A/N: okay i'm in love with this chapter bc it's the perfect breezy(ish) chapter we needed amongst all this angst. i mean, it's not like it's completely angst-free because, let's face it, when is it ever lol. there's just a couple much-needed comic relief scenes sprinkled throughout here so i hope it gives everyone a chance to breathe

other than that, enjoy this very long chapter and please don't forget to vote + comment! :)

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I ate something unhealthy

was...fondue."
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"Good morning, love," she heard a voice whisper.

Without even opening her eyes, she knew who it was. She hummed softly into her pillow, feeling golden, bubbly warmth fill her up from inside. She felt his familiar touch as his fingers gently traced her smiling lips. Her closed eyes. The ridge of her nose. Tucking her hair behind her ears. She sighed softly, peacefully. Everything felt so slow and serene. Her limbs felt heavier, the way they did after a long, deep slumber. His presence next to her felt like the only source of light for the whole world. She could wake up like this every morning.

"Come on, sleepyhead," he whispered and she could hear the teasing smile in his voice, "The sun's out." Slowly, she opened her eyes with a gentle smile, squinting in the soft, golden sunlight spilling into her room.

When her vision cleared, she realized she was alone. Alone in her bed, alone in her room.

Alone.

She sighed, hiding her face in her pillow. Reality sucked. Really, really sucked. She wished she could go back to sleep. He was always there in her dreams. It was the only place she could see him, touch him, hold him anymore. Every day without felt like leaving the house knowing you'd left behind something important.

There was a knock on her door before Pepper poked her head in to see if she was awake.

"I'm up. I'm up," the teenager mumbled into her pillow, "I'll get Morgan." Pepper smiled softly, walking over to sit down beside her legs on the bed.

"Don't worry about that today," she said, "Tony's on it."

"You're not going for a run?" she asked with a frown, lifting her face out of her pillow. Pepper shrugged.

"Thought we'd stay in today. You don't have to get Morgan dressed every morning, you know. You're still a kid, she doesn't have to be your responsibility," she said. Adelaide shrugged, looking away.

"If I didn't wake her, she'd sleep past noon. That girl loves to sleep. Good luck waking her up when she's a teenager," she joked, making Pepper smile, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. And then Adelaide realized what she was doing here. "Tony told you, didn't he?"

"What? We're married. We aren't supposed to have any secrets from each other," Pepper said. Adelaide gave her a look.

"He hides a stash of the really good chocolates in his bed stand," she said. Pepper smiled.

"I know," she said, "I steal them sometimes."

"I don't know anything about marriage, but stealing can't be good for it either," Adelaide said pointedly.

"And how do you know about the chocolates?" Pepper asked. Adelaide gave her a sheepish look.

"Touché," she mumbled.

"Alright, let's see it," she said and Adelaide sighed, pulling her arm out from underneath the covers and rolling up the sleeve of her shirt so she could see. There wasn't much to see with the bandaid on except the small dots of blood on the inside. Her arm was admittedly a bit sore after a night's sleep, but she tried not to show it.

"It's really not that bad," Adelaide told her, "Zero stitches."

"What were you thinking, Adelaide?" Pepper asked quietly. Adelaide swallowed.

"It's bad out there, Pep. If...If he was still here, then he wouldn't have ever let it get this bad," she mumbled, "I'm just trying my best to help."

"I know you are, honey. And I'm so proud of you for that, but...you're alone out there every night. Today it's a small cut, tomorrow it's a bullet. This family cannot afford to lose anyone. We're barely keeping it together as it is," Pepper said. Adelaide reached out, squeezing her hand.

"I've got this, I promise. This is what I do, it's what I'm good at. I've done this my whole life," she said. Pepper stayed quiet. "I can force Happy to come with me if that makes you feel better." At that, the woman cracked a smile.

"Not really sure if that makes me feel better," she chuckled. Adelaide smiled.

"Me neither," she said. Pepper sighed, squeezing her hand back.

"You promise you got this?" she asked.

"Pinky."

"Alright, but get hurt again and I'm calling the whole thing off," she muttered. She stood up. "Breakfast will be done in a bit. Get dressed, alright?" She reached out, touching her cheek gently. Adelaide leaned into her warm touch.

"I love you," Pepper said. Adelaide smiled, squeezing her hand.

"I know. I love you too," she said softly. Pepper stood there for a few more seconds before nodding and leaving her alone in her room again. Adelaide sighed, looking around her room.

She sat there for a few more minutes, staring at the empty spot beside her on the bed before finally deciding to get up and head into the bathroom to get dressed.

—————

"Good morning, Mor," Adelaide greeted when she walked into the kitchen a few minutes later. Her little sister was sitting happily in her little high chair, grinning up at her with her toothless baby smile. She giggled and Adelaide nodded.

"I did sleep well, what about you?" Adelaide asked, playing along. Morgan giggled again, trying to put her fists in her mouth. "Well, that's great. Good job."

"Breakfast," Pepper said, handing her a very healthy-looking plate.

"Thanks," she said, taking it to the kitchen island so she could sit next to Morgan. She was pouring herself some orange juice from the jug when the billionaire walked in.

"Morning, sweetheart," he said to his teenager and pecked her cheek. He smiled at Morgan, giving her a kiss on the top of her head. Morgan showed him her hands and he pretended to be fascinated by them. "Wow. Best hands I've ever seen. Seriously."

Adelaide fed some of the scrambled eggs from her plate to Morgan as Tony and Pepper talked about some business they had to attend to later today. Morgan seemed to love them. Even though she made a mess eating them.

"Oh, by the way," Adelaide said suddenly, causing the two adults to turn and look at her from across the island, "I'm going up to the compound again today. I'm meeting Nat for lunch."

"But you still haven't packed for tomorrow," Pepper frowned.

Ugh. Tomorrow. The day she was flying out to New Orleans to finally see her brother again. She had been hoping they'd forgotten about that because even though they were right, she really, really didn't want to see him again. She just knew it was going to end badly.

"I'll pack tonight. I don't need much, I'm only going for the weekend," she said. She glanced at Tony unsurely. "You wanna join me at the compound?"

He gave her a smile, "Can't. Got errands to run. But you have fun."

That was one of the hundreds of ways he said no to visiting the compound. After the Blip, Tony never mentioned the Avengers again. He never directly refused to go back to the compound, but he never agreed to go with her either. She, on the other hand, had started going a few months ago, after she had started to feel better. She mostly went to meet Nat. Sometimes Steve was there. Rhodey showed face every once in a while, but, other than that, it was pretty much a desert.

The war was over. Everybody died. There was nothing really left to save.

No one needed heroes anymore.

—————

"I brought you something," Adelaide said as she walked into the compound. Natasha looked up from her computer when she saw the teenager walking in with a greasy brown fast-food bag in one hand and sunglasses in the other.

"Are you gonna make me guess?" she asked with a smile.

Adelaide sat down across from the assassin at her desk and pulled out two cheeseburgers and fries to go along with them. Now that she was driving on her own, she found it kind of impossible to not stop at a drive-thru for fast-food every time she got in the car. She might have accidentally conditioned herself at this point, but it wasn't a bad problem to have. She'd definitely had worse problems before.

"Best cheeseburgers I've ever had," the teenager said as she bit into hers. She watched Natasha's expression as she tried hers. "So?"

"Mm. I agree," the assassin said, "Are those pickled onions?"

"Yup. It's their signature thing. Makes it a million times better than all the others," Adelaide said, taking another bite. "So where's Steve?"

"He's with the support group again," Natasha said. Adelaide caught her eye for a moment before nodding. "It helps him, I think."

"Why don't you join him?" she asked. Natasha smiled, looking down. Adelaide pressed her lips into a thin line. "You still think they'll all come back someday, don't you?"

"Don't you?" Natasha asked, looking up at her. The teenager didn't answer, picking around her food as a distraction. "Adelaide."

"I can't afford to have hope anymore, Nat. If I...If I let myself believe that he can come back and then he doesn't, I really think it'll just kill me," she said quietly, "I'm barely keeping it together."

"Yeah," Natasha mumbled, "I know the feeling."

"You really think there's a chance?" Adelaide asked. And just for a fraction of a second, she had hope. The feeling felt foreign, unfamiliar after so long. Natasha opened her mouth to answer and then looked up at the teenager's broken blue eyes again. She pursed her lips, shaking her head.

"No," she answered quietly, "I don't." Adelaide nodded as she looked down at the table again.

"I don't know if I said this before, but...I'm really glad you're here," Adelaide said.

"Where else would I be?" Natasha smiled, bumping her feet against hers under the table. It got her to smile, just a bit.

"Where did you go?"

"Budapest. Had some unfinished business," she mumbled, dipping her fry in the ketchup.

"Define business," she said. Natasha smirked.

"Breaking my dad out of prison, bringing down a misogynistic crime syndicate with my mom and my sister," she said, "Ничего сумасшедшего." (Nothing crazy.)

"You have a sister and you didn't tell me?" Adelaide said, offended.

"Yeah, well, we weren't exactly buddy-buddy," she mumbled.

"I know the feeling," Adelaide muttered, "I'm going to visit my brother this weekend. I'm still not sure if I count as his older or younger sister."

"Obviously, you're younger," another voice said and Adelaide looked over her shoulder to find Steve walking into the room. He glanced at the cheeseburgers questioningly and Adelaide wondered if he ever indulged in fast-food. It'd be hard to keep that body and still eat cheeseburgers.

"But he looked thirty-something," Natasha said.

"But she was born first," he said, stealing one of the teenager's fries as he leaned against the desk.

"But she was frozen for twenty-two years," the assassin argued.

"She's not even eighteen!" Steve said, gesturing to her and Adelaide realized the two could do this all day if she didn't stop them now.

"You know what? I'll just let him decide when I see him. If he even wants to talk to me," she said.

"If he tries anything, call me and I'll kick his ass," Steve winked.

"What else would I keep you on speed dial for?" she grinned. He stole another one of her fries. "Completely unrelated, but do you eat junk food?"

"I ate this fry," he said.

"Before this fry."

"He's allergic to junk food," Natasha grinned, "Always lectures me on my ice cream stash."

"It's just too much sugar for a cup that tiny," he said and then sighed, "I don't know...the last time I ate something unhealthy was...fondue."

"Fondue?" Natasha asked.

"You know, melted cheese," he explained. Adelaide wrinkled her nose, trying to hold back a shiver at the last memory of her experience with melted cheese. Steve noticed the look on her face. "It's not that bad."

"No, it's just... never mind," she said, "Forget it."

"That's not allowed here," Steve frowned, "You can't start a sentence and then just say never mind."

"Это сводит его с ума," Natasha mumbled (It drives him crazy). Adelaide grinned and Steve looked between them, knowing they were making fun of him but he couldn't understand it. He hated it when they did that. It also drove him crazy.

"Hey, hey, come on now. English, please," he said. Adelaide sighed, waving her hand in the air.

"Okay, okay, fine. It's just when Tony found out Peter and I were dating a few years ago, he caught us...in my room," she said, wincing.

"Adelaide Rivers," Steve scolded.

"We weren't doing anything! But, of course, Tony being Tony made a big deal over it and takes us all out to this fancy restaurant and orders fondue for the appetizer. Then," she sighed, "he asked us if we were...fonduing. And, well...yeah. It was really embarrassing."

Steve tried to hold in a laugh, and when Adelaide noticed, she groaned in embarrassment.

"See?" she mumbled, "This is why I wasn't gonna say anything."

"It is kind of funny," Natasha said and the teenager realized she was laughing a little too.

Adelaide looked between the two, feeling a smile creeping up on her own face. She tried to hold it back, but then she found herself laughing with them. Their laughs were contagious. It was just one of those stories that was funnier in retrospect.

Adelaide just wished he was still here to laugh with her.

—————

"Adelaide? Adelaide," someone said, shaking her shoulder gently.

She inhaled sharply as she opened her eyes. She blinked a couple times in confusion before she realized it was just Happy. She swallowed, looking around as things came back to her. They were on their plane, on their way to New Orleans. Happy stepped back, looking at her in worry. She sighed and sat up straighter in her seat.

"Sorry. Was I screaming again?" she mumbled as she rubbed the sleep off her eyes. He sat down in his own seat across the aisle.

"No, just mumbling," he said. She nodded. She didn't really want to talk about this again. She had had this conversation a million times before so she changed the subject before he could ask her anything.

"How much longer?" she asked.

"Less than a couple hours," he said, "Are you hungry?"

"No, I'm anxious," she mumbled, making him smile. He pulled out his phone from his pocket and pulled something up on it.

"He works at a bar," he read off of his phone, "The Gypsy Rose."

"Ugh. That sounds so tacky," she said.

"He lives in an apartment right above the bar with his coworker. He's been living here for the last eleven months now," Happy said.

"Do you keep a file on him or something?" she asked, glancing at his phone. Her mouth felt a bit dry so she reached for the water bottle in the cup holder.

"Yeah," he said, "Had to make sure he didn't join a cult or something before we flew halfway across the country to see him. Speaking of, do you want me to join you when you see him?" She thought about it as she drank the water.

"No," she finally said, "I think I need to go alone."

"Alright. But I'm telling you right now, no drinking at the bar and I'm tracking your phone for as long as we're here," he said, making her crack a smile.

"What, you don't trust me, Happs?" she asked.

"Give me one good reason," he said.

"Touché," she said.

—————

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA

The plane landed a couple hours later at Tony's private runway.

There were two cars waiting for them when they got off the plane, one for Happy and all their luggage and the other to take her directly to the bar. The sun had already started to set so she wanted to get to the bar before it got late and crowded. Happy told her to stay safe and pushed a bottle of pepper spray into her hands before she left. She hoped she wouldn't need it, but with her brother's track record, she could never say for sure.

"We're here, ma'am. Would you like me to wait for you outside?" the driver asked. She looked out the window of the car. He had parallel parked right across the street from the Gypsy Rose.

"No, that's okay. Thank you," she said as she got out of the car. She crossed the street, nervously twisting her songbird pendant between her fingers as she got closer to the bar. She had had a entire plane ride to think about what she would say to him and she had nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Adelaide eventually found herself standing in front of the door, studying it wearily.

Her eyes lifted to the overly bright, flickering neon sign to above her. Gypsy Rose, it read. Her nose wrinkled at the odor. She could smell the alcohol and must from outside the bar. She checked her phone one more time to make sure it was the right address. It was. She had had nearly six months since Tony first planted the idea on her mind to consider and reconsider her decision to follow through with this, but now that she was here, standing in front of the Gypsy Rose in New Orleans, Louisiana, she was hesitating.

Her heartbeat accelerated with anxiety. She considered calling Happy back to come pick her up. He was probably already at the hotel by now, though. Even though the hotel was only a few blocks away, by the time he would come back here, she knew she was going to change her mind at least seventeen times.

Just get it over with, she thought to herself.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the door to the bar. She couldn't tell which hit her first: the noise or the odor.

There were several tables and booths laid out, which were all occupied to full capacity even at this hour. There was an open space to the left, next to an old jukebox where people were dancing. Adelaide felt compelled to look anywhere but there. In the back, however, was the bar.

Before she could change her mind again, Adelaide began making her way to it.

The bartender was wiping a glass with his back to her. Her stomach fluttered nervously. This was it. She was here. There was no turning back now. Adelaide stood there, gripping the countertop. She cleared her throat.

The bartender turned around.

"What can I g—"

He froze in place, surprised to see her here. Then his expression became full of hatred. Her stomach sank. Adelaide swallowed, holding his gaze.

"Just water," she said quietly.

Somehow, he heard her. He turned around abruptly, filling the glass with water and then slid it to her. She took it but didn't drink yet. He stood there and pretended to ignore her, silently wiping glasses clean with his hand towel.

He looked older than when she had last seen him, as if the last year alone had aged him faster than a decade could. She knew the feeling too well herself. His dark brown eyes held pain in them and it felt like looking in a mirror. His hair was shorter, his skin was more tan. He even had a beard. She thought she felt herself smiling a bit at him.

He just looked so much like their dad.

"So you go by William now?" she asked, taking a seat. He avoided her gaze and continued to wipe the glass in his hand.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he muttered. She stared at him for a moment. Then, she blinked.