"This had better be important," Steve murmured as he threw a leather jacket on over his broad shoulders. Tony Stark had just contacted him to meet him at Avengers Mansion and to bring Nat with him. Supposedly, it was a matter of life and death, but when asked, he wouldn't say what it was about - only that it was important.

Lucy smiled at him as she gently jostled Daniel against her shoulder. "My brother may be a dick, but he wouldn't call you to Earth without a good reason," she reminded her husband fondly. "He sounded pretty stressed out, although that could be because Pepper's so close to popping out his first kid."

"It doesn't take much for Tony to get stressed out," Steve pointed out. How the guy was going to handle being a Dad was beyond him, but Tony had become pretty good at being an uncle the last few years, so there was always hope. And if all else failed, Steve was sure Pepper would be an awesome mom. He leaned in to press a kiss to Lucy's lips. "Hopefully, this won't take long."

She answered his kiss with her own. "I'm sure it won't," she promised. "He would have told us if it was something violent, after all. Maybe he's just forgotten how to change a diaper."

Steve chuckled. "He can check the internet for that." He had mostly caught up with 21st century culture and technology, but there were still a few things that surprised him. "Maybe he wants to retire," he suggested, though he doubted that. Tony would always have to be involved to some degree or die of boredom.

"When Hell freezes over, maybe," Lucy responded with a grin. "Is Nat coming over here, or didn't you tell her yet?" On her shoulder, Daniel burbled, lifting his head to look at Steve adoringly.

"I imagine she's giving Colin a laundry list of instructions," he replied, with something of a chuckle at the thought of that. He still thought it was nothing short of a miracle that Nat had gotten married and had a kid. Of course, the same could probably be said for him.

"And he's dutifully nodding and not listening," Lucy agreed. She loved the dynamic between Colin and Nat; Nat was a still a bit of a control freak at times, but Colin just seemed to let it all wash over him. They were good for each other. "Oh, and speak of the devil."

She nodded to the window, where Nat was visible making her way across the connecting gardens to the Rogers' back porch.

"Better not call her that to her face or she might take offense," Steve teased, glancing out the window to watch Nat approach. "Okay, the sooner I leave, the sooner I get back," he said, feeling a mixture of anxiety and annoyance at having to leave. He kissed her again, before smooching his youngest son's cheek. "You be good for your mama, okay?"

As Daniel burbled, flailing a little fist cheerfully at his father, the back door opened to allow Nat to enter. Like Steve, she had thrown a jacket on over her clothes, not expecting to be outside for long. Over the past year, her red hair had grown long, most often tucked into a braid out of her face for dealing with Alia these days.

"Hey, Luce," she greeted the woman of the house before looking to Steve. "Ready to go, old man?"

"Just about," he replied, so accustomed to her nickname for him that he ignored it. He had stopped pointing out that he was biologically about the same age as a lost cause months ago. "You know how to reach me if you need anything," he told Lucy. "I'll call later and let you know when we'll be back. Maybe I'll bring home some cheesecake." New York style cheesecake, of course.

"You're going to spoil us again," she teased. "Go on ....sooner you go and rescue him from his stress, the sooner you can come home. Try not to kill him." This was addressed to both of them, but they all knew it was for Nat. If Tony didn't have a damned good reason for pulling her away from her retirement, he would suffer for it.

Even though that remark was mostly meant for Nat, Steve replied with a smirk, "I'll try!" One more kiss for good measure, and he stepped out the door, a wave of his hand to Colin who was helping little Alia wave a final farewell to her mother.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Nat grinned at Lucy, stepping out behind Steve with a wave and blown kiss to her own husband and daughter even as she fell into step with her best friend. "So ....still no idea what this is about?"

"Knowing Tony, it could be anything from a hangnail to a resurgence of Hydra," Steve replied, hoping it was neither. "He didn't say anything about Pepper, so I'm assuming it's not the baby. He seemed a little stressed out to me though," he remarked as they made their way away from the little group of houses to an open space where they could easily open a portal to Earth.

"All it takes is for his favorite robot to knock over his coffee for him to be stressed," Nat commented, though there was a certain tension in her that likely only Steve could recognize. "I don't like the secrecy."

"Neither do I," Steve agreed, dropping the facade he'd put up for Lucy's sake, the smile fading. "It must be important though. I don't think he'd summon us all the way there if it wasn't." Which only made Steve worry all the more. "You don't think this is about what's his name, do you?" he asked, not wanting to mention Thanos out loud.

"And why just us?" Nat agreed. "If it was a big thing, he'd have asked for Colin, Lucy, and Johnny, too. Maybe even Fliss and her friends." She frowned at the query. "No," was her firm reply. "Tony knows that is too big to be kept quiet if it happens."

"Yeah, something's up, but I'm not sure what," Steve said, coming to a halt in an open area of grass and sliding the device Tony had given them that would open a portal out of somewhere inside his jacket. "I still don't get how this thing works."

"It works, that's all I care about," Nat said with a shrug. "I don't need to know the how, just that it's going to get me where I'm going." She flashed Steve a teasing smile. "Kind of like sex."

Steve scowled at the mention of sex, lifting a hand to stop her before she got started. He might have caught up with technology, but he still believed in old fashioned good manners, which meant not talking about sex, politics, or religion in mixed company. "Too much information. Save it for Colin," he told her.

"How are you still such a prude after being married to Lucy for so long?" the redhead asked, laughing at the way he had cut her off. "She's the bawdiest person I know!"

"Really?" Nat said, hard on the heels of this. "You're so stressed, you're deconstructing primitive tech' What the hell happened?"

Tony looked up absently. "Pass me that wrench, would you?"

"Is everything okay with Pepper?" Steve asked unable to hide the concern from his voice as he reached for the wrench and handed it over. That was his first guess anyway, but still ....If it was something with Pepper, he'd have asked for Lucy, not Steve and Nat.

"Oh, yeah, fine," Tony assured him, apparently focused on his little hobby. "Big as a beachball, temper like my father, it's all great."

Nat snorted with laughter, moving to sit down. "That won't last long," she predicted. "It's weird having another human inside you, you know."

Steve could no more relate to being pregnant than could Tony, but he could at least sympathize. "It won't be long before you have your wife back and a mini-Pepper along with her," he told the other man. He wasn't too sure what to say to Tony to reassure him, but he was going to have to face the music sooner or later and accept the fact that he was going to be a father.

"Yeah, but that's not why you're here," Tony said, putting down his busywork. He looked over at the two of them, obviously struggling with whatever it was he had to say. "Did you two ever, you know, play hide the zucchini" Or think about it?"

"Hide the zucchini?" Steve echoed, brows furrowing in confusion, looking a little bit lost. He had mostly caught up on culture, but sexual innuendos were still mostly lost on him. He looked to Nat for clarification, assuming she knew what he was talking about.

Nat bit down on a smile, rubbing her forehead for a moment. "Tony ....why are you asking if Steve and I ever had sex?"

The man behind Iron Man actually squirmed a little, glancing between them before looking at the dismembered coffee machine. He mumbled something not even Steve could decipher.

To Steve's credit, he didn't gasp or even blush, but he didn't look amused. In fact, he looked about as far from amused as he could get. "Maybe you better just tell us what this is all about," he said, his tone of voice betraying his irritation. It wasn't that he didn't like Nat, but she was like a sister to him, not a lover.

"Look, this isn't on me, okay?" Tony announced, holding his hands up. "It just happened, and it wasn't even me. I haven't touched the AU generator since you crushed a solid metal piece in your hand telling me to stop."

Steve's expression darkened, proof of his growing annoyance. "Just spit it out, Tony. Why did you ask us to come here and why is it a matter of life and death?" he asked, trying hard to keep his temper, which was often a challenge where Tony Stark was involved.

"Wait, wait." Nat waved a hand, pinning Tony in place with a firm glare. "The AU generator" The thing we told you to scrap for being too dangerous?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "I get you're irritated, but at least listen," he said. "I never finished it. So the hole into an alternate reality that opened up here yesterday' Totally not my fault."

"What hole into an alternate reality?" Steve said, narrowing his brows. Whatever had happened, Tony had claimed it wasn't his fault, but they still didn't know what had happened yet.

"It's all closed up now," Tony told him. "And yes, we checked - no weakness remaining, no hint of anything that might bring another hole to bear here. Sam's the one who saw what happened - hole opened up in the gym, little kid bounced through, hole closed."

"Little kid?" Steve echoed, trying hard to follow what Tony was telling them. The man was hard to follow on a good day, and this didn't seem to be one of those days. "Are you saying someone from an alternate universe opened a portal into our universe and sent a kid through?"

"Kinda saying that you in another universe threw your kid into this one," Tony said. He looked at them both and sighed. "C'mon to the lab, I'll show you the test results. JARVIS, where's the tinker toy?"

There was a pause before JARVIS responded. "I believe the young one is still playing games with the rest of the team, sir."

"Is this some kind of joke?" Steve asked, eyes narrowed again. He knew what Tony was telling them wasn't impossible, but it seemed hard to believe. And yet, somehow, he knew even Tony Stark knew better than to joke about something like this, and Jarvis was proof. He didn't think Jarvis was capable of playing a practical joke, much less lying.

Tony looked him in the eye. "You know me," he pointed out. "Would I make a joke about something like this?"

It was a pertinent point. Over the last few years, Tony had definitely grown up a lot more, learning to pick his words at certain times to avoid upsetting other people.

Nat sighed as she stood up. "Look, just ....show us what you need to show us," she said. "I still don't know why I'm here."

Steve frowned, the look on his face softening a fraction at Nat's remark. "Because it's not just my kid, is it?" he asked, putting two and two together, though he still wanted to see proof. It was the only reason he could think of that Tony would ask if he and Nat had ever had sex. Of course, a child would have to have a mother, and it seemed this alternate universe kid's mother wasn't Lucy.

"Technically, she's not yours, she's another you's," Tony pointed out, taking the opportunity to lead the way out of the common room toward his labs and avoid meeting either of their gazes.

Nat frowned. "Where is she, Tony?" she asked sternly.

He hesitated, looking back over his shoulder at her. "You're really gonna take it on faith?"

"How do you know it's my ....our ..." Steve trailed off with an exasperated huff of breath.

The sensory room had actually been installed for Alyona, as a calming space for her to be able to meditate and practice the mental skills she had developed over time. When Steve found her, however, she was lying flat on her back on the padded floor, watching the play of soft multi-colored light over the ceiling, half-smiling to herself.

"Hello, Steve," she said, almost before he'd got the door open.

"Uh, hi, Aly," he said, feeling a little bit awkward, as he often did around their resident mind-reader. "Is this a bad time?" he asked, suddenly worried he was bothering her, though he had a feeling she'd already known he was coming.

She lifted herself up onto her elbows, smiling over at him. "I was expecting you," she assured him. "Come inside, be comfortable. No one is close enough to disturb this conversation."

"You know what I'm gonna ask you then," Steve said as he closed the door quietly behind him. He took a brief look around the room before joining her on the floor and crossing his legs. It was about as comfortable as he could get without any furniture in the room.

"I do." She sat up, her smile turning sad as she absorbed the whirling emotions filling his mind. "She does not know much, and all I know is from her mind," she told him. "Her parents were another version of you and Natasha. There were different people on the team - a sort of robot thing that spoke like Jarvis, and a man who looked like Niko, but was not him. She was kept very sheltered, but what she did see ....everything had become gray. The city was in ruins, and those aliens you fought in New York that one time were everywhere. The mansion was under attack, they didn't have the resources or the time. They were going to die. The aliens were already inside the mansion when they activated the portal on their side and sent the children through. Lara - the little one - she does not know what happened, or why she is here. She wants her mother very badly."

Alyona didn't need to read Steve's thoughts to know he was upset by all this, not only for the little girl who'd been sent to them for safekeeping, but for that other world that seemed to have gone to hell.

"Was there nothing they could do?" he asked, clearly distraught by the news. How did the saying go' There but for the grace of God, go I.

"You know yourself, Steve," she said softly. "He was not so very different to you. If there was any other choice, would you have done this?"

Steve frowned, realizing she was right. "No ....I'd have done everything in my power to keep my family safe," he admitted. And if that family had included Nat, he'd have wanted to send her away, too, but for some reason he hadn't. There could have been a few reasons for that, but Steve wasn't sure he wanted to know what they were. "So, what now?"

"We have been discussing it," Alyona said. "With some of the engineers as well. The consensus is that even if they could open a dimensional portal, there is no way to pinpoint which alternate universe the child came from. We cannot help them. We cannot send her back. I am sorry, Steve, but ....she needs a family. It is a conversation you must have with Natasha."

"Alyona, in this world, Nat and I are not ....We're friends - good friends - but we're not married," he pointed out, though, of course, she knew that already. He sighed, unable to hide the sadness from his eyes. This was exactly why he and Nat had taken precautions against Thanos finding the Mind Stone. "There has to be a way to help them," he murmured. Though at the moment he couldn't think what that might be, he had never been a quitter, and he wasn't going to start now.

"Steve ..." Alyona opened her hand, reaching up to gently touch her fingertips to his temple.

She closed her eyes, concentrated ....and his mind was flooded with images of terrible loss and catastrophe. It was all from the view of a small child surrounded by chaos, glimpses caught of known adults fighting and dying as he was rushed deep into the depths of the mansion, hoisted up onto the hip of a Natasha he did not known part-way, handed into the arms of a version of himself who was weary and broken. As that Natasha turned to hold off the Chitauri that were on her heels in a fight that was doomed to end with her death, the small child was borne with haste toward a complex machine as a man who looked like Nikolai but had to be Bucky joined them, setting a little boy down beside a strange, red-skinned and caped being manning the controls of the machine. Steve saw himself bend to kiss the child as he set her down, watched as he turned away, saw that other Natasha fall with a spear in her chest, heard that other version of himself scream in fury and grief as both he and Bucky charged the attackers, desperate to hold them back. The red-skinned being activated the portal; the two children were gently urged through ....and there was Sam, looking utterly shocked as he landed on the calm gymnasium floor.

Alyona withdrew her hand, drawing in a deep breath. "Do you see now why there is no hope for them?"

"No," Steve whispered, as the tragedy played out before his closed eyes. "There has to be some way ..." he murmured, his voice breaking as he saw how hopeless it was.

He wasn't a man easily given to tears, but he felt them gathering behind his closed lids, a lump growing in his throat, his heart heavy with sorrow. He'd seen two children, but only one had arrived here - the one that belonged to him and Nat. Perhaps the boy had been sent to another universe with alternate versions of his parents, but Steve couldn't say for sure, and he didn't think Alyona knew either.

"Jesus," he murmured further, drawing a shaky breath as he opened his eyes at last. "What are we supposed to do?" he asked, though the answer seemed obvious enough.

"She was sent somewhere she would be safe and loved," Alyona said quietly. "You know what needs to be done. Natasha has already set it in motion without seeing what you have seen. I briefly touched the minds of those she saw, when the portal opened. The boy went to a different universe, one where his parents still live in safety. He, too, will be safe and loved with them."

"So, we're supposed to raise this little girl like she's ours ....like nothing happened?" Steve asked, shaking his head at the impossibility of it. He was pretty sure they could accomplish that much. There was no lack of love to go around, but they weren't her parents - not really. Everything she had ever known, everyone she had ever loved was gone. Then again, how was she any different from Martin and Lianne" She was an orphan, just like them; the only difference was that she was the orphaned child of an alternate version of himself and Nat.

"She is very young, Steve," Alyona reminded him. "Older, and this would be a much harder transition for her. But being so young, she will be able to imprint upon a different mother, or a different father, and not know that anything is different. It is not a decision I can help you with."

Nat forced her expression into a softer smile, not wanting to give this little girl any indication that she was in any way an unwelcome addition to their wide-ranging collection of family and friends. "Hey there, kiddo."

The little girl lifted her head from Steve's shoulder and lunged at her mother with a delighted cry of "Mama!" to throw her arms around Nat's neck.

Steve leaned back to give them room and sniffled again, wondering if he should back off to give them both space and privacy.

"Oh, wow!" Catching the little one securely, Nat let her cuddle in, hoisting her to a more comfortable position on her lap before wrapping her securely up in her arms. Automatically, she kissed the wayward red curls tickling her nose, resting her cheek on that hair as her eyes found Steve's.

"I guess we need to talk about this, huh?" she said, absently rocking the child on her lap.

"Yeah, but it can wait a bit," Steve said, noting how easily the child moved into Nat's arms and how obviously she trusted them both. "Did you get a hold of ..." He trailed off, unsure if he should mention Colin in front of the little girl. "I think we might have to stay the night."

"Yeah, I did," she assured him. "He's gonna fill Lucy in, and they'll probably talk it over themselves." She glanced down at the little girl all but buried in her arms and sighed softly. "I think you're right," she agreed. "I, uh ....I think Aly's gonna have to explain to her what's up."

Alyona raised her brows, catching the stray thought, and sighed, nodding in agreement.

Steve frowned at the mention of Lucy, worried what she was going to think about all this. Then again, she was no stranger to the weirdness that was their lives, and he knew her well enough to know she'd do the right thing, despite the circumstances. 

"Where's Tony?" he asked. He hadn't seen the data yet and wasn't sure whether he needed to or not, but at least that might make him feel useful.

"Still in the lab," Nat told him. "Should we go ahead with the explanation without you, or wait until you're a little more settled?" She frowned slightly at her own reaction; she was far too calm about this, she knew. Colin was probably going to bear the brunt of the emotional fall out in a few days.

Steve's frown deepened, as he watched the little girl nuzzle into her mother - or the woman who was the closest thing she could get to her mother. For the first time in his life, he felt at odds with himself and was entirely unsure what to do.

"I don't know," he told her, honestly. He really didn't.

Alyona raised her hand a little hesitantly, a slightly guilty expression on her face. "I can ....I can adjust her memories a little," she offered. "Make it easier for her to accept that only one of you is her parent, and the other an aunt or uncle."

Steve looked back at the little girl wrapped up in Nat's arms. From the look of things, she had relaxed enough that she was falling asleep. "I don't know," he said again, looking to Nat for help. "I need to think about it." They all did.

"Something like that, we all need to think about and talk it over," Nat agreed, still absently rocking the little one. "Did she sleep last night?" she asked Sam, looking over her shoulder at him.

"Not very well," Sam replied, frowning in concern. He was close to becoming "Uncle Sam", but he didn't seem to mind. "She's been through a lot," he reminded them both. The best they could hope for was that she got a good night's sleep while the rest of them sorted things out.

"She has," Nat agreed softly, looking down at the sleeping little girl. "I know enough to know that they wouldn't have done this unless there really was no other choice. The least we can do is honor their sacrifice and do right by her."

"They," Steve echoed grimly. "They is us in another universe."

Thank the Gods it wasn't them, but it could easily have been, if they hadn't made different choices. Even so, an entire world destroyed. Something he'd fought all his life to prevent. All those people. There wasn't a damned thing he could do about that, but he could do something to help this one small survivor.

"We need to talk," he told her quietly. And he had to talk to Lucy.

"You should call Lucy and talk to her before we sit down and talk about this," Nat suggested. "I've already got Colin's opinion on the whole thing. We need Lucy's opinion, and you need to talk to her." In her arms, the little girl sighed contentedly, nuzzling in closer as she raised her thumb to her mouth in her sleep.

Steve sighed as he watched the little girl asleep in Nat's arms. "She's so young, so innocent. What kind of monster destroys a whole world, Nat?" he said, not really expecting an answer since they could both take a pretty good guess.

"The kind of monster we were lucky enough to protect against," she murmured, glancing at Alyona.

The Sokovian telepath sighed softly herself. "I did not see who it was," she said in a low tone. "Only the creatures that made the army."

"We've seen those creatures before," Steve said, turning back to Nat and explaining in the simplest way he knew how, knowing she'd understand what he meant. "New York."

"Loki's army." Nat sighed, rolling her eyes. "I guess we need to talk to Thor, find out if he's gotten anything more out of Loki about Thanos."

"Loki's army is really just Thanos' army," Steve said. Loki just happened to be one of Thanos' generals for a time, until they managed to stop him. "I'm not sure what happened in their world that hasn't happened in ours, but we need to make sure it doesn't."

"We're already ahead on that," Nat said confidently. She looked down at Lara, moving to stand up and settle the toddler on her hip in one smooth movement. "C'mon, little one, let's find you a bed."

"I'm gonna call Luce," Steve said, needing to talk to her, needing to get this off his chest and hoping she wouldn't freak out too badly. Nat was right - they needed to do what was best for Lara. That was what was most important right now, and he had a feeling he knew what that was.

She frowned. "I ....don't know," she admitted. "Alia will just accept she has a new sister. She's young enough for it to just become how it always was for her. You're probably gonna have to explain it to Martin and Lianne, though."

"Not just them," Steve said. They were going to have to explain it to the Storm kids, too - at least, the older ones. "I think the less we tell them, the better. They've been through enough. We don't want them worrying the same thing will happen here."

Nat had to admit, she was inclined to agree. "All they really need to know is that she needs a home, and we've given her one," she agreed. "The less detail, the less trauma."

"Agreed," he said, though he thought maybe they should take it one step further. "You want her to know you're her birth mother, right?" he asked, unable to complete that thought until he had her answer.

"I want her to assume that," she said quietly. "She's young enough that she can slide into our family without ever questioning her origins at all. I'd rather the other kids didn't make a point of telling her the truth as they know it."

"Then maybe they should know the truth, as she knows it," Steve said. "Three years ago, you had a daughter in secret and put her somewhere for her own safety, but now that we're in Rhy'Din, you deemed it safe enough for her to join you." It wasn't a perfect story, but it might work.

"That works," she agreed. "Col probably won't like it much, but he's already told me she's got a home with us. He wouldn't change his mind."

"He'd be her father as much as I'm Martin and Lianne's father," Steve said, though Martin and Lianne weren't his by birth and Lara was - sort of. "I don't want to over-complicate things, Nat. I'm just trying to think of what's best for Lara ....and her mother," he said, laying an affectionate hand against her shoulder.

"Let's just keep it simple, then," Nat said, smiling a familiarly rueful smile. "She needed a home. We're giving her a home. We're her parents now. Your kids, Johnny's kids ....they'll understand that."

Steve nodded. "Okay," he agreed, a smile momentarily teasing his lips. "It is a little weird to know you and I had a kid together somewhere."

She snorted with laughter. "Yeah, kinda," she agreed. "But not totally impossible to imagine." Her smile turned a little nostalgic. "I had a torch for you for a little while. I prefer you to be my brother, though."

"You what?" he asked, eyes widening in astonishment. "Why didn't you tell me?" he said. As far as he knew, no one had ever had a torch for him but Peggy and Lucy. Maybe there had been others, but if there were, he didn't know about them.

She chuckled quietly. "You were too pure for me," she teased for a moment, but softened in the face of his surprise. "You were fresh out of the ice, Steve. You needed a friend more than you needed a lover. I don't regret making that decision."

He chuckled at her response. "I'm not that pure. I did marry Lucy, after all," he said with a smirk, though doing the right thing had and always would be important to him. And he was pretty sure he was doing the right thing now in insisting Nat and Colin raise Lara as their own.

"She seduced you," she pointed out. "I'd say she earned the right to be your wife. Makes her braver than me in some ways. And she did jump out of a plane because you asked her to. You're a good match."

"Well ..." he started, shrugging his shoulders, his smile a little wider. "No argument there." He slid an arm around her shoulders, that smile softening. "What do you say we get a little rest' It's gonna be a long day tomorrow." It was really her that concerned him. He could go weeks without sleep.

"I hate it when you're right," she grumbled, but the smile didn't slip from her face. She leaned into him, grateful that, of all the people who could have been in this with her, it was her best friend. "I'm gonna go sleep in with her. Will you at least try to sleep a little?"

"I'll try," he told her, though he didn't make any promises. He wasn't one to waste time and he planned on using the next few hours sorting out what exactly he'd seen and how they could prevent it from happening here, with the help of the only other sentient being here who didn't need to sleep - Jarvis.

Nat knew better than to expect anything more than that when it came to Steve while he was worrying at a problem. She nodded, easing herself out from under his arm. "All right. See you in the morning?"

"I'm not going anywhere," he promised, leaning over and pressing a kiss to the top of her head in a brotherly fashion. "Go get some rest. I've got work to do." And his first stop was going to be Alyona. He needed to see everything she could possibly show him about what had happened in this other universe.

It was going to be a long night for some of the mansion's residents, but for one small girl, it would be her first night of safe, undisturbed sleep in quite some time. Her arrival might have thrown them all for a loop, but with Nat curled up in bed beside her, and Steve prowling the mansion outside that room, she was the safest child on the face of the Earth. And if Nat had her way, she would be one of the safest children in the multiverse.