•••
Ellie and Natasha were on the quinjet, flying to Tokyo, which is where Rhodey had tracked Clint to. The two had landed the jet and had followed the obvious trail of bodies until they saw two men in the middle of the street.
The man thrusted the blade downwards into the others stomach, the body of the Japanese man falling limply to the ground, Ellie looked away in horror and Natasha quickly dropped her gaze to the floor. The living man grabbed the sword, and wiped it on his gauntlet, ridding it of the blood of the other. He grabbed his mask off of his head as he felt Ellie and Natasha's presences, turning around slowly to face them. The two women stood under a big umbrella, Natasha wearing a khaki trench coat with a pair of black skinny jeans and some tan heeled boots, whilst Ellie wore a pair of black three-quarter length trousers with a grey overcoat and a pair of black, red-bottom heels.
"You shouldn't be here." Clint Barton muttered solemnly, looking down at the floor.
"Neither should you." Natasha heaved a sigh, tilting her head to the side as she did so.
"I've got a job to do." He almost growled at them, lifting his head up a little to look at them.
"Is that what you're calling this blood bath?" Ellie asked wide-eyed, gesturing to the dead bodies littered around them.
"Killing all these people isn't gonna bring your family back." Natasha practically scolded him as Clint started to look emotional, on the verge of crying as Natasha brought up his dead family.
"We found something. A chance, maybe..." Natasha carefully changed the subject, but he cut her off.
"Don't..." He shook his head forcefully, tears now openly rolling down his tired face.
"Don't what?"
"...don't give me hope."
Ellie couldn't even imagine what it would be like to lose her children as well as her husband like Clint had with his children and his wife.
"I'm sorry we couldn't give it to you sooner."
- - -
The three assassins were on their way back to the compound. Clint and Natasha sat in pilot and co-pilot seats at the front of the plane, whilst Ellie sat in the back. However all of their attention was drawn to the screen as Tony's face popped up on it.
"Oh good you're here." He observed quickly with a sigh, Ellie tilting her head to the side.
"Hello to you too." She mused, sitting in the seat a couple of metres from the screen.
"Yeah, yeah." He waved her off dismissively, "We've got a problem."
"What? What's wrong?" Natasha asked, walking over and standing behind Ellie.
"Not sure there's much you can do Romanoff, this is more of an Ellie problem." Tony pointed at the brunette through the screen who furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.
"What's wrong Tony?" Ellie urged him to bring the subject back to the matter at hand.
"I've got a drunk super soldier over here and he won't stop crying." Tony turned the screen so that they could see what was going on. Steve sat in one of the armchairs with Bruce and Thor beside him, a bottle in his hand.
"How is he even drunk?" Natasha queried, knowing that when he was injected with the super soldier serum it no longer allowed him to get drunk.
"He's apparently been keeping some of Thor's Asguardian mead under his bed for a special occasion. None of us can work our what's wrong so we thought we'd ring you."
"And why did you think I'd know?" Ellie asked, crossing one of her legs over the other and resting her hands on her knee's.
"Because he keeps telling us to apologise to you." Tony told her pointedly, "Look, just, speak to him."
Ellie sighed as Tony pulled Steve over to her and sat him down in an office chair in front of the computer.
"Ellie!" The super soldier cried throwing his arms in the air enthusiastically, but that didn't stop the tears from flowing down his face.
"Why are you crying?" She asked him softly as she saw how much of a state he was in.
"It's his birthday you know." He muttered as a matter-of-factly to her.
"I know." She nodded with a smile, but her eyes told a different story.
"I cant even remember how old he is. Well, would have been."
"One hundred and six."
"Oh yeah!" Steve mumbled, "He's a year older than me."
"He is." She confirmed quietly, her voice laced with confusion. "Why are you so upset, honey?"
"I've let him down." The blonde sobbed, placing his head in his hands.
Ellie shook her head forcefully, "No you didn't. Don't ever say that."
"I did, El. I've sat by and watched him die twice."
"None of that was your fault, Steve, you have to know that. There was nothing that either of us could have done to save him."
Steve sat in silence for a moment, taking in what Ellie had just said.
"Tal and Harry asked me to tell them some stories about him last night."
"What story did you tell them?" She asked trying to take his mind off of everything.
"I told them about the time that we went to Rockaway beach, a-and we spent all of our train money on hotdogs. So Buck decided that we should just hide in the back of a freezer truck to get home." Steve told her fondly, making Ellie laugh. "Luckily the driver found us and threw us to the curb just as we got back into Brooklyn." Bucky had already told her that story many times, but it always made her smile when hearing story's about her husbands past.
"Steve if this works, we might have a chance of getting everyone back." She tried to reassure him as the tears continued to fall down his face.
Tony stepped in as Steve began to get hysterical, "How far out are you?"
Ellie turned to look at Natasha for an answer, who had since returned to her seat, "15 minutes."
"Be quick." Tony told her, ending the video call. Ellie turned the chair around so that Clint and Natasha couldn't see her, and placed her had in her hands to hide the tears that were falling down her face.
"Can I ask you a question?" Natasha called from her seat. Ellie wiped the tears from under her pale blue eyes, before turning her seat around to face her two friends.
"What's up?"
"One day every year, you wear the same outfit, that outfit." Natasha gestured to her clothes. She was no longer wearing the grey over coat but instead was wearing the dark green blouse that she had on underneath it. "Do you wear it because it's his birthday?"
Ellie brought her eyes up from the floor, looking at her best friend through tearful eyes.
"6 years ago today, I got married."
"You got married?!" Clint asked her, she answered by simply holding up her left hand where her wedding band sat, before continuing.
"You got married on his birthday?"
Ellie nodded before telling Natasha how it happened. "We'd had a marriage licence for months but we could never really be bothered to actually do it." Ellie took a deep breath to compose herself before continuing with her explanation. "So we don't usually do gifts but, Y'know, it's not everyday your husband turns 100, so I asked him what he wanted and he said that the only thing he wanted for was for me to marry him. And so I did. The two of us went to the town hall and we got married."
"And that's what you wore when you married him." Natasha concluded, shooting a sympathetic look in Ellie's direction, the woman nodded slightly.
"Plus, Tal said that it's way prettier than all of my other clothes." She shrugged with a small smile, making Natasha laugh.
"She told me she likes all of my clothes." Natasha told her smugly, making Ellie roll her eyes.
"Of course she did."
- - -
As soon as Natasha had landed the quinjet, Ellie quickly walked down the ramp and into the compound, glancing into every room trying to find Steve.
She walked into the kitchen, where Thor, Bruce, Scott, Pietro and Rhodes were. "Hey." She greeted them, hugging Pietro, who she hadn't seen yet.
"Hey, did you find him?" Bruce asked about Clint.
Ellie nodded as she poured two mugs of coffee from the pot. "See for yourself." She held her hand out in the direction of the door, just at the moment that Clint and Nat walked in. "Where is he?" Ellie looked around for Steve.
"He's on the roof." Thor told her, making her eyes widen.
"You let him on the roof on his own?" She asked incredulously.
"Calm down. Tony's with him." Bruce reassured her as she grabbed the blankets off the back of the couch.
"I'm gonna go and find him." The Barnes woman concluded, before heading up the stairs, her heels clicking on the floor as she went.
- - -
She pushed open the door to the roof with her bum as her hands were full. As she glanced out onto the roof, she saw Steve sat with Tony, in complete silence.
"Well this isn't awkward at all." She called out to the two men. They both turned their heads around to face her, a smirk was painted on Tony's face, but there were still tear marks down Steve's.
"You're hilarious." Tony mused as he stood up, Ellie sitting down where he was originally, a small smile on her face.
"Thank you." She mouthed at him and he gave her a small nod.
"You look good by the way." He moved his finger up and down her body and she shrugged with a smirk.
"I know."
He rolled his eyes as he walked off, leaving the two alone on the roof, looking out over New York.
Ellie plucked the glass bottle of mead from Steve's hand and replaced it with the mug of coffee and wrapped the blanket around his shoulders and the other around hers.
"I don't get cold." He mumbled, looking down disappointedly at the coffee that was huddled between his large hands.
"I know." Ellie nodded, taking her heels off, before dangling her legs over the edge like Steve was doing. "It's my mum instincts." She screwed the lid back on the bottle and then picked up her own mug of coffee.
"You don't have to sit here with me." Steve grumbled turning his head to face her, but she just raised her eyebrows sceptically.
"You've done it for me, and so I'm going to do it for you."
"I shouldn't put this on you of all people."
"Stop it." She scolded him, "I've been doing it for the last 6 year's so I think it's only fair that you do the same."
"Y'know El, you're like the sister I've never had." Steve slurred, resting his head on her shoulder.
"And you're like the brother that I already have two of." Eliana joked with a genuine smile, making him groan.
"I take that back, you're the sister in-law that I don't really like but have to put up with."
"I'm rubbing off on you." She smirked, nudging him in the side.
"I really miss him, El." Steve's voice cracked as he spoke to her.
"I know. I do too." Ellie placed her hand on his knee and they sat like that for a while, before Ellie eventually tapped her hand up and down. "C'mon lets get you to bed." Steve threw the mug off of the roof before taking Ellie's and doing the same, not even giving the woman time to try and stop him. "Oh. Okay then, guess that's what we're doing with those."
"I don't need to go to bed." He whined as she stood up, slipping her heels back on, taking his hand and pulling him up. He stood up, or tried to, but ended up almost falling over in his drunken state, Ellie luckily managing to catch him by the arm and yank him back up before he hit the ground.
"C'mon." She groaned, pulling his arm around her shoulder in an attempt to support his body weight.
She managed to get him downstairs and got him into the kitchen before he tripped over his own feet and tumbled to the ground. Ellie covered her hand with her mouth to stifle the laugh that Natasha didn't even try and hide. "Steve! We we're doing so well mate." She laughed pulling him up off the ground.
"I'm fine." He waved her off, "I'm gonna live forever because I'm an immortal super soldier." His face dropped. "But then again, look at Buck, he's a supposed immortal super soldier and he's dead. He's supposed to be 106 but instead he's dead."
"God you're a terrible drunk. I thought I was rubbing off on you." She muttered, feeling everyone eyes on them.
"Do you want some help?" Tony asked her amusedly, watching as she struggled to help Steve up.
"I've got it."
"Ellie. He's dead." Steve poked her in the arm, eventually standing up.
"Yeah, I know Steve."
"He's dead." He repeated, but Ellie ignored him and walked out of the kitchen with his large body slung over her shoulder. Ellie pushed him through his bedroom door and threw him onto his bed, pulling his legs onto the bed so that he was lying straight. "Where is he?"
"Where's who?" She asked him as she covered him over with a blanket.
"Bucky."
"James is gone, honey."
"Oh." He remembered sadly.
"Sleep this off, come and find me in the morning, okay?"
"Goodnight."
"Sleep well." She whispered, walking out of the room and closing the door quietly behind her.
Ellie let out a deep sigh of relief and sadness as she walked back into the kitchen, standing beside Natasha's chair.
"I have an easier job putting my kids to bed." She complained, grabbing half of a sandwich of off Natasha's plate.
"Kids?" Clint asked, a shocked expression on his face.
"Two." She nodded, taking a bite of the sandwich.
"How is he?" Bruce inquired after the drunk super soldier.
"Passed out." She turned to Thor, "And seriously, how strong is that drink?"
"Asguardian mead is for Gods, it is very strong." He nodded proudly, making Ellie roll her eyes.
"Did you sort things out?" Scott piped up.
"I don't know. He seemed okay, and then I dropped him and he seemed to not be okay again." She shrugged, "He asked me where James was, even though all he had told me for the last five minutes was that he was dead." She ran a hand through her hair tiredly.
"And are you okay?" Tony asked her.
"Of course." She nodded unconvincingly.
"Are you sure? Because today's the day that you do your weird wedding-birthday-death outfit tradition thing that you like to do every year." Tony looked her up and down, her eyes widening as Tony exposed her.
"Natasha! I told you not to tell anyone about that!" She exclaimed, hitting her friends around the back of the head.
"Wha-? I didn't tell him you crazy woman, stop hitting me!" Natasha complained, grabbing ahold of Ellie's hands and holding them to her sides.
"El, you told me that." Tony told her with a small laugh, her arms going limp.
"I did?"
"2 years ago, I found you drunk just after your mom died and you were wearing your special 'wedding-birthday-death outfit' as you called it. Then you continued to explain it to me as I put you to bed, which I can imagine was a lot easier than having to put Steve to bed." Stark explained, shooting her a sympathetic glance.
"Don't look at me like that!" She groaned, bending down to take off her heels.
"You don't seem very okay." Thor raised his eyebrows at her.
"God I'm too sober for this shit." Ellie muttered under her breath, earning a sharp elbow in the ribs and a glare from Natasha.
"That's not funny." The redhead scolded her.
"I'm very sorry." She told her sarcastically before continuing, "Of course I'm fine. My husbands dead, my best friend has just told me 10 times in a row that my husband is dead, my children are no where to be seen. One of my children has never even been held by her father and the other doesn't remember him. What more could I want? So yes, I'm absolutely wonderful. Thank you for asking." Ellie finished her rant before walking off briskly, wiping away the tears that fell down her face with a sigh.
As Ellie walked into her bedroom, she slammed the door behind her and then sitting down on the end of her bed, her body wracking with sobs as she cried for him, taking off of her necklace and holding his wedding ring tightly in her hands. She would do anything to look at him right now. To touch him. To hold him. Kiss him. But she couldn't. Because he wasn't there.
A knock at the door made Ellie jump slightly, and she placed the necklace back around her neck before rolling off the bed and standing up, opening the door. Pietro Maximoff stood on the other side of the door, a frown on his face as he took the woman into his arms.
"I knew you weren't okay." He muttered to her as she let out another pained sob.
"How am I supposed to be okay? How are any of us supposed to be okay?" Ellie asked him, almost rhetorically as he sat her down on the small couch in her bedroom, and then also sitting down himself.
"We're not. That's exactly the point Liana." The Sokovian reassured her, calling her by the end of her first name, like he had many times before.
"Do you ever think about what it would be like if we'd gone too?" She looked up at him with sad eyes, "Or if we'd gone instead of them?"
"All the time." He replied quietly.
Ellie heaved a sigh as she admitted, "I think Harry would have been better of with James instead of me."
"What? No! Don't say that." Pietro scolded her, sitting up straighter. "If you'd disappeared, Natalia wouldn't have been born. If I'd disappeared I might never have met Alice. You can't sit and think about how it could have been, you have to think about how it is. Yes, there was a lot of death, but there's beauty too. You've got two amazing, beautiful children and I met the love of my life."
His words had truly touched her, "Do you miss her?"
"I miss her every second of every day." He nodded, placing his hand comfortingly on her knee. The two sat in silence for a small while before Eliana spoke again.
"How long have you been working on that speech?"
"You're an ass." He laughed, punching her gently in the shoulder. "And that was part of the speech that I gave to Alice when I proposed to her last week. Minus the part about your children because that would have just been weird."
Ellie nodded with a smirk, not really taking in what he had just said until she paused, turning her head to look at him.
"You proposed?!" She asked excitedly, a large grin replacing the frown that had been on her face.
As he nodded, Ellie threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.
"She'd be so proud of you." Ellie told him as the two hugged.
"I know." He smiled tearfully, "She was always telling me how she wanted a sister instead of a brother, and now she's going to have both."
"We're going to get them back." The woman whispered powerfully.
"We're going to get them back."
- - -
This is the longest chapter I've ever written phaa, we're almost at the end. Well. Not really but y'know What I mean. Thanks for reading💓💓
3358 words xx