I watch as my Dad walks onto the stage where a younger Tony stands from the couch to say goodbye. A younger me is seated at the piano with my mother as she tries to teach me how to play while Tony and Dad joke around.

"Do me a favor? Try not to burn the house down before Monday."

"Okay, so it's Monday. That is good to know. I will plan my toga party accordingly. Where you going?"

Young me looks up at Tony, "Dad's taking us to the Bahamas. You would've been invited if you know...you weren't sleeping with the whole country."

He throws his Santa hat at me that I only dodge, standing up to play wrestle with him for a bit.

"We might have to make a quick stop."

Tony and I look at each other knowingly, younger me rolls her eyes, knowing that a true vacation was too good to be true when you're a Stark.

Tony sighs, patting my shoulder as he speaks, "At the Pentagon. Right? Don't worry, you're gonna love the holiday menu at the commissary."

"You know, they say sarcasm is a metric for potential. If that's true, you'll be a great man some day. I'll get the bags." Dad leaves the room and Tony walks over to a door frame, staring out almost at me from it while Mom and younger me approach him.

"He does miss you when you are not here. And frankly, you're going to miss us. Because this is the last time we're all going to be together. You know what's about to happen. Say something. If you don't, you'll regret it."

I feel chills go down my spine watching this. This was the last place I saw Tony before everything went to shit. Only this time it's different. This time, Tony says,

"I love you, Dad. And I know you did the best you could."

He turns to me and smiles briefly, "I love you, Y/N. You're the best little sister anyone could ask for. I should've protected you better."

He hugs younger me and when we part, real Tony appears from behind.

"That's how I wished it happened. Binarily Augmented Retro-Framing, or BARF. God, I gotta work on that acronym. An extremely costly method of hijacking the hippocampus to . . . clear traumatic memories." He blows on a candle that takes apart the entire illusion, now just him on the stage.

"It doesn't change the fact that they never made it to the airport . . . or all the things I did to avoid processing my grief, but . . .Plus, 611 million dollars for my little therapeutic experiment? No one in the right mind would've ever funded it."

He gives a speech to the MIT students, announces that he's going to fund their projects through Stark Industries. When the teleprompter says, 'Now I would like to introduce the head of the foundation: Pepper Potts' Tony goes silent until his eyes land on me off to the side. I make my way onto the stage and smile as everyone cheers for me.

"Now go break some eggs," I say and pull Tony off the stage.

People come at him instantly and one guy asks for Tony to fund the faculty, to which I interrupt and say, "Bathroom is this way?" I start to lead Tony away until a woman comes to apologize about the teleprompter.

Tony says it's fine, but he'll be back.

I follow him out and he struggles to focus his breathing but I just pat his back, "You're alright. Pepper will come around, okay? Just breathe."

We go towards the elevator where we see a woman standing.

"That was nice, what you did for those young people." Tony nods slowly, "Ah, they deserve it. Plus, it helps ease my conscience." And there's that Stark charm.

"They say there's a correlation between generosity and guilt. But if you've got the money . . . break as many eggs as you like. Right?" She's smiling at us but it unsettles me, Tony clearly feeling the same for he shifts uncomfortably as he reaches to press the elevator button, willing it to come sooner.

"Are you going up?" I ask kindly and she smirks at me, some emotion in her eye I can't quite place my finger on.

"I'm right where I want to be." She starts digging in her handbag, making Tony panic and grab her wrist as he rambles, "Okay okay, hey!" He realizes that she's not dangerous and he's just acting on stress and fear, then releases her.

"Sorry...it's an occupational hazard."

"I work for the State Department. Human Resources. I know it's boring . . . but it enabled me to raise a son. I'm very proud of what he grew up to be." She slaps a picture against Tony's chest.

"His name was Charlie Spencer. You murdered him. In Sokovia. Not that it matters in the least to you. You think you fight for us. You just fight for yourself."

Slowly, I take the image and look at the young boy. Instantly I feel this overwhelming guilt. I wasn't even there in Sokovia during the battle with Ultron, but I know what she means. We make a mess where we go, we fight to save people but are we really saving people if we have to spill blood along the way?

"Who's going to avenge my son, Stark? He's dead . . . and I blame you."

Her voice comes out in a hiss, leaving Tony and I stunned.

She's right.

We fight for ourselves. We need to be put in check.

* * *

"11 Wakandans were among those killed during the confrontation between the Avengers and a group of mercenaries in Lagos, Nigeria last month. The traditionally reclusive Wakandans were on an outreach mission in Lagos when the attack occurred."

King T'Chaka then speaks, "Our peoples' blood is spilled on foreign soil. Not only caused by the action of criminals, but by the indifference of those pledged to stop them. Victory, at the expense of the innocent is no victory at all."

I sigh and turn the screen off in my car, heading into the compound to find Wanda. She's in her room, watching the news on her television. She's perched on the edge of her bed, her hand in a fist against her lips with

"What legal authority does an enhanced individual like Wanda Maximoff have to operate in NIgeria." I pick up the remote on her side table and turn her television off.

She doesn't bother to look at me, she can tell it's me but she doesn't turn her head or body in the slightest.

"It's my fault," she says, staring at the now black screen.

My arms are resting over my chest as I look down at the ground, "That's not true."

"Turn the TV back on. They're being very specific." She's now facing me. I can feel the guilt coursing through her veins, coating her head in poisonous thoughts. She's taking this all on herself.

"I should've noticed you were struggling. I could've helped and stopped you from losing control. I should've stepped up. People died. That's on me."

I sit down next to her and stare at her wall, feeling her eyes on the side of my head.

"It's on both of us."

She looks down at my hands and slips her fingers into my grip, squeezing lightly. I turn my head to her and sigh, my free hand brushing her hair behind her ear, thumb rubbing gently over her cheek until I can cup the side of her face in my hand. I look into her beautiful eyes and feel my heart swell at how she looks back at me.

"This job...we try to save as many people as we can. Sometimes it doesn't mean everybody."

I drop my hand but keep my focus on her as I continue.

"But if we can't find a way to live with that next time, maybe nobody gets saved."

She smiles briefly, tears evident in her eyes as she leans in to kiss me. I start to close my eyes until I hear something behind me. I jump in fear and see Vision entering through the wall.

Seriously, Easy Bake Oven? Now?

"Vis, we talked about this," Wanda scolds but Vision doesn't seem to register that he was in the wrong, for he just signals his hand towards the door.

"Yes, but the door was opened so I assumed that..." His eyes alternate between us until he realizes that he has interrupted our moment together. I almost laugh at the funny yet awkward moment.

He then continues to speak, switching gears.

"Miss Stark wished to know when Mr. Stark has arrived."

Nodding gently, I look at Wanda and smile smally, "Thank you, we'll be right down."

Wanda offers a tight-lipped smile, silently apologizing to me for Vision's intrusion.

"I'll just...use the door. Oh and apparently, he's brought a guest."

Frowning, unaware that Tony was having anyone join us today, I look up at vision with curiosity.

"We know who it is?"

He looks at Wanda, then back to me with a knowing tilt of his head, "The Secretary of State."

He then leaves, closing the door behind him as I mumble a "shit" out of my mouth, knowing what it is most likely about.

Wanda looks down at the ground, "I ruined us, didn't I?"

"What? No, no you didn't ruin us. Let's just go see what he wants, yeah?"

___

A/N: well...GOTTA BLAST :D