
"What do you mean?" Clara asked, washing a glass before handing it to him to dry.
"You won't talk to me, why? Because I think making a time machine with the help of quantum physics is a ridiculous idea." Tony asked.
"Tony..." Clara started. "Trillions of people died and we have a slight chance of bringing them back. After five years we have hope again." Clara said, getting emotional over the subject again. "I thought you of all people would do anything to help."
"Why is it so hard for you all to understand? I moved on." He said. "I've got a wife, a kid. You married Rogers and I thought you were going down the same road, but dwelling on the past isn't going to change anything." He said that, and a plate slipped from Clara's hands, causing the soapy water to splash on the countertop. Clara began cleaning it up before she noticed something on one of his shelves. She took down the picture frame and saw Peter Parker standing with Tony and a diploma for his Stark Internship.
"You know," she started. "He looked up to you. And there was a time you'd do anything for this kid." She handed the frame to Tony, who sighed as he looked at it. "We can bring him back. We can bring everyone back."
He was silent as he looked at the photograph. Finally he looked at his sister and raised his eyebrow. "You're serious about this?"
"I can do it. I just need some help." Clara looked at her brother, her eyes pleading for him to agree.
Tony looked at her before sighing and putting the frame on the countertop. "You might want to put on a pot of coffee. We're going to take a little while."
Clara obeyed and started a pot of coffee. The two siblings worked tirelessly that night on different ideas before putting their ideas to reality. Whenever they thought they would crack the code, it would only fail in the end. When it had gotten late, Clara texted Steve and told him she wouldn't be home that night. She held her head in her hands as she leaned on the table, wrinkled up papers all around her along with a half draken cup of coffee.
"You want to give it a break?" Tony asked. Clara looked at the clock, reading 9:23.
"Why? You getting sleepy?" She asked, taking another sip of her coffee. They continued working again for another hour or two before Tony had finally given up.
"One more?" Tony asked. Clara nodded as she tried to wake herself up. "What's it this time?"
Clara walked over to the simulator before saying, "Mobius strip, inverted, please."
"Processing..." FRIDAY said.
"Give me that eigenvalue. That, particle factoring, and a spectral decomp. Gotta take a second."
"Just a moment." FRIDAY said.
"And don't worry if it doesn't pan out. I'm just kinda -" Tony started.
"Model rendered." The simulation completed and the two siblings looked at each other in shock.
"Did we just discover time travel?" She asked, a small smile forming on her lips.
"I think we did." Tony said, a small laugh escaping his lips. Clara and her brother hugged each other tightly, joy taking over every inch of their bodies. The brainiacs had been creating new forms of technology for years, but they had never dreamt of discovering time travel. They released each other, wide grins on their faces as they stared at each other. Tony fell into the seat behind him while Clara looked at the hologram in amazement. "We did it," He put his hand over his mouth in disbelief. "Shit!" He exclaimed.
"Shit!" A small voice rang out. They turned to see Morgan sitting on the staircase, her head tilted as she repeated her father.
"What are you doing up, little miss?" Tony asked.
"Shit!" Morgan repeated.
"No, we don't say that. Only Aunt Clara says that word. She coined it, it belongs to her." Tony said, Clara laughing softly as she stretched out her arms.
"Why are you up?" Morgan asked.
"Cause we got some important shit going on here." Morgan scrunched her nose as she looked at her father facepalm himself before continuing. "What do you think? I got something on my mind. I got something on my mind."
"Was it Juice Pops?" Morgan asked, peeking up.
"Sure was. That's extortion. Great minds think alike. Juice Pops, exactly was on... my mind." Tony said, picking her up. "You want to um..."
"I'll finish it up." Clara nodded. "Goodnight Morgan." Clara placed a kiss on Morgan's head as she walked by. Tony left and Clara finished up the rest of the business, still in awe at the fact that they discovered a way to time travel. She started to go upstairs to the guest room before she noticed a light on in the living room. "You're still up?" Clara asked.
"Yeah," Pepper said, closing her book and looking back at the brunette. "Couldn't sleep."
"I don't think any of us can." Clara said, sitting beside her sister-in-law and pulling her sweater closer to her chest.
"Where's Tony?" Pepper asked.
"Giving Morgan a juice pop," Clara answered. Pepper chuckled and shook her head, brushing her hand through her hair.
"I can never get that girl to sleep," Pepper chuckled. "She's like her father."
"She's adorable." Clara said. They fell silent and she began to look off into space.
"Have you ever thought about it?" Pepper asked, propping her head up in her hand as she looked at her friend. "Having kids I mean?"
Clara sighed before throwing her head back onto the couch. "I know we've been married for a little over three years, but we've never discussed it, really."
"Do you want kids?" Pepper asked.
"I never did until I met Steve. But then again, I met Steve when everything wrong was happening in the world," Clara answered. "I didn't want to bring a child into a world full of danger. And I know there hasn't been another big threat against humanity, but it's still in the back of my mind."
"You can't control that." Pepper said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "There's always going to be danger in the world Clar. You can't live in fear for what might happen." Clara looked down at her hands and didn't answer. "You know, I used to not want to have kids."
"Really?" Clara asked, meeting Pepper's blue eyes.
"I always thought I'd be too busy. Then I thought that bringing a kid into a world with threats as big as...you know." She avoided using the name of the purple titan. "But the moment I held her for the first time, the only thing I wanted to do was give her the world. Morgan is the best thing to ever happen to me," Pepper smiled. "Even better than Tony."
Clara laughed softly before Pepper joined her. "Talk to Steve before it's too late." Clara wrapped her arms around Pepper's neck, hugging her tightly.
"Thanks Pep." Pepper rubbed her back, to comfort her.
"You know I'm always here for you." Pepper smiled. Clara and Pepper talked for a little while longer about Clara's new job and the book that Pepper was reading before she decided she'd call it a night. She passed Tony on her way up the stairs before she went to bed, anxious for what would happen next.