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Scott was pacing back and forth while Steve, Marlena, and Natasha watched him curiously. He seemed anxious over something but wouldn't stop pacing long enough to tell anyone about it. It was to the point the three of them were becoming anxious just looking at him.
"Scott," Steve's voice finally pulled the man out of his trance. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Scott rubbed his eyes and looked back to the group. "Have any of you ever studied quantum physics?"
"Only to make conversation," Natasha answered.
Scott almost seemed excited by the redhead's answer. "Alright, so, five years ago, right before Thanos, I was in a place called the Quantum Realm. The Quantum Realm is like its own microscopic universe—to get in there you have to be incredibly small. Hope, she was my, um—she was supposed to pull me out, and then Thanos happened and I got stuck in there."
"I'm sorry, that must've been a very long five years," Natasha apologized.
"Yeah, but that's just it," Scott retorted. "It wasn't."
"What do you mean?" Marlena asked.
"For me it was five hours," Scott answered her. "See, the rules of the quantum realm aren't like they are up here. Everything is unpredictable—is that anybody's sandwich?"
"Um, it's mine," Marlena answered slowly as he crossed the room to grab it.
"It's actually not yours," Natasha reminded her.
Scott ignored both of them and grabbed the second half of the sandwich anyway.
Steve rolled his eyes at Marlena and Natasha and started towards Scott. "Scott, what are you talking about?"
"So," Scott started with a mouthful of food. "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."
Steve, Marlena, and Natasha exchanged glances with one another and looked back to Scott. He was freaking out over everything going through his mind, and while the sight was amusing, they couldn't help but focus their attention on the words he was saying and what he seemed to be implying.
"What if we could somehow control the chaos and we could navigate it?" Scott continued babbling. "What if there was a way we could enter the quantum realm at one point in time and then exit at another point in time? Like...like before Thanos."
"Wait," Steve stopped him. "Are you talking about a time machine?"
The idea was absurd, at least to the three of them.
"No, of course not," Scott answered quickly. "Not a time machine, this is more like a...um...yeah, a time machine. I know, it's crazy. I can't stop thinking about it, but there's got to be...some way...it's crazy."
"Please," Natasha scoffed. "I get emails from a raccoon, so nothing sounds crazy anymore."
"So, who do we talk to about this?"
"Probably Tony Stark," Natasha answered him.
"Well, great!" Scott exclaimed. "How soon can we be there?"
The three exchanged glances again, and Marlena spoke up. "I know you just got here, and I know what you're telling us is really important, but it's too late to go see Tony right now."
"What? Why?" Scott asked.
"He lives two hours away and has a young daughter," Steve explained.
"When did he have time to get a daughter?"
Natasha shook her head at Scott and moved to sit back down at her desk. "It's been five years, Scott, five years."
"Right."
"You are more than welcome to stay here for the night," Natasha told him. "You and I will head to Stark's tomorrow, and I can only hope the two of you will join us."
"We've got your back," Steve assured her, and Marlena nodded at his side.
"So, tomorrow?" Marlena asked to make sure. She was becoming nauseous which only made her bed sound even more inviting. Natasha's peanut butter sandwich wasn't agreeing with her, but neither were a lot of other foods for that matter.
"Ten o'clock, please," Natasha said to her.
Marlena gave her a thumbs up and began backing out of the room. "I'll see you tomorrow. I expect you'll give me my jacket back."
"Probably not."
Marlena rolled her eyes at the smirk on Natasha's face, but she couldn't help the smile on her own. "Goodnight, Natasha," she chuckled and pulled her gym bag over her shoulder.
"Goodnight, Marlena...goodnight, Steve."
"Goodnight, you two," Steve said to Natasha and Scott as he grabbed Marlena's hand, intertwining both of their fingers. The two walked together out of the room, leaving Scott in a heap of confusion.
"What the—I thought she was with the metal man," Scott said to Natasha.
Natasha only rolled her eyes at him and nudged him towards the living quarters. "Just keep walking, Lang."
Marlena only chuckled as she listened to their exchange and placed her head on Steve's arm. Thankfully, she had him to help take her mind of the nausea eating away every inch of her stomach lining. She let out a breath and wrapped her arm around his bicep, while her other hand was grasped tightly within his.
"Are you okay?" Steve asked Marlena as the two strolled out of the building and to the car.
"I'm not really feeling the best," Marlena answered and rounded the front of the car to get to the passenger's seat. She hopped in the car and threw her bag in the back, while Steve got in on the driver's side.
"Are you sick?"
Steve started off the property, and Marlena made herself comfortable at his side.
"Just been feeling nauseous the last few days," Marlena sighed and looked over at him. "I think that Chinese we had last week really messed with my stomach."
"Maybe you just have a weak stomach," Steve teased her.
"Don't be mean," Marlena playfully swatted his chest. "I'm fragile right now."
"Do you feel okay enough to have a bowl of chicken soup?"
"Of course I do."
Steve smiled and grabbed her hand. "I'll make you some when we get home," he told her.
"You have no idea how much I would love and appreciate that, Rogers," she said quietly with a grin on her face.
The two spent a few moments in silence, and Marlena's mind began to linger back to Scott and everything he said to them. She wondered if what he was implying would actually work, and while it sounded absolutely ridiculous to her, part of her hoped Tony would change her mind. She hadn't had hope in years, and even now she still lacked a huge portion of it when it came to that particular topic, but Scott had given them something. Possibly.
"What do you think about what Scott said?" Marlena asked Steve.
"About the time machine?"
"Yeah," Marlena answered. "Do you think it'll work?"
Steve shrugged and glanced over at her. "Tony'll tell us tomorrow, I believe."
"What if it does work?"
"If it works, we get another chance to undo what was done five years ago, but I know it'll be the last chance we ever get," Steve answered her. "All I've been trying to do for years is find a way to get them back."
Marlena furrowed her brows in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Do you remember the days I'd just randomly disappear?"
"Yeah."
"Well, a lot of the times I was at the compound working with Natasha, Nebula, and Carol to figure out a way to bring everyone back," Steve revealed.
"Why didn't you ever tell me this?"
"You were so broken, Marlena," Steve answered her quietly, a frown falling onto his face as he thought back on the years he spent watching Marlena suffer through absolute turmoil. "I didn't wanna give you any sort of hope only for it to be ripped away again."
"Thanks for caring, I guess," Marlena muttered.
"I'm sorry," Steve apologized.
Marlena shook her head and pressed her head to her seat. "I understand why you're all still trying—I would love nothing more than to get them back—but we tried and we lost. Scientifically, what Scott said sounds like it could work, but I won't get my hopes up. If this works and we blow it, like you said, it'll be our last chance, and I don't wanna put myself through that again."
"And you don't have to," Steve assured her. "If it works, it works, and we get everyone back; if it doesn't work, it doesn't work, and we can all go back to getting those lives I said we should get."
"You know, I already have a life," Marlena smiled over at him. "It includes you and Natasha and Tony and Bruce and everyone else."
"Even Rocket?"
"Only sometimes," Marlena scoffed at the mention of his name. "Sometimes I'd really just like to cook him."
"That's not a nice thing to say," Steve chuckled.
"Whatever," Marlena leaned over the console to lay her head on Steve's shoulder. "But you are my life now."
"I know," Steve pressed a quick kiss to her head. "Can I ask you a question, though?"
"Yeah?"
"What would you do if we did get everyone back?" Steve asked quietly. "What would happen between you and me?"
Marlena let out a breath and stared out the windshield at the seemingly endless road ahead. She knew exactly what he was referring to and who he was referring to, and she knew he was afraid to receive a certain answer. She hated it. "Steve—"
"I know you still love him, and that's okay, really," Steve cut her off. "I've just thought about what would happen if we somehow did figure out a way to bring everyone back."
"I do still love him," Marlena answered him. "I will always love him, but things have changed. I was in love with him, and he will always be someone so important to me, but I'm in love with you, Steve. You're the one that I plan to spend my life with now, so I know exactly what would happen between you and I if he came back. The only thing about it is that I don't think I'd be able to live with myself for hurting him."
"I feel the same way," Steve finally pulled into their complex's parking garage. "I've always tried to do right by Buck, but I know if we found some way to bring them back, I wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing I was part of the reason he was hurting."
Steve parked the car, and Marlena sat up, pulling her knees to her chest in the seat.
"I think about him a lot," Marlena said to Steve. "I think about my entire family, actually. All I want is for them to be okay...wherever they are...I just hope they're okay and they're at peace."
"I like to think they are."
Marlena looked over at Steve and smiled. "Forever the optimist."
"Someone has to be in this relationship," Steve teased and turned off the engine.
Marlena only scoffed, grabbed her gym bag, and hopped out of the car. She didn't even bother stopping to wait on Steve. "I happen to think I'm pretty optimistic, thank you very much."
Marlena could hear Steve laughing behind her, but she kept walking. It wasn't until Steve ran to grab her from behind that she stopped walking. She turned to face him, her hands falling onto his chest, and her hazel eyes met his blue ones under the dim light of the parking garage.
"Why don't you tell me something optimistic?" Steve smiled down at her.
"How about the fact that we're gonna have the greatest little wedding and the most beautiful little babies and the cutest little house for our kids to grow up in," Marlena giggled.
"Oh, yeah?" Steve hummed. "So, you want more than one?"
"I might need at least two."
"I'll give you whatever you want."
"Well," Marlena wrapped her arms around Steve's neck. "Right now I really want you to fix me that soup."
Steve shook his head and pulled her in for a kiss. He hugged her body tightly against his own and picked her small form off of the ground, pulling away from their kiss to look down at her again. "Don't worry, I'm gonna make you your soup," he assured her.
"I would very much appreciate that," she replied with a grin. "I would also appreciate you putting me down before I puke all over this nice shirt of yours."
Steve chuckled and sat her back down, though he grabbed her hand instead. "That bad, huh?"
"Nothing a little chicken soup can't fix."
Steve simply smiled and pulled her along to their apartment, more than ready to fix her some "get well" soup and crawl into bed with her. They had a semi-big day tomorrow, and Steve wanted nothing more than to rest up. He needed all the energy he could get to prepare him for whatever answer Tony was going to give to them, but it wouldn't prepare him at all. Not in the slightest.