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The smell of breakfast foods flooded the air. Marlena singled out the smell of bacon, and in that moment craved for it desperately, but she found a few more minutes spent laying in bed before being flashed into the battle of her life was worth it. She was ready for the day ahead, but at the same time she was afraid, though she knew she was not alone. Whatever happened next meant either life or death for every living creature in the universe. The team had so much on the line, excluding themselves and their families; all they wanted was a chance to make things right, and they were prepared to do whatever it took.

With a sigh, Marlena rolled over in bed. She looked at the clock sitting on her nightstand and groaned quietly. It was almost seven o'clock in the morning, and the mere sight of the number on the small monitor was enough to make her want to knock the device into the floor. She wanted to go back to sleep, but not only would her anxiety not let her, Natasha wouldn't either.

"You're the one that wanted to do this, so I suggest you get up," Natasha walked into Marlena's room and began tugging away at her comforter.

"I could always change my mind," Marlena muttered as she pulled her comforter off of her head to look at Natasha.

"We all know that's the last thing you're gonna do," Natasha said matter-of-factly. She walked over to Marlena's dresser and began pulling out clothes for the brunette to wear until it was time to change into their suits. She grabbed a grey, short-sleeve shirt with a pair of black leggings and threw them towards Marlena, who was glancing around the room looking for Steve.

"Where's Steve?" Marlena sat the clothes aside to look at Natasha.

"You know old people," Natasha crossed her arms over her chest. "They're always up before the sun."

Marlena chuckled and climbed out of bed, grabbing her clothes from the bed. "He and Tony making breakfast?"

"Yes and no," Natasha answered. "Steve's doing the cooking, and Tony's bothering him from the sidelines."

"Makes sense."

"Anyway, Steve told me to come get you." Natasha started towards the bedroom door, "He's almost finished getting breakfast ready and said all he wants this morning before we go is for us to be together...as a family or otherwise. I'll tell you this—he's gotten incredibly sentimental over the years."

"Tell me about it."

Natasha turned to walk out of the room, but stopped and turned to Marlena when a thought crossed her mind. "By the way, when this is all said and done, I want my French bracelet," she said, a hint of a smirk on her face. "I still don't understand how you've forgotten to give it to me since May."

"I promise you'll get it, Nat."

Natasha smiled and shut the bedroom door before heading off down the hall. Inside, Marlena was busy changing into the clothes Natasha had quickly pulled out for her. She pulled a pair of socks onto her feet and grabbed her glasses from the nightstand before placing them onto her face. She decided to wait until later to put in her contacts; she didn't want to be late to Steve's little breakfast, though she was sure she already was, and walking down the hall only proved that.

In the conference area, Rocket was scarfing down a plate of sausages next to Thor. Nebula stood against the wall looking bored as ever. Bruce stood in the corner with a giant bowl of eggs. Rhodey and Clint were laughing over a glass of orange juice, while Scott and Natasha sat next to the two of them having a hushed conversation while they ate their pancakes. Steve and Tony weren't present yet, but she assumed them to be in the kitchen finishing up breakfast. The sight of everyone inside the room brought a smile onto Marlena's face, and she walked over to the empty chair beside Natasha and sat down.

"This is really happening, huh?"

"It appears that way." Natasha looked over at Marlena and took a bite of her food, "How are you feeling this morning?"

"Nauseous, as usual, but it's bearable," Marlena answered her and grabbed a small piece of pancake off of Natasha's plate. "How are you?"

"Anxious, but optimistic."

Just then, Steve and Tony walked into the room, both with at least two plates in their hands. Steve sat one of his plates down in front of Marlena. She looked at it and found it to be chocolate chip waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, which happened to be her all-time favorite meal for breakfast apart from pancakes. Steve knew her too well, and as she looked around she figured he knew everyone else just as well. Everyone had a different dish, so Marlena assumed Steve had taken the time to make each member of the team their own personal breakfast made up of their favorite breakfast foods. It was only another reason to love him.

"Thank you," Marlena smiled and wasted no time at all in digging in. She hoped her first meal of the day could help ease not only her nausea, but her anxiety as well.

"You're welcome," Steve smiled and sat down across from Scott, while Tony sat down beside him.

"So," Tony started as he began eating his breakfast. "Have we figured out teams yet?"

"I'm goin' with tubs over there," Rocket answered. "The less work I have to do the better."

"Perhaps there's a better companion for Thor, maybe someone who has the capability of being a bit more delicate to help support him and his very obvious fragile nature," Marlena suggested, using her fork to play with a stray strawberry. "Y'know, someone who's capable of being empathetic."

"I can be empathetic, Four Eyes," Rocket defended himself. "Anyway, it's better than you going and screwing everything up by accidentally absorbing the stone again."

"Why don't we see how well your face absorbs my fist?" Marlena remarked, stabbing a piece of her waffle with her fork and shoving it into her mouth. It was way too early for her to deal with Rocket.

"Enough," Steve chastised to the two of them. There wasn't enough time to spare for the two of them to continue their bickering. "Any other time, just not now...please."

"Whatever you say, Cap."

"So, Thor and Build-A-Bear," Tony confirmed. "Wonderful, who else?"

"How many teams do we even need?"

"Three."

"Thor and Rocket are one," Steve said to the crew.

"Clint and I've decided on Vormir," Natasha chimed in.

"And Rhodey and I will be traveling with them back to 2014," Nebula added.

"That makes two."

"Great," Tony clapped his hands together. "That leaves me, Cap, Claire, Bruce, and Tic-tac."

"And that makes three."

"God," Marlena muttered.

More testosterone.

"Is there a problem, Miss Claire?" Tony teased the brunette, pushing away his now-empty plate.

Marlena did the same and shook her head. "Nope, not a problem at all, I'm ready to go," she smirked, crossing her arms over the table.

"Alright," Steve stood up, leaving his empty plate on the table. "We have a plan—six stones, three teams, and one shot."

"I'm kind of excited," Scott said happily. "You know that excitement you used to get as a kid before going on vacation? That's how I feel right now, except we're not going on vacation, we're time traveling, which could either be a vacation or the beginning of the end. Sorry, I took two nerve pills and there's a lot of sugar in this syrup."

Marlena grinned and grabbed Scott's hand, squeezing it gently within her own. "I'm so excited to spend the day with you, Scott," she said to him, the sarcasm in her tone almost too subtle to detect.

"Yeah, it's gonna be fun."

Marlena only laughed and shook her head, wasting no time at all in getting up from her seat.

"Suit up," Steve said to the team. "We'll meet back up in fifteen."

"Thanks for breakfast, Cap," Clint called to the soldier.

"Anytime, Barton."

Steve turned to Marlena and grabbed her hand, pulling her down the hall with him.

"It only gets better each time you make it," Marlena said as the two walked to her room. She was referring to the breakfast Steve made for her, but he knew that. "I really need to ask Stark where he gets his strawberries from."

"They're organic," Steve chuckled and ushered her into her bedroom.

"Makes sense."

Marlena walked over to her closet and stepped inside, moving to the very back where her suit was hanging in a clear case on the wall. Every single bedroom in the compound had a display case for everyone's suits. Marlena thought it was a lot cooler than she should've.

"I hope this still fits me," Marlena sighed as she opened the case to retrieve her suit.

"You tried it on yesterday," Steve reminded her. "And the day before that."

"Yes, but when I was pregnant with the twins, I bought a shirt and three days later it didn't fit," Marlena informed him. "Pregnant women grow fast; it's both a blessing and a curse."

Marlena removed her suit from its post and turned to face Steve. She could tell he was anxious just by looking at him, but she only smiled and placed a hand to his cheek.

"Remember what I told you last night?"

"You know I do."

"Just think about that when you're in doubt," she told him. "We can do this, Steve."

"Three days ago you were worried we couldn't," he teased the brunette.

Marlena huffed and headed back into her room, wasting no time at all in stripping herself of her clothes. "And I'm still worried about it, but that was because I had no idea what to expect. I mean, I still don't, but I'm not on the sidelines anymore, and that turns everything around for me."

"You're not leaving my sight, you know that right?" Steve questioned softly. He hated that Marlena was going with them, simply because he was desperate to keep her and their little one safe. "I need you to stay safe."

Marlena began pulling her suit on, while Steve leaned against the wall watching her. "Can I tell you something, Cap?"

"Sure."

"People like us are never safe," she told him and zipped up her suit. "Regardless, fate would've found some way to stick me in the middle of the fight. I could simply sit back and wait for you guys to return, but say things backfire, and the moment you guys do get back, we're thrown into some unexpected cosmic battle over the stones again. The only way for me to truly be safe is to find some remote corner of the Earth away from all of you, and I don't choose that for myself. Sure, the constant battles over the years have been utterly exhausting and nothing less than life-threatening, but I'd rather have you and Natasha and Tony and this life, rather than the bore of normalcy that comes from living a life without you. It's absolutely terrifying never knowing what to expect, but the way I see it is that without fear, there can be no courage, and I think I've got enough to last each member of the team two lifetimes."

"Well put," Steve hummed. He would not deny at all that she had a point. "I think that's the most I've heard you speak in five years."

Marlena rolled her eyes and grabbed his arm. She nudged him towards the door. He still had to get ready, and there wasn't that much time left. "You need to go change and I need to put my contacts in," she said to the soldier.

"Roger that, Claire." Steve started out of the room, but turned back to look at Marlena, his eyes trailing up and down her slim body, "By the way, you look absolutely amazing, and...you just look amazing."

"Goodbye, Steven." Marlena laughed and practically shoved him out of the door before heading over to put in her contacts.

Once Marlena finished getting ready, she pulled her long hair into a ponytail and headed out of her room. She was just in time, too, as a wave of red, white, and black flooded her vision. She pressed the small button on her wrist, and in seconds her quantum suit was materializing over her stealth suit. She made a mental note to remind Tony of just how impressive his mind was. He would always be one of a kind.

"Don't you look empowering," Natasha's voice met Marlena's ears, and the redhead moved to walk alongside her. "You can't even tell you're pregnant."

"You can't even tell I'm pregnant without the suits on," Marlena told her. The two continued walking through the compound to get to the hangar, while everyone followed closely behind them, each lost in their own conversations.

"I know," Natasha grinned. "But sooner or later, little Emerson won't be able to hide."

"Emerson?"

Natasha shrugged her shoulders and pushed open the hangar door, a quiet laugh escaping her. "Works for a boy or girl, I dunno. Since I never got the option to have a child of my own, I like to take it upon myself to name everyone else's."

"It's true," Clint chimed in to the conversation from behind the two. "She gave Lila the name Amelia."

"That's an interesting little quirk," Marlena laughed quietly.

"Tell me about it."

The group grabbed the navigation devices Tony brought for them and gathered together on the platform. As the seconds passed, things were becoming more and more real. Marlena and the team were getting ready to travel through time in order to bring back half of all living creatures across the universe. There was nothing in the world that ever could've prepared Marlena for the day ahead, but she was ready regardless.

"Alright, guys," Steve called to the group as everyone settled into their positions. Of course, he got their attention immediately. "Five years ago, we lost, all of us—we lost friends, we lost family, we lost a part of ourselves. Today we have a chance to take it all back. You know your teams, you know your missions—get the stones, get them back. One round trip each, no mistakes, no do-overs. Most of us are going somewhere we know, but that doesn't mean you should know what to expect. Be careful. Look out for each other. This is the fight of our lives, and we're gonna win...whatever it takes."

Tony and Steve exchanged a glance, while those around watched on. It wasn't much to say they were impressed with the soldier's words.

"Good luck," Steve said to the group one last time.

"He's pretty good at that," Rocket said to no one in particular.

"Right?" Scott exclaimed happily.

"You heard the man," Tony called to Bruce, who was below them configuring the system. "Stroke those keys, Jolly Green."

Marlena looked over at Natasha with a grin on her face. "Your hair's cute," she said.

"Yeah? When we get back I'll do yours."

"I'm thinking French braids?"

"That's what I'm thinkin' too," Natasha chuckled, "You've definitely got the hair for 'em."

Bruce stepped onto the platform, attracting everyone's attention. He triggered the remote on his wrist, and in seconds the tunnel was lighting up. Natasha looked over at Steve, Marlena, and Tony, a cheeky grin coming onto her face at the sight of them.

"See you in a minute," she told the three of them, her green eyes bright with determination.

One by one, the team's helmets were materializing to cover their heads. In seconds they were off through the tunnel, each of them with the fate of the universe in their hands.