“Chow time, Morgoona!”

Tony Stark was standing on the lawn outside his lake house, taking in the perfect day. He was looking at a small tent that had been pitched there. A small chair, like one made for a child, sat right outside the tent.

Tony crouched down, and sat on the way-too-small chair. In his hands, he held a stuffed animal.

There was no response from inside the tent. So Tony followed up, “Morgan H. Stark, you want some lunch?”

At last, the tent flaps opened. Looking back at Tony was his daughter, wearing what looked like an Iron Man helmet. On her hand was a glove with a glowing light at the center of its palm.

A repulsor.

“Define ‘lunch,’ ” Morgan demanded with remarkable seriousness, “or be disintegrated.”

Tony reached out to take hold of his daughter, and leaned close to her. “Okay. You should not be wearing that, okay? That is part of a special anniversary gift I'm making for Mom.”

Then Tony kissed Morgan on the cheek of the Iron Man helmet, and took it off of her head.

“There you go,” Tony said. “You thinking about lunch? I can give you a handful of crickets on a bed of lettuce.”

“No!” Morgan laughed.

“That's what you want,” Tony insisted. Then he lifted the helmet, holding it near his chest. “How did you find this?”

“Garage,” Morgan answered.

“Really? Were you looking for it?” Tony inquired.

“No,” Morgan said, twirling her hair with her fingers. “I found it, though.”

Tony smiled. It was a perfectly reasonable explanation from a kid. He stood, picking up Morgan in his arms, as the tiny chair he was sitting on fell over.

“You like going in the garage, huh? So does Daddy. It's fine, actually. Mom never wears anything I buy her.” That didn't stop Tony from trying, however.

With his daughter cuddled to his chest, Tony walked across the lawn toward the front porch of his lakefront home. The place was quiet, and he and Pepper had enjoyed the last few years of peace together, as far away from the aftermath as possible.

He was whispering to Morgan, trying to get her to crack up, when he saw them.

Steve.

Natasha.

Scott.

They were standing by a car on the road near the house. Steve closed the car door.

Tony kept walking up the steps to the porch, Morgan still in his arms. He wasn't going to let anyone interrupt his life.

Natasha nodded at Tony.

Tony nodded back.

Then she looked at Steve, tilting her head just slightly. She walked over to Tony, and Steve followed, with Scott right behind.

* * *

Tony held a pitcher in his hand, and poured a drink into a glass.

“No, trust me, we know what it sounds like,” Scott acknowledged, laughing nervously.

“Tony, after everything you've seen, is anything really impossible?” Steve needed Tony to believe.

“Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck Scale which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition. Can we agree on that?” Tony argued the scientific obstacles facing them, putting the pitcher down. He picked up the glass, handing it to Steve.

“In layman's terms, it means you're not coming home,” Tony explained.

“I did,” Scott corrected.

“No,” Tony countered, picking up another glass and pouring. “You accidentally survived. It's a billion-to-one cosmic fluke. And now you wanna pull a ... what do you call it?”

Tony handed a glass to Scott.

“Uh, a time heist?” Scott suggested. The words sounded silly the second they left his mouth.

“Yeah,” Tony laughed, then stopped laughing abruptly. “Time heist. Of course. Why didn't we think of this before? Oh, because it's laughable. Because it's a pipe dream.” As always, Tony masked his fears with cynicism. There was so much to lose.

“The Stones are in the past,” Steve explained. “We could go back, we could get them.”

“We can snap our own fingers. We can bring everybody back,” Natasha added.

“Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?” Tony asked, meaning Thanos. This was a foolish idea.

“I don't believe we would,” Steve declared solemnly.

“Gotta say that sometimes I miss that giddy optimism,” Tony responded sarcastically. “However, high hopes won't help if there's no logical, tangible way for me to safely execute said time heist. I believe the most likely outcome will be our collective demise.” The discussion was over as far as Tony was concerned.

“Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel. That means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events,” Scott counseled.

Scott started to say something else, but Tony held up his hand. “I'm gonna stop you right there, Scott. Are you seriously telling me that your plan to save the universe is based on Back to the Future ?”

Scott pulled back, wrinkling his brow and nose, acting like that was totally NOT what he was telling Tony.

“Is it?” Tony pressed.

“No,” Scott lied.

“Good. You had me worried there. 'Cause that'd be horseshit. That's not how quantum physics works,” Tony said dismissively.

“Tony. We have to take a stand,” Natasha urged. She knew that without him, this would likely fail. Not that that would stop them from trying.

“We did stand. And yet, here we are,” Tony observed.

“I know you got a lot on the line,” Scott pleaded. He was desperate. The others had had five years to adjust and for him it was a fresh loss that needed an immediate fix. “You got a wife, a daughter. But I lost someone very important to me. A lotta people did. And now, now we have a chance to bring her back. To bring everyone back, and you're telling me that you won't even—”

“That's right, Scott. I won't even.” Too much to lose. He couldn't even think about it.

A door opened on the front porch behind them. “I can't.”

Morgan came out the door, heading right for Tony. He put her on his lap, as Morgan rested her head on his shoulder. This was what he couldn't risk. Then Tony stood up, Morgan in his arms. He walked over to Steve.

“Mommy told me to come and save you,” Morgan quietly informed him.

“Good job. I'm saved,” Tony praised. Then he looked at Steve. “I wish you were coming here to ask me something else. Anything else. I'm honestly happy to see you guys.”

He walked inside the house, and the three followed. There was a dining table.

“I just—oh, and look, the table's set for six,” Tony commented on Pepper's usual thoughtfulness. Whether he'd asked for it or not.

“Tony. I get it,” Steve said sincerely. “And I'm happy for you, I really am. But this is a second chance.”

“I got my second chance right here, Cap. Can't roll the dice on it,” Tony explained, ending the discussion. He would not sacrifice the present or the future to save the past.  “If you don't talk shop, you can stay for lunch.”

* * *

Steve walked down the stairs of the front porch, heading to the car. Natasha was right beside him.

“Well, he's scared,” Natasha recognized her friend's reaction.

“He's not wrong,” Steve replied. He knew exactly where Tony was coming from. After so much suffering, Tony had finally found some degree of happiness. Who was Steve to begrudge him that?

“Yeah, but I mean, what are we ... what are we gonna do?” Scott asked anxiously, walking behind them. “We need him. What, are we gonna stop?” They wouldn't do that, would they? Just leave all those people ... leave Hope ... gone?

“No. I wanna do it right. We're gonna need a really big brain,” Steve announced.

Scott turned back to look at Tony's house. “Bigger than his?” THw+/gvtczRldxeiOGA06QsAE5q/E2ZWUxSrYDPnHNXf0Nlyby+tJh6+ArVw6Rnw