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Chrysanthemums. Particularly, white ones. In many cultures, they're the symbolization of death, grief, and mourning. Of course, Tony didn't know that. That's why he never questioned the odd number of chrysanthemums that had been planted in the garden outside the front door.
17. One for each member of the team that had turned to dust. Plus, the countless others in planter boxes all over the house, symbolizing each and ever life that they had cost by losing. Tony might've tried to move on, but he'd never know that she never did. That her countless hours in the garden weren't her time of peace, but they were the one time she allowed herself to mourn for 5 continuous years.
"Mrs. Stark? You want me to just throw this stuff in the mailbox?"
Audelia Stark dragged herself up from where she was crouched in front of the flower beds at the front of the house, squinting slightly in the sun as she recognized their regular mailman, Thomas. She took one look back at the white flowers that bloomed before her, realizing that her mourning for the day had ended.
"Yes please! Thank you Tom, see you tomorrow!"
"Have a good day, Mrs. Stark,"
In the 5 years had passed, nightmares still plagued Audelia's mind of that battle she knew she'd never forget.
Tony had kept a promise that he had made so many years ago. They settled down, a little cabin like house right on the edge of a lake, plenty of acres for animals, and for the girls. But even as she sat there and heard the laughs of her daughters down by the lake, she couldn't shake the pain that came along with knowing that they had been one of the lucky ones, while many others were not.
"Lunch is ready," Deli looked up, smiling as Tony leaned over the railing of the porch, grinning down at her. She rose to her feet, leaning up as he captured her lips in a short kiss. "I'm never going to get tired of that."
There was a short noise from the side as Tony pulled back, glaring at the alpaca standing in his pen not so far away.
"Gerald, I'm tired of your shit,"
Audelia laughed, smacking Tony with her gloves as she took them off, placing them on the ground.
"Stop harassing the poor thing and let's go get the girls,"
Tony didn't waste a second in descending the stairs, his arm finding it's rightful place around her waste as they walked off toward the lake, hearing the laughter of the girls inside of their little makeshift tent.
"Chow time!" Tony called out as they stood in front of the tent, hearing the girls trying to quiet one another as Tony rolled his eyes while Deli let out a small laugh. "Rora, set the example. GIve yourself up before I take you off to jail."
There was a loud groan from the eleven year old before Aurora Porter-Stark pulled herself out of the tent, Tony wrapping her up in his arm as she stood at his side.
"See? Was that so hard?"
"We were playing!"
It was Audelia's turned to roll her eyes at her daughter before turning back to the tent, kneeling in front of it.
"Morgan H. Stark, come get your lunch,"
Little Morgan popped out from behind the tent, a familiar blue and gold helmet on her head as she held up her hand toward her mother.
"Define lunch or be disintergrated,"
"You should not be wearing that," Deli laughed as she took it off of her daughter's head, smoothing out her hair. "That's a birthday gift for Auntie Pepper...a dangerous gift."
"At least they didn't find Nathan's..." Tony muttered as she shot her husband a look, knowing that was just giving the two troublemaker's more ideas. "Which we aren't going to go looking for or your lunch will be a handful of crickets. Now, how did you two find this?"
"The garage..." Aurora told him, grinning up at him. "We weren't looking for it, though, I swear!"
"We found it though!" Rora shot her little sister a look, trying to quietly tell her to be quiet. Deli laughed, picking up her younger daughter and placing her on her hip.
"Alright girls, playtime is over. It's time for lunch,"
As the little family turned around, making their way back up toward the house, they were brought to a stop by the sound of a car stopping right outside the house. Audelia lifted an eyebrow as Nathan exited the car first, shooting her a nervous smile.
"Dad!" Aurora called out, running forward as Nathan picked her up (not with ease though) and gave her a hug. Audelia and Tony walked toward him as Deli questioned his presence.
"I definitely didn't make enough lunch for you too," Tony commented as Nathan sighed, looking between the two before him.
"Just...don't kill me immediately, please,"
Audelia didn't get a chance to comment before the other doors of the car opened, her eyes going wide as Steve and Natasha stepped out. Her eyes widened even more as Scott Lang stepped out behind them as well.
The same Scott Lang that they believed disappeared in the snap.
Tony and Audelia exchanged a glance before Tony sighed, nodding his head toward the house for the group that had appeared before them.
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"Now, we know what it sounds like..."
"Guys," Steve interjected, looking between Tony and Audelia. Tony was pouring them all drinks from the pitcher as Audelia was leaning against the railing, looking at her team, the girls inside eating lunch. "After everything you've seen, is anything really impossible?"
"Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck Scale, which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition. Can we agree on that?" Tony handed Steve a drink, who thanked him. "In Layman's terms, it means you're not coming home."
"I did," Scott argued as Deli waved him off.
"Scott, you accidentally survived. It's a billion to one cosmic fluke," Deli couldn't help but laugh lightly at the idea of it all. "And now you wanna pull off a... What do you call it?"
"A time heist?" Scott said, a hint of a grin on his face.
"Yeah, a time heist. Of course, why didn't we think of this before?" Tony commented, looking back at his wife for a moment. "Oh, because it's laughable? Because it's a pipedream?"
"The Stones are in the past. We can go back and get them," Nathan tried to reason with his friends as Natasha jumped in.
"We can snap our own fingers. We can bring everyone back,"
"Or, we could just screw it up more than he already has," Audelia tried to reason back as she sighed. "I want, just as much as you, for all of them to be here. I really do. But the risks are too high, there's no telling how badly we could make this situation if we do this."
"I don't believe we would screw it up," Steve told her confidently as Tony laughed.
"Gotta say, sometimes I miss that giddy optimism," Tony told him as he placed himself down in the seat beside where Audelia was standing. "However, high hopes won't help if there's no logical, tangible way for Deli and I to safely execute said time heist. I believe the most likely outcome would be our collective demise."
"Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel. That means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events-"
"Scott, I'm going to stop you right there," Deli cut in. "If you are seriously telling me that your plan to save the universe is based on Back To The Future then I might actually lose my mind. That's not how quantum physics works."
"Deli," Natasha spoke, looking at her friend with sadness in her eyes as she tried to reason with her. "We have to take a stand."
"We did stand," Tony interjected before Deli could. "And look where we are."
"I know you got a lot on the line. You have a family together, two daughters. But I lost someone very important to me. A lot of people did," Audelia looked down at the ground, avoiding Scott's gaze at all costs. "And now, now we have a chance to bring her back. To bring everyone back. And you're telling me that won't even-"
"That's right, Scott, I won't even," Tony reached out, taking Audelia's hand in his own and squeezing it. "We've got a family."
The door opened as Morgan came running out, Aurora peeking out from behind the door at the team around her, the people she grew up around. Morgan crawled into Tony's lap as he immediately hugged her.
"Aurora said I should come save you,"
"Good job, I'm saved," Tony rose from his seat, moving toward the door as he looked at the team. "I wish you'd come here to ask me something else. Anything else. Honestly, I... I missed you guys, it was-"
"Tony, I get it. And I'm happy for you, I really am. For both of you," Steve took a glance over at Audelia, who still wouldn't look up from the ground as she stood silent. "But this is a second chance."
"I've got my second chance right here, Cap. Can't roll the dice on it,"
Tony entered the house, hoarding both of the girls back toward the dining room to eat. Nathan sighed, looking down at his feet before looking to Audelia.
"You're being very quiet over there,"
Deli let out a short laugh, finally looking up at her friends. She nodded her head, looking through the window before back to Steve.
"I can't promise anything, but I'll talk to him," she told him, seeing the slight smile on his lips. "It's what dad would want. He'd want us to try."
Steve nodded, stepping forward as he brought her into a hug. Audelia savored it, missing him all this time, as she hugged him back, before giving Natasha one as well.
"We'll be in touch," Natasha told her as they began to walk back toward the car.
"Don't go trying this on your own. It's not going to go well," she warned them, getting a wave of a hand from Natasha, knowing she warning would be ignored. "Nathan, maybe come see your daughter instead of warping through time!"
"It's what Rora would want me to do!"
Audelia couldn't help but sigh, watching the team get into the car with a pit in her stomach, knowing that whatever was coming held something bad.
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What I am not going to do is talk in depth on the Robert Downey Jr stuff that transpired last night, along with some of the rest of the cast. Everyone has a right to their own opinion, I don't want my comments flooded with political stuff, but I don't want to hear anything about 'canceling' the cast for their words about Chris Pratt because cancel culture is stupid. Yes, I think they should've thought about their comments given the political climate and the effect that it would have, and yes I believe that if they could stand up for Pratt then they should've stood up for Brie, Zendaya, Mackie and anyone else that was harrassed over the years. That is all I have to say though, and I would appreciate if we kept politics out of the comments. Thank you in advance.