Even after five years Elizabeth still found it hard to find a reason to get out of bed. But she knew that if she didn't do it herself, Natasha would send Wanda or Pietro to drag her out of bed. Usually ending in a screaming match at eleven in the morning.

Groaning, Elizabeth rubbed at her eyes as she sat up straight in her bed. She yawned with a stretch before looking around the dim room, the sunlight peeking in through the closed curtains. Her bedroom in the compound remained just as it had five years, everything in the exact same place it had been since she first moved it. The atmosphere letting her have a moment of peace every morning when she forgot the horrid things Thanos had done.

Alpine shifted over the duvet as Elizabeth moved to check the clock by her bedside table, the time reading half past ten. As she untangled her messy hair with her fingers, she debated whether she should go back to sleep for another half an hour until Natasha sent someone to pull her out of bed.

Unlike the other three only residents of the compound, her sleep wasn't filled with nightmares that sent her waking up with a scream. No, her sleep was the one thing she cherished -besides her cat, of course. Her sleep was plagued with dreams so beautiful and realistic that sometimes she'd wake up in tears.

They consisted of happy memories or even moments that never happened with all the people she'd lost, mostly Bucky. They were the only things that kept her happy anymore, they were also the only time's she'd get to see him. Which is why sometimes she'd sleep for nearly whole days, not bothering to wake up.

Sure, she always could've killed herself so she'd see him in heaven or hell or whatever. But she didn't believe in all that crap, she didn't believe in them one bit. They were just stories told to make the living feel better. When you die you're gone, that was it. There's no after or no light at the end of the tunnel. Death was the end of the line.

She was brought out of her bitter daydream when she heard the sound of footsteps and the clattering of dishes coming from the kitchen. With a heavy sigh, Elizabeth made her way out of bed and into the bathroom to get ready.

Patting her hair dry with a towel, Elizabeth saw Alpine sitting patiently by the bedroom door. The cat's eyes looking at her expectantly. She gave a tight lipped smile to the cat before heading to open the door. She threw her towel in the laundry basket and followed after the cat. The soft voices getting louder with every step she took.

Passing by the now many vacant rooms in the compound, she tried not to stare too long at them. Knowing that it would just make her more sad than she already was. Yet, she still stood a second too long by the empty room across the hall from hers.

Steve had left a few days after they had killed Thanos. Not offering anyone of them any explanation besides a goodbye and promises to visit. They only saw him every few weeks now. But it was better than what Tony had given them.

The billionaire up and left with Pepper the minute Bruce cleared him. Not saying goodbye to any of them, he left them with a note on the desk in his office. His address was written on it, signed by his name and a doodle of some sunglasses.

Bruce left after that. Saying goodbye to Natasha with a smile before heading off into a car left by Tony. Instead of an address he left a phone number, telling them to call him for anything. They haven't seen him since, but they assumed he was good. Thor was god knows where, no one had seen or heard from him since he killed Thanos. He wasn't waiting for them back on the ship.

After that, Rhodey left with Rocket and Nebula. Elizabeth still wasn't sure what they did up in space but she liked to call them the 'Space Police'. Carol left too, she had no reason to stay anyways. They all spoke once every few days, Natasha taking up the space where Nick Fury would be. She was the only one keeping them all together.

Her head turned to the end of the hall. The sound of Natasha talking to Wanda and Pietro, grabbing her attention. The four of them were the only ones left in the big space that was obviously built to accommodate more people.

Walking into the kitchen, Elizabeth saw Wanda leaning down to fill up the food in Alpine's bowl. Wanda looked up and offered a smile to her. "Morning," Wanda greeted, catching the attention of Natasha and Pietro who bickered by the stove.

"Hey," Elizabeth nodded to all of them before taking a seat by the counter, Wanda sitting down beside her. They didn't eat at the table anymore, it was too big.

Natasha pushed the now red hair back from her face, the light tips of her long hair falling past her shoulders. "Want some breakfast?" Natasha asked as she held a spatula in one hand.

"That depends on who's cooking," Elizabeth said as she leaned forward on her elbows on the counter. Pietro turned to wave his own spatula at her, answering her question. "Um, yeah. No thanks," she grimaced knowing if there was anyone who could cook worse than her it was him.

"See!" Pietro exclaims to Natasha as he points the spatula in Elizabeth's direction. "Even she doesn't like my cooking. I told you, there's no point." Pietro tried reasoning with Natasha as he tried to shove his spatula into her hands.

Rolling her eyes at him, Natasha started up the stove. "You have to learn. You are a grown man," she retorted as she moved to take some food out of the refrigerator.

"Ah, yes. But my heart is young," Pietro tried once more only to have Natasha swat him with the spatula. "Plus we have Pop-Tarts."

Natasha glared at him silently before shoving two eggs in his hand. Telling him to get to work. Pietro grumbled unhappily but got to cooking nonetheless. Natasha leaned back on the counter watching him carefully, giving him instructions every now and then.

Wanda silently slipped Elizabeth a cup of coffee. "Are you visiting Emilie today?" Wanda asked with her own red mug in her hand.

Sipping on her own warm drink, Elizabeth nodded. Emilie had wanted to get her own place despite Elizabeth trying to tell her that there was way more rooms than people in the compound. Yet, the older woman still refused. Emilie got a place nearby in New York, not being able to stay in Paris knowing that there was no one to go home to.

"Give her back her shirt," Natasha reminded Elizabeth with a pointed look. Elizabeth merely held her thumb up as she downed the rest of her coffee, wanting to check in on her sister in law quickly.

As she stood up, the chair scraped against the floor loudly. "I'll be back for dinner," Elizabeth informed the three as she patted Wanda's shoulder affectionately. She bent down to stroke Alpine softly before making a move to grab her stuff and leave.

"Hey, what about my eggs?" Pietro asked her somewhat hurt as he moved aside to let Elizabeth see the mess that was in the pan.

"Run," Wanda muttered to Elizabeth with a grimace at the food.

Pietro looked at her with a raise eyebrow, waiting expectantly for an answer. "Yeah, um," she began as she tried to think of a way to let him down slowly. She brushed it off, seeing there was nothing she could think off. "I'm just gonna go." She threw her thumb over her shoulder and walked out of the room.

***

"Since when do you smoke?" Elizabeth asked. Emilie sat on her small balcony with a cigarette resting between her lips. Emilie placed the cigarette between her index and middle finger. Blowing the smoke out through her mouth into the gloomy afternoon sky.

She shrugged before patting the empty seat beside her. "I used to do it a lot when I was younger," Emilie explained briefly. "I guess old habits die hard," she smiled at Elizabeth lightly before putting the cigarette out in the ashtray on the table between them.

"I am sorry if the smell bothers you." Elizabeth waved her hand away at Emilie's sentence. She had always been so considerate of people around her. Which is probably why Elizabeth liked her so much. As long as she had known her, Emilie had always been nothing but nice to everyone and anyone she met.

"What're you thinking of having for lunch?" Elizabeth asked as she crossed her legs on the seat

Emilie was silent as she thought of what to answer. As she thought, the two of them watched as the sky darkened before the rain poured down heavily. The smell of smoke in the air was quickly replaced by the smell of rain and wet grass.

"How do you feel about shawarma?" Emilie asked despite knowing that they had the meal two days ago. But she couldn't help it. She knew they were Luke's favourite.

Feeling Emilie grow slightly sad, Elizabeth nodded quickly before grabbing her hand in hers. "Sure," she said before standing up to head inside. "Same place?"

"Where else?" Emilie replied as she continued to stare out at the rain with a sad smile on her face.

"I'll call and you put on Clueless?" Elizabeth asked as she tried to make herself sound happy, wanting to cheer up Emilie, knowing that Clueless was a movie that she loved.

She nodded, her head still not facing Elizabeth. "Josh is cute," Emilie forced a smile to her face as she tried to think of the movie.

"Yeah," Elizabeth agreed as she made her way back inside to reach for the phone. "Though he kinda reminds me of someone," she trailed off as she picked up the phone.

***

Looking out the window in the compound she saw as the sun fully set behind the tall buildings in the distance. She looked for Natasha, as per Wanda and Pietro's request.

"Hey, the twins are looking for the-" Elizabeth rounded the corner to the library that had become Natasha's office, stopping herself short when she saw Steve sitting across from Natasha at her desk.

Natasha tilted her chin up at the man. "Look who's here."

Elizabeth returned the smile Steve offered her as she leaned against the wall. "What're you doing back?" She asked.

"I thought he was here to do his laundry but apparently, he's here to see a friend." Natasha answered for Steve as he shrunk back in his seat.

"A friend?" Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at the man. "Singular?" Elizabeth teased him at his choice of words as he chuckled lightly.

"Just get over here," Steve rolled his eyes at her playfully before pushing out the chair beside him with his knee, asking her to take a seat.

She walked past Natasha with a pat on the redheads shoulder before taking a seat at the desk. "So what're we talking about?" Elizabeth asked as she propped her legs up on the desk.

Natasha pushed Elizabeth's legs off with a smirk, making room for her own long legs. "Blondie here was about to tell us to look on the bright side," Natasha informed her with a look of mock disgust.

Elizabeth tsked at Natasha's words and shook her head at Steve. "We don't do that here, buddy." Natasha nodded along to her words with a smirk. "Here, there's no bright side. We've flushed it down the drain with our hopes and dreams." Her words were playful, they were meant to be a joke. But all three of them knew it was somewhat true.

"How've you been?" Steve asked Elizabeth, wanting to catch up with his old friend. "You been going out? Getting around?" He asked with worry, knowing that she was never the same after what happened with Bucky.

She laughed at his poor segue as she brought a knee up to rest her arm on. "Are you asking me if I've been on any dates?" Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at him questioningly, knowing what he was getting at.

"Not just you, I asked Natasha too." Steve  began to defend himself as Natasha laughed at him.  "And I mean I was just wondering if you've been asked by any guys, or girls?" He quickly added trying to be nonchalant.

Deciding to humour him, Elizabeth nodded at him. "A mix of both, I guess. I'd say yes, but I could never bring myself to show up the next day." She shrugged, knowing that standing them up probably wasn't the best thing.

"What about Carol?" Natasha  brought up with a frown. "I thought you guys had something going on?"

"We tried, but neither of us were ready." Elizabeth explained as she thought about the blonde. She was nice and all that but Elizabeth knew it wouldn't be fair if they started something. Both of them still hung up on people they've lost. "Hell, I doubt we'll ever be. We've both lost people, so we didn't think it'd be right..." Elizabeth trailed off with a grimace, letting them know that it is what it is.

She forced out a laugh to cover the tone of her sentence. "But we're not here to talk about my non-existent love life."

"You should get a life," Steve told her as he played with the zipper of the bomber jacket in his hands.

Elizabeth scoffed at his words and looked at the two that sat around her. "I think we all need to get a life," she retorted.

Natasha laughed lightly before leaning back in her chair. "I volunteer that Steve goes first," she said and Elizabeth nodded in agreement as Steve shook his head at the two of them.

Suddenly there was the sound of a bell and a small screen appeared above the table, right in Natasha's line of sight. She sighed at the notification and swiped it to the right, displaying what was shown to the other two at the desk.

"Oh hi!" A familiar voice exclaimed on the blue tinted screen and Elizabeth frowned at the video. "Is anyone home?"

Scott Lang stood at the gates to the compound with a battered up brown van behind him. He cupped his left hand over his mouth while the other hand waved up at the camera. "This is Scott Lang!" He yelled clearly and Elizabeth's jaw dropped open. "We met a few years ago, at the airport. In Germany?"

Elizabeth stood up from her seat and walked closer to the projection, wanting to make sure her eyes weren't deceiving her. "I was the guy that got really big and I had a mask on," Scott continued to speak and Elizabeth heard Natasha gasp quietly.

"Is this an old message?" Steve asked as he looked at the two who stared at the screen in shock.

Natasha stood up at the same time as Steve and the two walked to stand beside Elizabeth. "It's the front gate," she said in awe.

Stepping away from the two, Elizabeth went out into the hall. "Pietro!" She called out and Pietro appeared beside her in a second, his hair messy and disheveled.

"You called?" He asked as he leaned past her to tilt his head where Natasha and Steve both stood around the screen.

"Open the gates," she told Pietro as she thought of what this could mean.