Hello everybody!

Violet and I are back!

This is the fourth installment of our Avengers stories. It may be helpful to read them, but I will leave a short summary for anybody that wishes to skip straight to this story..

In order of the stories: Undercover as Steve's Girlfriend. Learning to Love. Familial Bonds.

Short summary to update you: Steve and Natasha end up getting together after a prolonged time together, they end up adopting two children, Selina (now 7) and Chloe (now 17). Chloe is currently in a relationship with Peter Parker (17) and they have a 1-month-old son called Carter.

Howie (2 years old) is Pepper and Tony's son. And Arie/Arianna (3 years old) is Rhodey and Wanda's daughter.

It was a long process to decide to write a fourth installment, but hope you're happy to see it.

This story ignores the little future scenes we posted to tie up Familiar Bonds.

This is set straight after Infinity War. Warning for spoilers of Endgame throughout this story.

Natasha watched in absolute horror as people were being blown out of existence, disintegrating into the wind. She ran and came to a halt by Steve who had fallen to the ground in despair… defeat… pain? She wasn't sure which. All she knew was that they had lost. Failed. Thanos won. Half of all living creatures were gone.

A buzzing in her pocket became prominent after a few minutes of absolute silence. The vibration could be heard loudly in the deafening silence. It was only after the third ring, when Banner looked at her questioningly, that she numbly pulled the phone from her pocket to see who was calling - who was delivering more bad news? Who had they lost?

It was Chloe's number - and she realised she hadn't considered the fate of her children. They hadn't been safe either, even though they were at Clint's house with Laura.

But it was Chloe's phone calling her - so that had to be good… right?

Nat answered the call, putting the phone to her ear and uttering a hoarse "Romanoff," which gained the attention of everyone in the immediate vicinity. The words seemed like a dagger to some who were slowly letting the magnitude of what had just occurred sink in.

The calm before the storm had ended.

They now had to deal with their failure.

"Mum! I don't know what happened! I don't know what to do! Carter keeps crying and everybody's gone!" her youngest, Selina, cried into the phone.

By the reactions around her, she was sure a few could hear Selina's hysterical words - including Steve and Banner.

"Everyone?" she questioned, not sure if she could keep the facade of a cold assassin intact while talking to her seven-year-old daughter who was miles away with no adult supervision.

"Yeah! I don't know where they went! Chloe a-and Laura and Nate and Lila and Cooper and Nicole! I-I can't find them anywhere!"

Nat couldn't process this. That was more than half… that was Clint's whole family. That was her daughter. Gone. Gone because they couldn't stop Thanos.

She felt a presence behind her and just knew it was Clint - and worse, she knew he'd heard.

Steve stood up and took the phone off her without any resistance, looking oddly calm. But Natasha knew that underneath that mask, he was overcome with emotion.

"Everything is going to be okay, Sel," Steve said, his voice strong and showing no hint as to what had just happened. "Give Carter some food and look after him - we know you can do it. One of us will be there soon to pick you up."

Natasha stared at Steve before turning around to Clint.

Everybody slowly began moving and beginning to work out what to do. Within a minute, Steve began to organise things.

After a few hours, Selina heard a Quinjet. She was used to hearing it now and looked at Carter as he slept on the couch, pleased with how she'd successfully looked after him. He'd eaten, she'd changed his disgusting nappy, and she'd calmed him down enough that he'd fallen asleep.

Selina had spent a lot of time searching the house for anybody else, even after talking to her parents. She was used to people leaving suddenly, once in this same way… but it didn't make it hurt less. Somehow, the more she knew somebody, the more it hurt. She didn't like that.

"Selina?" her mum called for her upon entering the house.

Without hesitation, Selina ran towards her, slamming into her legs and trying not to shake. She pulled back after a minute and instantly knew something was very wrong. Her mum looked defeated.

"What happened?"

She watched her mum take a deep breath before walking over to the couch and sitting down with her, resting a gentle hand on Carter's head and combing through his hair with her fingers. "There was a very big fight with a very bad man. He used some powerful magic which… and… he sent half of all the people on Earth… somewhere else."

Selina stared at her, stunned. She couldn't quite believe what she was hearing, but she had no reason to suspect her mum of lying to her. "Where?"

Her mum faltered for a moment, Selina saw. "Nowhere… he just sent them all away."

"What? No… you're wrong! You can't just send people away like that!" Selina stated, getting agitated - her mum must have been lying after all. "They just left, didn't they? They left me and you and they're not coming back. Not because of a mean magic guy - they just don't care about us anymore!"

That had to be it!

She just knew it was because they'd stopped loving her, and not because… not because…

They just didn't want to stay anymore. That was less painful than what Mum said.

Selina took a deep breath, feeling the anger radiating from her as her mum just sat there patiently. Being angry was better than being sad. She wanted to scream and shout at her mum even more. She wanted to destroy the room and break everything. She wanted to punish those who'd left her.

But she wouldn't. Because her mum was here.

It might have taken hours but Mum had answered her call and came for her. She had proved that she'd always be there - her dad, too.

For years she'd thought Chloe had… but, thinking about it, she was always out with her boyfriend and cared about him more. She wanted to be with him and live with him - she had said as much.

But why didn't she take Carter with her?

Selina took a deep breath to calm herself down. She wouldn't push her parents away. But now she didn't know what to say.

Thankfully, her mum took the opportunity. "Let's pack your things, and Carter's, and we'll head back to the base."

Base? Selina wondered why they were going there instead of home, but didn't question it.

Nat got back to the base with Selina and Carter.

Both were wide awake and playing a game. Selina's laughter felt wrong - it didn't match what had just happened. Should happiness even be allowed? But she understood it. Selina thought they had just left her, since that had happened to her countless times before and she always bounced back - although Nat was sure there would be repercussions - and Carter was too young to really understand what was going on. He was just a month old.

She just hoped they were able to reverse this sooner rather than later - before Selina's anger at Chloe for leaving really cemented.

Before going to collect Selina, she had heard about so many deaths - so many family and friends: Bucky, T'Challa, Wanda… In a way she was happy to get away from learning who had died in Thanos' snap - she would rather have a list of who had lived… but so far, it seemed much too short.

Now she had to go back into that atmosphere and keep herself together. She just needed time to process or time to kill. Whichever came first, she would happily take.

She pushed herself up and out of the cockpit, picking up Carter. "Let's go."

Selina walked down the ramp almost hesitantly before breaking into a full run the second Steve came into view. She hugged him with a crushing grip.

"Conference room, thirty minutes," he quietly told Natasha as he hugged the little girl back.

Natasha nodded in reply. "I'll get Carter settled."

"Pepper's here." She nodded once again nodded before she and Steve walked off in different directions.

Natasha only half-listened to the list of known survivors - she was happy that it lasted a while… but not long enough.

She let her mind wander to what they could do. How could they find Thanos? Where could he be?

Steve's hand on her thigh returned her full attention to the matter at hand. Everybody had gone silent.

When nobody spoke, Natasha decided it was time to take the lead.

"We have to find Thanos, kill him, and reverse this. It's going to take time… we know he made a portal and left, and we presume he's no longer on Earth since he's done what he intended to, but we cannot guarantee that. We will find him and we will take him down. Until then we have to do damage control; we must keep the civilians safe - the ones remaining. We cannot get complacent. We must train and be ready."

Natasha paused, her voice almost breaking, but it didn't.

"Be ready at all times. We'll be sending out digital searches to ensure he's not on Earth. Right now we need to rest, though; we've just had a battle. Recuperate, sort out what you need to, and we'll meet back in here three days unless we find him."

Nobody moved right away, so Natasha stood and left the room without another word.

Natasha didn't know where she would go. She didn't even know who she wanted to see. Should she go somewhere she knew Clint would turn up? To comfort and be close to her best friend and the man she still felt she owed a debt? Or somewhere with Steve? Her husband, the man she wholeheartedly loved... the man who had had the most similar losses to herself. They could relate to one another in this - over the loss of their daughter. Or what about her living daughter, Selina? The seven-year-old who had once again lost some of her family, who now had to live in a world that had betrayed her again. Or her grandson, who would grow up without even remembering his mother? Whose father's status was unknown but was presumed dead?

Natasha didn't really want to see any of them - not yet. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to hold in her feelings and put on a mask long enough to be able to make an impact to anybody else - she'd just make things worse.

She was weak.

So she ambled through the halls until she came upon a large, empty room. The same one in which she had seen a picture of Nate for the first time. This place held plenty of memories, but none strong enough to break her… she was already broken, after all.

Natasha stared intensely at the blank wall in front of her as if daring it to turn to dust. She wasn't entirely sure why she was just standing in an empty room, but she wasn't sure of anything right now. They had failed and half of all living creatures had died as a direct result. Everything they aimed to accomplish had just turned to dust. So many people had perished while they stood, pretending to be heroes.

They definitely weren't heroes now.

"I don't think the wall will give you answers," a voice suddenly piped up from behind her. Steve came to stand at her side, a small smile pulling at his lips. Even in her periphery it looked forced.

The look on his face was wrong on so many levels and yet he still was trying to be strong, to be optimistic. She couldn't help but feel annoyed by that.

"Wipe that smile off your face. It's as useful as the wall."

His face fell almost instantly, as though he was eager to acquiesce. However, without the semblance of cheer, he now looked older, more tired. The circles around his eyes were dark and his jaw was tense. But at least it was real.

"It's more useful than anything else I can do," he murmured, looking away.

For the first time since he walked into the room, Natasha truly looked at him for a second, then turned her attention back to the wall.

"You don't need to do anything right now… just being here… being alive is enough."

"But if I'm not doing anything…" he made a frustrated sound. "She relied on us. I feel like I've failed her."

The mention of their daughter tore into Natasha harshly and she almost closed off completely. This was why she had avoided everybody. She didn't want to hash out her feelings. It was only a matter of time until she'd be forced to - but it didn't mean she wanted to. Instead of replying in an open manner, she deflected.

"We will find Thanos and reverse it. She won't even know it happened," she stated, although she had no way of knowing if Chloe would know or not when they got her back.

Steve seemed hesitant to reply for a moment, eyes now fixed on the same wall that had held her attention earlier. Finally, he said, "Even so, Sel will never forget. Neither will we… dammit…" he scrubbed his hand over his face. "I don't know what to say to her! She's determined to stay in denial and I don't want her thinking that way of Chloe, but… if it'll make it more painful for her…"

"It's a defense mechanism," Natasha replied shortly. Selina completely disregarding that the missing people had been dusted or died was probably for the best for the moment, since a seven-year-old shouldn't have to deal with that much grief, especially considering everything she had gone through already in her short life. But it wasn't healthy; Steve was right to be worried about how she was handling it. Selina was a smart girl and Natasha knew in her heart that she understood what was going on. "I'm not worried about her," she eventually added after a short moment of silence. She wanted to add more, more optimism… but that was never her specialty. Instead, she cleared her throat and tore her gaze away from the wall - it wasn't giving her any answers anyway. Nobody was going to give her answers apart from herself. "We should… rest and change."

They had to carry on. They both had duties. Duties to find Thanos and kill him, duties to save the world - which they had already failed, duties to look after their daughter and grandson in the meantime, instead of leaving them with an equally distraught Pepper.

Again there was a pause as he thought over how he wanted to respond, not bothering to hide the way he was studying her as if searching her thoughts. He must have found what he was looking for, because he eventually let out a long breath, seeming to deflate somewhat, and nodded. "You're right."

Natasha reached out and took his hand before they walked back to their room. They seemed to be going through the motions of getting ready for bed - removing the sweat-soaked Avengers uniforms they had on, showering and climbing numbly into the bed like they had a thousand times before.

Going through the motions, he rolled over to face her and moved closer, running his hand over her hair. Although he always tended to be more touchy-feely than her, this time seemed different somehow. The look on his face was slightly off, less pure affection and more hidden sadness.

Natasha looked up at him again but couldn't maintain eye-contact, so she moved closer to him and buried her head in the crook of his neck, holding him close. The pain of losing everybody was strong, however, the acknowledgment and relief that Steve was one of the remaining people in her life were there in the back of her mind. It made her feel conflicted that at least she hadn't lost him too.

He held her just as tightly, breaking just a little. His arms stayed wrapped around her without any indication of ever letting go.

The two of them laid there silently for the entire night, neither of them sleeping. Natasha simply waited for sunrise to be able to start the search for Thanos, to start the process of getting everybody back.

Thank you very much for reading!