Once inside, Tony is given an IV to combat his dehydration, and then they sit him in a wheelchair in the living room with some food and water. The table he's at has projections above it — pictures of those missing. The ones they lost. Most everyone else is just standing around, preparing to fill Tony in.

Grace is sitting next to her dad, silently crying, her mom standing behind her and stroking her hair, not know what else she can do. Tony holds Grace's hand, although weakly. Nat made her some tea while Tony was getting the IV, and it's sitting on the table next to her now, steaming.

"It's been twenty three days since Thanos came to Earth," Rhodey begins.

"World governments are in pieces," Nat adds, standing close to Grace. "The parts that are still working are trying to take a census, and it looks like he did... he did exactly what he said he was gonna do. Thanos wiped out... fifty percent of all living creatures."

There's a long silence. Tony finally asks, "Where is he now?"

"We don't know," Steve replies. "He just opened a portal and... walked through."

Tony sighs, then looks over at Thor, sitting in the next room, one with glass walls. He'd been in the compound all this time, too guilty to do anything, go anywhere, even talk to anybody at first. "What's wrong with him?" Tony asks.

"Oh, he's ticked," Rocket speaks up. "He thinks he failed. Which of course he did, but you know there's a lot of that's going around, ain't there?"

Tony looks at Rocket in surprise as he speaks. "Honestly, until this exact second, I thought you were a Build-A-Bear."

"Maybe I am," Rocket replies seriously.

Steve changes the subject again. "We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now. Deep space scans, satellites, and we got nothing." Steve sighs. "Tony, you fought him."

"Who told you that?" Tony asks.

Grace speaks up, her voice quiet and gravelly. "He did."

Tony turns to her. "Who?"

"Thanos."

Her dad sits forward, surprised and concerned, half angry. "When did you-?"

"Wakanda," Grace cuts him off. "I was in Wakanda with everyone else. We went to get the Stone out of Vision's head and destroy it, and Thanos... met us there. I... I wanted to help."

Tony sighs, lets the anger fade. It's over now anyway. Nothing he can do. He continues. "Well, I didn't fight him. No, he wiped my face with a planet while the Bleecker Street Magician gave away the store. That's what happened. There was no fight 'cause he's not... He's unbeatable."

Steve nods in understanding, then asks, "Did he give you any clues, any coordinates, anything?"

"Uh, no," Tony replies. "You know, I saw this coming a few years back. I had a vision. I didn't wanna believe it. Thought I was dreaming."

Steve stands, having been leaning on a side table, and he nows steps toward Tony. "Tony, I'm gonna need you to focus."

"And I needed you," Tony replies, real, hot anger creeping into his voice. "As in, past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late, buddy. Sorry," he adds quietly. He leans down, sniffs the bowl of soup in front of him, then shoves it forward, turning it over on the table as he stands, his hand leaving Grace's. "You know what I need? I need a shave." He starts to mess with his IV, trying to pull it out, though Grace and Pepper reach to stop him. "And I believe I remember telling all of you-"

"Tony," Rhodey says, stepping forward. "Tony-"

He rips out the IV. "-alive and otherwise, that what we needed was a suit of armor around the world! Remember that? Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not — that's what we needed!"

"Well, that didn't work out, did it?" Steve replies, his voice low but tense.

Tony continues. "I said, 'We'd lose.' You said, 'We'll do that together too.' And guess what, Cap? We lost. And you weren't there." He starts to stumble, standing on weak legs, and Rhodey steps in to hold him as Pepper tries to calm him down and Grace can only watch and reach and cry. Tony just looks at Steve, gets it all off his chest. "But that's what we do, right? Our best work after the fact? We're the Avengers- we're the Avengers. Not the Prevengers."

"Okay," Pepper says soothingly.

"Right?!"

"You made your point," Rhodey assures. "Just sit down, okay?"

"Okay," Tony says. He tries to push Rhodey away. "Here's my point-"

"Tony, you're sick."

"You know what-?"

"Tony, just sit down."

He points at Carol. "She's great, by the way."

"Sit down. Sit."

Tony pushes around Rhodey, starts talking to Carol. "We need you. You're new blood. Bunch of tired old mules..." He turns on Steve, pointing a finger in his face and hitting him with words. "I got nothing for you, Cap! I got no coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust, liar." Steve looks at him, pained, not knowing what to say, how to say it, unable to speak. Tony grabs the arc reactor and rips it off his chest, then grabs Steve's hand and slaps it into his palm. "Here, take this. You find him, and you put that on, and you hide." For a brief, silent second, he stands there, looking at Steve.

And then he drops.

"Tony!" Steve says.

"Dad!" Grace shouts, scrambling out of her chair and running to him, Pepper on her heels. Everyone reaches to grab him.

He's sitting up, pushing everyone away but Pepper and Grace. "I'm fine. I-"

But he isn't. He passes out, falling back, and the sight of it brings back Grace's tears full-force, inciting grief and sadness and panic in her chest. She hugs him, holds him, until she physically can't anymore because Bruce is there, lifting him with Steve's help and getting him to the med bay, while Nat is gently pulling Grace and Pepper back to give them room. Bruce gives Tony a sedative.

They put him in a hospital bed, and Grace and Pepper sit with him, waiting for him to wake up, though Bruce says he'll be out for the rest of the day.

Still, they wait, even as the others talk in the other room, a projection of the world over the table, demonstrating what looks like a sort of global explosion of power. Bruce joins them out there, but Grace and Pepper stay put, refusing to leave Tony's side. Even when the others leave, going to kill Thanos, to get the Stones and use them to bring everyone back, Grace stays behind. She hopes that they can do it, but she knows her fight is over now.

Tony wakes up before the others get back.

"Hey," he says weakly, coughing. Pepper hurriedly gets him a glass of water, helps him drink it. He quietly thanks her, then looks at Grace, grabs her hand. "You okay, sweetheart?"

There are tears in her eyes. "I guess so."

Tony smiles sadly. "It's gonna be alright. We'll get through this. Promise."

"Sure..." Grace trails off. She takes a deep breath. "You're okay, so... that's what matters now."

That night, the others get back, and, judging from the pained looks on their faces and the fact that no one missing has been found, Grace can guess just how well the mission went.

Nat tells her everything. "We found him, in this place he called the Garden. He was alone, in this cabin, like he was retired or something, and... we attacked him. Thor actually cut his hand off to get the gauntlet, but the Stones were gone. We asked where they were." She takes a shaky breath. "He said he destroyed them. He 'used the Stones to destroy the Stones.' So, they're... they're gone. I'm sorry."

The small bit of hope Grace had left goes out like the weak flame of a candle in a breeze. She sighs. "And Thanos?"

"Thor... went for the head."

Grace smiles a little. "Good."

She relates it all to her father, who's stuck in the hospital bed for the next few days while he gets his strength back. Restless, he starts making plans.

"How about we move?" he says. "Let's get a house — no, let's build a house. Let's build a cozy-type thing, out in the woods. Maybe next to a lake. Grow all our food and stuff."

Pepper chuckles. "Tony, we can have a garden, but we are not growing all our food. We still have to buy things."

"Okay, okay, so we'll live next to a lake sort of close to civilization, but not too close because we're hermits and don't want to be bothered."

"Hermits?" Pepper asks, grimacing even as she laughs.

"Hey, I've been that way since I was, like, seven," Grace replies jokingly, a feat for her fragile, grieving state.

Tony laughs. "You've been complaining about it since you were, like, seven, so you're not helping my case here."

Pepper and Grace laugh too, and then Tony continues, talking about all the stuff they'll have in the house, this close to drawing up a floor plan.

After more nights of Grace and Pepper sleeping on couches near Tony's room and days of drawing up a layout for the house together, he starts planning something else when he's finally able to get up and move around.

"What about the wedding?" he says suddenly. "I mean, half our bridal party and guests are gone, not to mention half the people we need to actually do the thing, with all the catering and decorations and what not."

"You were the one that wanted a big wedding," Pepper reminds him.

"Yeah, for you. So it would be special."

"It doesn't have to be big to be special."

"No," Tony says thoughtfully. "That's what I was just thinking..."

"So, what, we're gonna forgo the ice sculpture?" Pepper jokes.

Tony shakes his head. "No. No, let's forgo everything." He reaches out, takes her hand. "Let's get the basics — the rings, your dress, my suit, a minister — and let's just... do it."

"Just like that?" Pepper asks.

"Just like that," Tony replies. "We don't have time to wait around and debate about flowers. We could... We could go out of here in an instant. So let's get married."

Tears building in her eyes, Pepper smiles. Laughs. "Let's get married."

Grace cries and laughs with them, a happy moment amidst all the sadness she's been feeling.

Pepper kisses Tony, and once she pulls away, he tears his eyes from her and looks around the room. "Where's Happy? I need Happy. He's gotta- I need him to go get some rings. Happy!" Happy, being in another part of the compound, can't hear him. He sighs. "I really need a- like a bell or something."

Grace laughs. "I'll call him."

Soon after, Tony begins ordering the preparations for the house, planning for it to be done by the time he and Pepper are married. The best honeymoon he can think of is spending time in their own, new house, especially with the state of the world.

Pepper has dresses brought to the compound, and she tries them all on, getting Grace's opinion in the process. They decide on the mermaid one, beaded, with a short veil. Before they send the other dresses back, though, Grace wants to try on one — the ballgown, with a long train, lace in a flower pattern the top layer of the skirt, the top of the dress itself flowered, and see-through sleeves down to the wrists, also with flower designs. The veil with it is much the same design, and long.

It doesn't fit her exactly; it's too long, being made closer to Pepper's measurements, but that doesn't matter all that much. It's beautiful.

Pepper, wearing her dress, looks at Grace in hers, standing behind her, looking in the mirror. "Wow," Grace says.

Pepper smiles. "Want me to save it for your wedding day?"

It hits Grace painfully, like a punch to the gut. Her face falls.

Will she ever get married? Could she?

Peter is gone. And, even if she could meet anybody else, would it matter? It feels like she'll never be able to move on, to love someone else after Peter. Like just trying to would be cheating. Two and a half years feels like a lifetime and yet it's a mere minute in hindsight.

For a while there, when she thought about her future, he was always there. He was always hers — and she was always his. It was him, standing across from her, in a black suit, trying not to cry even as he made some stupid joke in his vows.

But now that can never be.

"No," Grace replies to Pepper. "I don't think I'll ever get to use it."

Pepper hugs her from behind, quietly says, "You never know."

"I do," Grace insists. "It'll probably never fit me anyway. I'm not supposed to grow any more."

"You can always get it altered."

"No, just... I don't want it."

She takes it off, and they don't keep it, though Pepper still tries to bring Grace's spirits back up.

Tony is fitted in a suit, along with Happy and Rhodey, and he buys Grace a new dress — light pink, flowing and pretty. Nat gets one of the same color, both matching Pepper's flowers, ones Happy goes and picks up from the store the morning of.

Everyone stands outside, the wedding taking place against a background of trees. Grace is next to Pepper, Nat next to her. Rhodey and Happy are with Tony. Everyone else in the compound stands to watch, even Carol, who Grace insisted stay long enough for this, as she was the one who saved Tony. Wong is there too, Tony having been true to his word and invited him.

It's quick, surprisingly, as Pepper limited Tony's vows to three minutes. He could go on and on about how much she means to him, but she knew that everyone wouldn't want to stand for ten minutes to hear it, that he could say it all when they were alone. He still goes over three minutes, just a little.

When they finally kiss, everyone claps and a few cheer, including Rhodey. After a small dinner and some cake inside, Tony and Pepper set off for their three day honeymoon — settling in to the new house.

"You can change all my decorating around when you get there," Tony says to Grace before they leave, as he hugs her.

Tony and Pepper had planned on her going with them at first, but Grace insisted on staying at the compound for a few days, to give them some alone time on their honeymoon, even though she still hates to be apart from her parents for too long, the fear still too fresh.

Pepper hugs her. "I'll see you in a few days, okay? I love you."

"I love you, too." Grace smiles. "Mom."

Pepper smiles back, and hugs her again, more tightly this time.