"Well, the hotels weren't exactly five-star."

You looked to Sam, standing on the other side of Vision as the two of you held him up, watching Bruce and Nat and their extremely awkward reunion in the middle of the Avengers compound. It was a building that you had never expected to be standing in again after you had helped Steve break his team from the Raft, and when Natasha had joined you, you thought for sure she had come to turn you all in. It was a wonderful surprise to find that she had better plans, and the way things were going now it was for the best that you had as many of the team as possible gathered together in one place. With the exception of Tony and Peter, you were almost ready to face the mystery that was coming to end the universe as you knew it.

"Come on, Viz, let's get you to the couch," you offered, but he gently waved you away.

"No, there's no time for rest. We need to plan for what's to come." As he and Wanda moved to stand together on the far side of the room, with Steve, Nat, Bruce, and Rhodey on the other, you and Sam took the opportunity for the rare moment to yourselves, stepping aside and into the nearby kitchen.

"What do you think's gonna happen?" you asked him, your eyes darting towards the group before back to him. "I don't see how Vision can survive this. If they take the stone-"

"We'll figure it out," Sam answered flatly, but he wouldn't meet your gaze. "Banner will figure it out. He has to."

"Sam, I believe in Bruce just as much as anyone else, but this is beyond his area of expertise, don't you think? We have no idea where Tony is. What do any of us know about this stuff?"

"Just trying to keep a little optimism, that's all."

"I know you are," you sighed heavily, "I'm sorry. It's just that I've forgotten what optimism feels like. Hell, I've forgotten what a good shower feels like, now that we're back here and I miss our old room."

"I'm sure we have a few minutes to sneak away?" he smiled coyly. "No one will notice."

"Steve will, don't fool yourself."

Sam furrowed his brow in thought, looking over your shoulder to where the Captain was deep in conversation with Vision. "He looks tied up in whatever they're talking about. I say we make a run for it and take our chances."

Turning back, you considered the option as you watched Steve, his hands firmly on his hips as he listened to Vision and Bruce continue on about their options, if there even were any. It didn't look to be a conversation that was to be over any time soon, and you decided that maybe Sam was right; this was your opportunity. However, unlike your husband, sneaking around wasn't in your choice of methods.

"Cap?"

"Yeah, (Y/N)? You have an idea?" he answered eagerly.

"I sure do," you smiled widely, taking Sam's hand, "my husband and I are unavailable for the next thirty minutes. We're taking advantage of five-star when we see it." With that, the two of you walked away, and you had expected Sam to give Steve an apologetic look or at least a shrug of inability to say no, but he gave nothing of the sort. All that he offered the Captain was a hasty salute and complete disregard for any argument that he could try to find before the two of you were out of his sights.

~~~

It was unbelievable what a hot shower and a towel that wasn't threadbare could do for morale. You almost dared to feel like yourself for a few glorious minutes, but you didn't want to risk losing yourself there when it wasn't reality anymore. The deep ache still filled your every muscle, but the burn within them had faded some. You still had your share of bruises from a fight only days before, and a neatly stitched gash in your left leg was healing surprisingly nicely given the fact that Steve hadn't needed to do any for a few years now.

Sam had managed to find some clean clothes that still fit you both, left over from when you ran from this very spot, and you refused to look at yourself in the mirror as you wore them; you in an Iron Maiden t-shirt that Tony had given you three Christmases ago, and Sam in a sharp button-down that came from Rhodey before the accident in Germany that your husband still harbored debilitating guilt over.

"Hey, you look good," Sam whispered, stepping behind you to wrap his arms around your waist. "You smell pretty nice, too."

"Yeah, Tony always got the expensive soap, remember?"

"Hmm, right," he nodded, "I guess I got used to those crappy little things we steal from the hotels. They don't smell like anything. We should probably raid the supplies here before we take off again."

"Don't go too nuts, we still need to pack light."

Sam released you and turned to finish dressing, with a quick kiss on your cheek first, "do you think we'll ever be back here? For good?"

"I don't know."

"Do you want to?"

"Sometimes, yeah," you shrugged, "but sometimes no. I miss our old life, Sam. When things were easier, and it was just us." You paused to consider your words, the last few years replaying in your mind scene by scene of battles fought together, and far too many times that you weren't sure if either of you would make it back out without the other. "But it's too late for that, right? What we're up against now...this could be it. This might be the end."

"But it won't be," Sam urged, turning back, "we're not gonna let that happen, okay?"

"You don't know that, Sam."

"I know that we're gonna fight with everything we've got. Have you ever seen us give up?"

"But..." you stopped, looking away, "that's what scares me. What if this is something that we can't win, no matter what we do, and we're just wasting the last few moments we have left?"

"Honey, we can't think like that. If we don't believe that we can win, then we won't. I can't do that, and I know that you can't either." He put down the pair of socks that he was just about to put on, tossing them onto the bed carelessly so that he could take your hand and pull you back into him to hold you tight. "I don't know how this is going to end, (Y/N), but I know that I'm stronger with you, and that's enough. I promise, I'm not going anywhere."

~~~

"Sam! Sam, (Y/N)'s down!"

"I'm not...down...Steve..." you groaned, hissing in pain as you tried to push yourself up. "I'm just...oh, shit...I'm woozy..."

"Someone get to (Y/N)!"Steve called out again, to anyone nearby. He would have gone himself, and you were just at the edge of the limits of his sight, but every time he tried to advance towards you, more snarling beasts would hold him back.

"I'm on my way," T'Challa answered, "I will get her away from the field."

"(Y/N), where are you?"Sam joined in, his voice completely frantic. "Cap, give me a landmark!"

T'Challa reached you within seconds, as if he could fly with the speed he was moving over rocks and fallen trees, striking creatures away with the energy of his suit. He stopped at your side and pushed his hands beneath you to lift you to him but he stopped, looking around to the warriors nearby. "You, give me a piece of your belt," he commanded them, hand out and waiting for them to follow. "Here, let me see your arm," he now ordered you, taking your hand to see the full damage. "The teeth have torn quite a large area of your skin away. I must tie off the vessels so that the bleeding will stop. It will hurt."

"Just do it...I'm good."

"Hang on, baby, I'm almost there."

"Sam, no," you argued, "stay in position, you're...you're needed...there..." you stopped, your voice crushed into silence by the pain that T'Challa had just promised you. "Sam...stay with the p-plan..."

"I will move her to safety, Wilson," T'Challa added, "I give you my word." His grip was firm but placed as carefully as he could, trying to hold you without causing more pain; too bad it was inevitable and you were already starting to pass out with each movement. "(Y/N), you must stay awake until I can get you to our healers. We do not know what a bite from these creatures might do. (Y/N), listen to me!"

"I'm...I-I'm awake."

"Stay that way. You must stay awake for Sam if not for yourself. There is much battle yet to be fought and he needs to know that you're safe. I will bring you...to my mother..." T'Challa slowed, in both his speech and his pace in moving you, until he came to a full stop as the winds around you died away and the battle fell silent.

"Everyone on my position," Steve called out to the team.

"He is here," T'Challa guessed, setting you very gently onto the ground, leaving M'Baku to guard you until he could return. "Brother, keep her safe."

"Of course."

"Like hell he...will..." you grunted with each word, pushing yourself up against a nearby rock until you stood on wobbling legs. "I won't just sit here..."

But that was as far as you were able to get. One by one, you watched helplessly as your teammates took their run at Thanos and failed. Their bodies tossed into the air and slammed to the ground as if they were nothing, trying and losing in their efforts to hold the monster back so that Wanda could destroy the mind stone. You wanted to help, but your body wouldn't have it, the blood loss too much and leaving your head spinning.

It wasn't until the final moment that you would allow yourself to give in to the death your body wanted, because nothing mattered anymore. It wasn't until the snap, and the beginning of the end, that you would accept it for what it was. But then, when Sam had disappeared and paid the price yet again and Steve sat right there in front of you, alive and not deserving of a single breath that he continued to take, you suddenly found the will to live just to spite the man.