"Is she on the way?" Steve asked Tony shakily, sitting in the quintet, his hand pressed firmly into the gunshot wound that took you down. It unnerved him how you didn't so much as wince at the pressure, but not nearly as much as the fact that you hadn't opened your eyes yet since he and Tony carried you to the bench where you laid now. You had lost a lot of blood before he could stop it; it still covered his uniform and seeped into the pores of his hands from carrying you. This was all too familiar to him, even with so many years passed; he and Tony had been witness to your near-death on this very same jet, and it was all that Steve could do to keep himself together, and it was only for your sake at that.

"Yes," Tony muttered under his breath. He was feeling much of what Steve was experiencing, his hands wrung so desperately that they were blanched of color and sensation, as if he had worn them down to the bone. His anxiety was whispering to him, just at the edge of consciousness, but he held it back. He wouldn't succumb to it while you needed strength around you. Maybe later it would have its way with him, but not now. "Helen's diverting us to a hospital in the city. Both she and Bruce feel that's best and that they can't do enough at the compound's infirmary."

"Okay...that sounds good. Better."

"This is your fault, you know?"

"Tony, not now..."

"I think now is the perfect time," your father continued on. He wouldn't look up at Steve, his focus on his hands being the only thing keeping him in control. "She told you to go back to the jet. You're not a goddamn super soldier anymore, Steve. One shot in the right place, and you're done. I don't know if she still has...if...if the serum she got is still working, but in that moment, she was right for all she knew. Your ego got in the way and look at where we are."

"I'm well aware of where we are," Steve snapped, his jaw tight with indignation. "I have my hand in her back, Stark, keeping her blood in her body. I haven't seen anything that makes me think that she's healing on her own, and she hasn't opened her eyes once. Don't forget, I know exactly where you are too. You took off for Anthony without any backup when you haven't worn that suit in active duty in years. You didn't wait for us, and both of you could have been killed. Did you ever think about that? That you were risking my son's life too?"

"No, don't you dare twist this on me," Tony warned, finally standing to face him, "I went after your son because he let his hot-headed Rogers side take over! He thought he could find the answers on his own, going to that bunker in Siberia of all damn places! He knows what went down there, Steve, and he knew that they could be there. But fuck it all, right? That's what he got from you."

"You son of a-" Steve began, but both his and Tony's phones buzzed simultaneously to cut him off. It was as if the universe had spoken for you to shut them up. With his hand busy keeping you stable, he looked to Stark to give him the answer. "What is it?"

"Shuri and T'Challa are on the way, too," he sighed. "Banner must have called them. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

"Maybe she has an answer to all of this?"

"Maybe...but I'm stuck in a cycle of pessimism right now."

Steve looked down at you, your stillness sending a shiver down his spine, "(Y/N) could have called them before we left. It wouldn't be out of character for her to be working on her own to help me and Buck. She helps everyone, no matter what the cost to her."

"So why is she the one who always ends up suffering for it? What shit law of nature won't give her a break? Hasn't she done and been through enough?"

"For several lifetimes, yeah."

"Well, you'd know," Tony scoffed, "not everyone gets more than one."

"Yeah," Steve exhaled heavily, his entire body losing its will to hold itself up, his shoulders dropping and his posture defeated, "which is why...maybe it's time. I've lived more than I was supposed to. I got a second life, and if now is the time for it to end, at least I can look back and know that I've done some good with it. I've raised remarkable children, and I've made memories with friends and family that I could never have imagined. Maybe we really can't save everyone, Tony, and maybe that includes me."

~~~

Shuri was the first to meet the jet at the hospital's emergency entrance, rushing forward with equipment in hand to scan you for your specific injuries and status of your vital signs. The group of Steve, Tony, Anthony, Helen, T'Challa, and Bruce simply stood by, watching with held breath for anything that could be positive. A doctor hurried from the same door, ready to take you into the building for treatment, but he was halted by the King's hand.

"Just a moment."

"But I heard that her injuries are near-fatal-"

"Please, a moment," T'Challa repeated. "Sister?"

"One second...one more second..." she mumbled, her hands working as fast as they could. "Okay...there! I have what I need. She can go." Shuri was about to give her full attention to the screen before her, but her recollection brought her to a quick halt. "Wait!"

The nurses and doctor who had moved you to a gurney and had begun their way in stopped abruptly, looking at her questioningly but not challenging her at all. She rushed to your side and began to search every pocket on your uniform until she found her goal with a rush of excitement, holding up the vial of your blood for everyone to see. "Yes! Oh, (Y/N), you are too smart for your own good!"

"Can we take her now?" the doctor asked, getting annoyed with the delays. He had taken Steve's place holding pressure on your wound, and it wasn't getting any better.

"Yes, please," she nodded. Shuri approached the group and held up her find for them all to see. "(Y/N) called me to ask if I could examine her blood sample, to see if I can extract the serum and replicate it to give to you, Steve."

"Buck too," he added softly.

"Oh, no. Oh, Steve, I'm sorry," she offered gently, putting a hand on his arm. "Has (Y/N) begun to show signs of failing too?"

"Maybe, I don't really know."

"Then I must hurry. Doctor Banner, Doctor Cho," she offered with an extended hand towards the building, "I would appreciate assistance, if you would. Doctor Cho, I need you to monitor what the staff here are doing with her, and if anything seems questionable to you, you must step in. Her body must be in peak condition for what I am proposing that we do."

"And what's that?" Bruce said, stepping forward.

"I think that I can extract the serum, replicate and enhance it further, and introduce it to her system again. It will be stressful on her when it activates in her blood and re-connects to her DNA to work against that which is failing. I have to create a stronger serum to fully shut down the original so that it can be replaced."

Bruce had been listening, his mind racing with ideas and theories that could have been what she was proposing, but it was beyond his experience and all it did was scare him into thinking the worst. It was a trait that he had always possessed, but where anyone on this team was concerned, it was a trait that raged inside of him and sent him into a spiral of doubt and worry for his loved ones. "Shuri, if it doesn't work-"

"In her current condition, it could kill her. Even at her best, it still might. I have no guarantees. Unfortunately, I don't know how much more time Steve and Bucky have to wait."

~~~

"I remember it all," you finally sighed, keeping your gaze lowered, "and how I almost gave up, even when you were right there asking me not to. I thought it was just a dream that I was remembering at first, like from anesthesia or something, but I've been watching you and noticing how you look at me, and I realize that it wasn't a dream at all. You were there."

"Yes."

"That had to be terrible. I'm so sorry."

"Well," Steve cleared his throat nervously, "it...uh, yeah...it was rough...but I did what I had to. And Wanda...she's the one who got me to you, so if it wasn't for her..."

"I'd be dead."

His chest trembled when he took a breath, visibly uncomfortable with that idea, the surge of feelings that accompanied it slapping him with painful memories in a flood of still-raw emotions. "But you're not...and I don't know what I would do...(Y/N)," he stopped, sniffling gently, "I...I have to admit something, but I need you to promise me that you won't get upset."

"Okay, I promise." Your voice was cautious yet accepting, hoping that whatever bomb he was about to drop on you wouldn't be so destructive that you would have to break the promise that had barely just passed through your lips.

"If we didn't have the kids," he began, his tone almost shy, "I don't think I'd be able to keep going if you didn't make it. The only thing that kept me from thinking about what I would do were those three. I got a glimpse of what it felt like to see your last day before I saw my own, and I don't know if I can do it again. I mean, you've been injured before, sure, and I've been worried, but there's always been hope. This..." he stopped, shaking his head and avoiding your eyes, "this was nothing like that. When I was the only thing between you and that damn light that wouldn't stop pulling you in, I had no hope left. When you just slipped through my hands like nothing, it was the worst feeling that I've ever experienced. I wanted to go with you, (Y/N)."

~~~

As the teams split up to do their assigned work, and with Steve and Tony waiting for word on you, Anthony was left to wait with T'Challa in one of the small rooms near the surgery area. The king was sitting on the far side of the room, consumed with something on his phone, barely giving the room or people around him any of his attentions. Anthony was sitting with nothing to do, his phone having been destroyed in the fight with the majority of his suit. With a nervous clearing of his throat, he stood up and moved towards his uncle, his body shaking as he took a seat at his side.

"Uncle T'Challa?"

"Yes, Anthony?" he answered, eyes still on his phone.

"Today, I experienced something that I haven't experienced before," the young man began. "I saw my life, all of it playing out before my eyes."

"That is common when one finds themselves in particularly dangerous situations."

"Yes, I know. It happened when Thanos killed me."

Those words were enough to finally draw T'Challa's attention, his phone almost dropping out of his hands as he looked at Anthony. His own heart began to race in response; he was now having exactly what Ant was talking about, and the memory of the battle with Thanos flashed in his mind with a jarring brilliance. "I am sorry," he said softly, "please, accept my apologies. It has been so long since that event that I've pushed it to the recesses of my mind. I wasn't aware that you retained that memory."

"I did, yeah. So have my brother and sister. We don't tell Mom and Dad, though, because we'd be tossed into therapy faster than that purple nut-sack could've snapped his fingers." He was able to give that a small chuckle, allowing his uncle to join in and to bring the conversation to a more acceptable tone. "But that's beside the point here. What I wanted to say was that I saw my life, and it's been filled with this team and fighting against the world. Sure, the times with family have been amazing and I'm so lucky, but I feel like there's more, ya know?"

"Anthony, you have all that you've ever needed."

"No, I haven't."

"Then tell me, and perhaps I can help."

"Okay...I w-want to ask you...um..." Ant began, but his throat went immediately dry. He tried to cough it away, but all it did was incite more coughs until he had to stand and grab a cup of water from the fountain nearby. "Okay...phew," he began again when the moisture gave some relief, "Uncle T'Challa, I want to ask..." he coughed again, taking another drink, "dammit. Okay...I want to ask for your permission...um...p-permission to ask Eishle to marry m-me."

T'Challa stood and rested a hand on his nephew's shoulder, looking at him with an expression free of any emotion that Anthony could try to read. It was as if he were staring into his soul, and the younger man began to tremble under his hold. When the grip tightened, he wasn't sure if he had awakened T'Challa's protective tendencies, and he began to run all of his escape routes through his mind just in case. It was a definite relief that he wasn't wearing his Vibranium claws. But then, in an uncomfortable contrast, his body almost crumpled to the floor when the stress released and he realized that his life wasn't at risk at all.

"Anthony Scott Rogers, my beloved boy, it would be an honor to welcome you into my family."