(Please listen to Welcome Home by: Joy Williams while you read this one. Every bit of this song is embodied in this one shot. It not only lends itself to the story line, but helps tell it as well. It is beautiful and breathtaking and vital to this one. I hope you enjoy!)

Peace. It spread across the sky with a light that burned so brightly and yet, ever so delicately, that it softened the world it encapsulated. The sun's faint rays shone through the tall trees that surrounded the body of water, that glistened like sparkling jewels in every wave and every small touch of it's surface. The sunshine shone like soft spotlights through the deep green leaves, casting a paler light against the grass. There was beauty, all around the bodies that gathered with their somber and sorrow filled hearts. It didn't take the grey from their souls as they said goodbye, but the world around them was graced by a warm and kind light. One that warmed the trembling shoulders of those who shed tears, that soaked into the soft ground beneath them as they fell. And a light that simply made the mourning day seem more...peaceful.

Steve Rogers stood where Pepper had bent down only a few minutes prior, with his hands stuffed deep into the pockets of his black dress pants. His crestfallen blue eyes--that were blue in more ways than one that day--were casted downward at the edge of the lake. The very tips of his shiny black shoes brushed the grass a few inches away from where the ground stopped and the water began. And he watched as the soft breeze that traveled subtly through the tall trees, blew small waves across the glistening pale blue water. It was hypnotizing, the repetitive flow of the waves. Up and down, flowing away from him only to be replaced by new identical ones. 

The air that Steve breathed into his lungs was crisp and fresh, but it still felt heavy as it expanded inside of his pained chest, that had tightened with the sadness of the day. And although the tightness in his lungs and the silence he stood in only made his thoughts echo louder around him, Steve found a breath of peace where he stood outside the Stark's home. It had taken him a back at first, the beauty that had transpired in the nature around him. It all seemed out of place in a moment like that. A time like this. Like the world around him had missed what today was... but then, as Steve stood out by himself in the breathtaking nature that surrounded him, he understood it. 

There was no reason for grey clouds to shadow the baby blue skies, or for raindrops to fall like teardrops alongside all the other's. There was no need for the Earth to feel hardened and cold, or for the air around them to nip and bite with vengeance. For there was no need for extra sadness. There was no need for the storm clouds to settle above them with the depressing nature they all already carried inside. For Tony Stark was at peace. And Steve Rogers witnessed that in every ray of soft light, every touch of warmth, every view of beauty that he stood within. He could feel the peace, and it made the day seem, somehow, a little bit easier to cope with.

"He has such a beautiful family," A voice startles Steve from his solitary moment of silence, and causes him to raise his head at the calm tone that comes from behind him. "I wish I would've gotten the chance to see them all together as one."

It was a voice that Steve Rogers knew, not only from memory but from feeling. For it made his heart race faster and his body flood with a warmth that made him feel as though his head was spinning. It was a voice he had lost long ago, and one he was beginning to fear was diming from his memories. But as it rang out in the dense void of silence out in the open air, Steve felt the breath he was breathing slip from lips and his stomach drop as he turned swiftly on his heels. 

And there, surrounded by the green sparkling nature that made her glow as though an angel sent from above, was the person who spoke with the voice that seemed far from Steve Rogers's grasp. She was adorned in a soft black cotton knee length dress, one that faintly blew in the soft breeze, along with the loose strands of her honey blonde hair that had fallen from her updo. Her hands clasped delicately in front of her, as she stood a fair distance from Steve in the long summer grass that nearly completely hid her black heels. She looked as beautiful as she did in every single memory Steve had of her in his mind, and yet, somehow, she looked even more beautiful than ever before. For she didn't seem real. She faded, five years ago with their daughter and so many of their friends. But here she stood, with her skin warmed by the sun shinning down upon her, and a warm gaze in her eyes that locked with Steve's immediately. 

There were a million and one things swirling around inside of Steve's head in that moment, but all he could do was let a breathless gasp escape past his parted lips as his eyes burned with newly drawn tears. And he felt them spread as he blinked his eyes repeatedly, wondering if she was an unbelievably lifelike figment of his grieving imagination. But as he reopened his tearful eyes one last time, she stood closer to him this time. So close in fact, that the breeze blew the soft scent of her skin toward him. Engulfing him in a comforting mixture of honey and vanilla. She stood so close that he knew she was real, for he could see the tears shimmering in her own eyes. He could tell by the pink hues in her cheeks that blood flowed beneath it's surface and she lent him the faintest smile her soft pink lips could offer. She was real. She was alive. And she was here.

The world seemed to drain around them, as though they stood in their own bubble that was left untouched by sound or sensation. It felt as though they were the only two souls left on the Earth, and they stood mere inches from each other. Drowning in shock and struggling for a grasp on reality. But he couldn't look away. Steve struggled to regain his breath through the lumps of tears that formed in the back of his throat, and he couldn't close his mouth from it's small gape in shock, even if he wanted to. But even as his mind felt completely flooded and unable to hold onto any single thought in that moment, somehow his legs moved beneath him. Guiding him the few short steps towards her, closing the space left between them in the summer grass. 

Steve stood so close that when he exhaled, he could see the fly away strands of her hair flutter in his warm breath. And so close that he could see the fine lines in the soft skin of her forehead that she always tried to conceal. His hand shook softly as it lifted from his side, and his fingers didn't calm until they pressed ever so gently to the side of her face. His thumb brushing against the baby like skin of her cheekbone, and his fingertips softly gliding into the soft baby hairs that laid against the base of her neck. His body stilled and air filled his burning lungs as his palm flattened against her face, and he cupped her beautifully familiar face with grace and yet with a strength that he couldn't help but hold her with. The warmth, that flowed beneath her flesh and seemed to soak straight into his own hands, brought back feelings inside of Steve that made him cling tighter to her. For he never thought he would get this chance again. 

A stifled sob escaped past Steve's parted lips, as he felt them curl imperceptibly into the faintest of smiles, as he felt a tear fall from his and trail down his cheek. He cried out louder as he brought her face closer to him, until her head was nestled into the crook of his neck. As his powerful arms embraced her petite frame, and her own arms flew up to wrap around his neck. All space had been cut off as they held each other for the first time in five years. And Steve could feel the spread of her tears against his suit, but knew that her own black dress was soaking up his share of salty emotional tears. For his eyes shut so tight he could feel the painful pressure in his sockets, and he buried his face in her mint and eucalyptus scented hair, that felt warm from the generous rays from the shinning sun. And Steve Rogers simply cried. 

"I never gave up," His words were hidden within the strands of her hair and the soft skin of her neck, but as she sagged against his body, he knew she heard him. For she grasped him tighter and clung to him just as he had when he held her face. "I couldn't."

She pulled back from his wettened chest only enough to tilt her head, and gaze up at Steve with tear soaked eyes and lips that quivered faintly with her low cries. And lifting her hand, she pressed her thumb against his bottom lip. Brushing her warm flesh across it as though wiping away the tears that coated his lips in salt and sadness. And just as Steve could feel her body beginning to raise onto her tip-toes, a voice rang out behind them. Breaking them apart, only just barely, to face the person who ran towards them through the green field. 

"Daddy!" 

An audible sob entered the air as Steve Rogers fell to his knees. His eyes so full of tears the sunlight made everything blurry and streaked. But he didn't care as he opened his arms up wide and waited for the small body to rush right into them. His cries echoed in the air around them as his arms wrapped around the little girl's body in a grasp so tight, there was no chance she could maneuver out of it without his help. She was warm and fragile and smelled of coconut shampoo just as she had five years ago, when she and her mother had disappeared from his life. But she felt even better than back then, so did her mother. For Steve Rogers knew what it was like to live without them, and to have them both back in his arms again after so much time and so much loss, was a feeling unlike any other. 

As Steve's eyes shut with his daughter cradled safely and securely in his loving arms, with the warmth of wife's hand resting against his shoulder tightly as she cried silently with him, he felt his heart swell. And the tears that leaked from his blue eyes, grew harsher as he held onto his girls with all the strength that he had. For it hit him, as they reunited in the extraordinary beauty that engulfed them, that this wasn't just the return of his family. Maybe it was the only thing he prayed for, day after day for five years, finally being answered by the God above him. Perhaps it was fate, finally restored after Thanos destroyed it. 

But as Steve opened his eyes and gently gazed up at the clear blue shimmering sky above him, he knew in his heart that this was nothing less than a gift from Tony Stark himself. One last gift, to Steve, as he found peace in the heavens above them. Tony Stark gave the ultimate sacrifice, something Steve Rogers could never repay, and yet... here Tony was. Giving him one last gift, even after what he did and what it cost him. Tony Stark gave Steve Rogers his family back. 

And as Steve looked to the sky, he could feel Tony's smug and happy smile shinning down upon them, as though a ray of light from the heavens themselves. And with that, Steve hugged his girls a little bit tighter for Tony. As he thanked the man, for giving Steve his life back.

A/N: Wow... this may be one of the saddest one shots I've written! I seriously cried writing this one, and especially when I listened to that song on loop like I did. (And how about that GIF?! It fit so perfectly with this one and only made me more emotional!) I'm so proud of myself with this one, I really dug deep and crafted something beautiful and emotional and so heartbreaking but something I absolutely love! I hope you all enjoyed it and were really able to feel the emotion and heart I put into it!❤