When the Avengers exited the quinjet again, it was broad daylight. Clint had parked them in the middle of a field, leading the tired group up the dirt path that lead to a little white ranch house sitting in the middle of the field.
"What is this place?" Thor questioned as they moved up the stairs of the home. Steve and Lottie clung to one another, barely straying from the other since they had woken from their dreams.
"A safe house?" Tony suggested, shrugging his shoulders. Clint looked back at the team as he opened the door, supporting Natasha with his other arm.
"Let's hope. Honey, I'm home!"
The group stood in the living room of the cozy looking farmhouse as Clint looked around. All eyes fell to a woman walking out of the kitchen, one hand resting on her very pregnant stomach. Lottie's heart stopped for a moment at the sight as she looked away from the woman, not noticing Steve look down at her.
"Hi. Company. Sorry I didn't call ahead," Clint told her with a smile, pulling her into a quick kiss.
"This is an agent of some kind," Tony told the team, trying to figure out what exactly was happening right now.
"Team, this is Laura," Clint introduced, the woman giving a shy smile and wave to all of them. Lottie locked eyes with her for a moment, giving her a smile to the best of her ability, before looking away. The sound of footsteps on the stairs brought another smile to Clint's face. "Ooh, incoming!"
Lottie tried her best to smile as she watched Clint embrace with his children, but the smile just didn't meet her eyes. Not after the dream.
"These are...smaller agents,"
"Did you bring Auntie Nat?" The little girl in Clint's arms asked. Natasha brightened up instantly, moving forward with a smile.
"Why don't you hug her and find out?"
At the sight of Natasha with the little girl, Lottie couldn't help but really smile.
"Sorry for barging in on you," Steve told Laura, tightening his grip on Lottie.
"Yeah, we would have called ahead, but we were busy having no idea that you existed," Tony told the family as Clint turned with a smile.
"Yeah, well Fury helped me set this up when I joined. He kept it off SHIELD's files, I'd like to keep it that way. I figure it's a good place to lay low,"
Removing Steve's hand from around her waist, Lottie moved away from him. Sending him a little grin. Thor pushed his way through the group and toward the front door, and Lottie gave the nod of her head to follow him.
As she watched Steve chase after Thor, the woman approached by Natasha and Laura, who were in the middle of a conversation together.
"I'm sorry to interrupt," her voice was quiet, immediately making Natasha slightly suspicious. "I just really need to lie down for a second, maybe wash off. Is there somewhere I can-"
"Guest bedroom is up the stairs to the left, and there's some spare clothes in the closet. Make yourself at home," Laura told her, touching her shoulder lightly. Lottie nodded her head, following her directions up the stairs and ignoring the looks that both Natasha and Tony sent her.
The bedroom was cute. Soft colors, mainly browns, greens, and yellows. It was exactly what Lottie envisioned a farm house bedroom would look like. Everything was pristine, almost as if it had never been touched. It almost made Lottie not want to touch any of it.
Her suit lying on the floor along with her boots, the only thing left on her that reminded her that she was a superhero and not a normal person were the bracelets. She tugged on the spare t-shirt and jeans that Laura had said were in the closet, before lying down on the bed.
Her eyes stayed trained on the ceiling. If she closed them, she knew the images that awaited her.
Steve Rogers had quickly come inside and changed into some of the spare clothing that he had packed on the jet, after watching Thor disappear for the answers to his dream. Natasha had directed him in the direction that Lottie had went, and that led him to here.
He propped himself against the doorway, just staring out at the woman lying in the bed. Even when she was young and shy and unsure of herself, Charlotte Watson was never quiet. Even with the 21st century Lottie, that was full of confidence and joy was never quiet. The woman lying on that bed was neither of those women.
Quietly, Steve placed himself on the bed, lying on his side as he propped himself up with an elbow, looking down on the woman he loved, who kept her eyes trained on the ceiling.
"Howard was there," Lottie said quietly, already feeling the burn of the tears welling in her eyes. "Truth be told, everyone was there, partying in a quaint little house on the outskirts of town."
"That's not what's bothering you though, is it,"
"We were married," Lottie finally said, turning her head ever so slightly to look into his blue eyes. "And I was pregnant."
Steve Rogers didn't even bat an eyelash at the revelation, only reaching his hand up to wipe away the tear that escaped down her cheek.
"We were at the Stork Club," Steve told her, eyes never leaving her's as he recounted his own dream. "Peggy and Howard were there, even Buck. Had to be sometime in the fifties, in a world where we never went in the ice, where Buck never died. Then you waltzed over, and I saw the ring on your finger as you brought me to dance. Then I looked down, and I saw the little bump of your stomach."
Lottie's shaky hand found it's way up to Steve's holding it tightly on her cheek as they looked at one another.
"Wanda didn't show us the thing we fear the most," she whispered, a sad smile on her lips. "She showed us the thing we want the most, but can never have."
"Who said we can't have that life?"
"Because look at who we are, Steve," Lottie told him, her voice tired as she smiled up at him. "We're Captain America and Slate. We're the leaders of the Avengers. The world is always going to need us, and the world will always end up coming first."
Steve Rogers leaned down, letting his lips envelop Lottie's for a split second. She let her eyes close, leaning into the feeling before he pulled back, forehead resting on her's and eyes staring into the other's.
"All I wanted, all my life, was you," Steve confessed to her, holding her face. "In the end, it was always going to be you. One day, this is all going to end. One day, they won't need us anymore, others will step up into our place. I promise you, when that day comes, that I will give you the life that you deserve to live."
Lottie's eyes closed one again, a smile crossing her lips as she leaned into Steve's touch once more.
"I love you, Steve Rogers,"
"I love you more, Charlotte Watson," Steve leaned back, pushing off the bed as he placed a kiss on top of her forehead. "You're exhausted. Get some sleep, I'll wake you up in a little bit."
Charlotte Watson didn't even try to argue, only smiling one more time as she watched Steve leave the room before closing her eyes.
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"Thor didn't say where he was going for answers?"
Steve barely even looked up at Tony, chopping up another piece of wood and throwing it into his pile.
"Sometimes my teammates don't tell me things. I was kind of hoping Thor would be the exception,"
Tony sighed, looking down at the wood pile for a second before shaking his head and looking up at Steve again.
"You know, Lottie knew about all this. She didn't say anything, why aren't you mad at her like you're mad at me?"
"Because she didn't help you, Tony," Steve reminded him, glaring slightly at him. "She tried to talk you out of it, hoping you would listen to her. If you would've then maybe this would be different."
"Yeah, give Thor some time. We don't know what the Maximoff kid showed him," Tony quickly interjected, changing the subject immediately. Steve sighed, shaking his head as he chose to let the conversation go as well.
"Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Pulled us apart like cotton candy,"
"You seemed to walk away alright," Tony said, Steve pausing his chopping of the wood to look at Tony.
"Is that a problem?"
"I'm assuming Lottie saw my dad, among other things," Tony shrugged. "Whatever she saw, it shook her up. But you, you seem just fine. I don't trust a guy without a dark-side."
"Well let's just say you haven't seen it yet," Steve said back, chopping another piece of wood before pausing again. "And don't try to make assumptions about what Lottie saw. You don't understand."
"Maybe because no one is telling me anything-"
"Like you told us about Ultron?"
Tony sighed, using the flannel around his waist to wipe his face.
"Look, I just want to know if Lottie is doing okay. I know I act like an ass all the time, but you realize I do care about her, yes?"
Steve paused for a moment, sighing as he realized that Tony was being truthful. Of course he cared about Lottie, he already knew that.
"She's fine, asleep upstairs at the moment. I really don't suggest bringing it up. If she wants to tell you, she will."
Steve and Tony stood in silence for a few moments, chopping up their blocks of wood in silence.
"You know Ultron is trying to tear us apart, right?"
"Well I guess you'd know. Whether you tell us is a bit of a question,"
"Banner and I were doing research-"
"That would affect the team-"
"That would end the team. Isn't that the mission? Isn't that the "why" we fight, so we can end the fight, so we get to go home?"
The block of wood that Steve held was ripped apart by his bare hands, the pieces falling to the ground as he stared down Tony.
"Every time someone tries to win a war before it starts, innocent people die. Every time.
A cough behind the pair gained their attention, both turning to see Lottie standing behind them. She smiled softly at them both, her hands crossed over her chest.
"Well, that's the last time I take a nap and leave you two alone together," she joked, turning to look at Tony. "Laura wants to know if you'll take a look at the tractor in their barn. Apparently it won't start at all."
Tony nodded, looking back at Steve with a pointed look.
"Don't take from my pile!"
He passed by Lottie, the pair sharing a small smile before Tony walked away toward the barn. Lottie turned her attention back to Steve, walking straight into his arms and wrapping herself up in him.
"Thought I told you to sleep and I'd wake you up?"
"It's been an hour," Lottie shot back, a little smile on her lips. "Besides, wasn't really having pleasant dreams."
Steve only pulled her back in, placing a kiss on her forehead as he held her right.
Tony turned around for a second to see them, a frown etching itself onto his lips as he realized just how shaken up Lottie was. He couldn't seem to shake the realization that because of him, his creation, she was like this.
He caused this, and he hated himself for it.
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I love Lottie and Steve. Honestly, like I can't tell you how much I love them together they're just perfect together. God, I LOVE THEM OKAY!
And Tony and Lottie's relationship...UGH LOVE IT