You and Steve were running around frantically, making sure everything was set in its correct place. Well, mainly you.

"Y/N, sweetheart, everything is fine," Steve told you. You were making sure every plate was set perfectly as the rest, the bar was fully stocked, and the food was being prepared.

"I just want to be sure Steve," You said.

"Doll, we've had people over here, many times before."

"But not for a dinner party for some of the most elite people in the world!" You argued, "And in celebration of Alexander Pierce being out of office." Steve placed his arm around you, giving a kiss to the top of your head.

"Everything's perfect darling, you did great." You leaned up and gave him a kiss before glancing at your watch.

"They should be here any minute now-" And right on cue, the doorbell rang, both you and Steve exchanging a quick glance before walking together to greet whoever was on the other side of the door.

You were in a gorgeous short gold dress, sleeveless on one side, the other had a long sleeve. Your hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail and you had a diamond choker, bracelet, earrings, and shoes, which you liked to say complimented the ring Steve gave you.

First was Bucky and Rachel of course, they were usually the first to show up to anything you two were hosting. "Hey, Punk." Bucky hugged Steve.

"Jerk." Steve hugged back. You and Rachel too engaged in a hug before letting go.

"You don't always have to look this gorgeous, ya know?" Rachel told you. You lightly laughed.

"Oh stop, you look absolutely stunning." You responded. The four of you grabbed a few drinks before briefly sitting down on the couch. It only took 10 minutes before a constant flow of people began coming into the penthouse.

It was Sam and Lyla next, then Tony and Pepper, then Shuri and her wonderful brother T'Challa (who happened to be a world leader), and finally Thor (a previous Avenger) and Jane (a Nobel prize winner).

The 12 of you sat down at the large dinner table, all sipping between an expensive bottle of glittering champagne and drinks of everyone's choice. Everyone was talking to a group of two or three people at a time, various conversations and laughter filling up the dinner table.

"There was this one time," Thor brought up, his thick accent coming in, "That we were on a mission- I believe it was, uh, Syberia?"

"I remember this!" Sam exclaimed and began hysterically laughing, Thor did the same.

"And Steve was running, incredibly fast as one does," He began, "And slipped on a patch of uh- what is it called-"

"Oh, the black ice story!" Bucky began laughing himself, "Yeah and he fell right on his ass."

"Shut up." Steve lightly smiled taking a sip of his own drink.

"It was like a huge 'thump' noise and we turn around, and Steve was just sitting there. In visible pain." You all began laughing at the image of Steve, all uniformed, and being taken down by black ice. You took another sip of your champagne, Steve placing his hand on your thigh and giving it a light squeeze. You smiled at him, placing your hand on his from where he sat at the head of the table.

The conversation continued until the food finally came. You had to admit it was absolutely delicious. You were glad you and Steve had chosen a wonderful chicken pasta that everyone indulged in. "It's a relief Pierce was removed." Bucky sighed, "He deserves every inch of that."

"And his time's not done," Steve added, "Considering we have our own case against him.

"It just feels like everything's okay now," Rachel said and everyone nodded and hummed in agreement.

It wasn't but five seconds later that everyone phones began blaring, a hideous alarm going off. You all grabbed them, the incoherent and unorganized sounds continued until all of you pressed the disable button. But of course, there displayed a message as all phones do.

Everyone began reviewing what it had said, some confused looks turned into ones of fear. Your own mind froze as your heart did. "Shit," Steve muttered frantically getting up, he looked to Bucky, then Sam, then T'challa, then Thor, then Tony. "You know what to do."

"Pepper," Tony said, "Get everyone else to the bunker, now." He demanded. She nodded. You saw the six men walkout, the six remaining women were quickly up and following Pepper down the main elevator. The guys went elsewhere.

"Please say this is all fake," Rachel begged on your way down, each second felt closer to the end. It was.

"It's not a drill," Pepper attempted to remain calm.

"Where are the rest of them going?" You asked next, worried about all half dozen of your friends, but more specifically Steve. Pepper sighed.

"To suit up."

"Who did this?" Lyla broke her silence.

"The new president," Pepper huffed as the elevator dinged, all of you rushing out and speed walking behind her. You couldn't help but turn around for only a moment in the lobby. Outside the large glass windows were hundreds of people running frantically in all different directions, bloody screams of terror came from each one as the chaos and panic of the country only grew. "The idiot sent a nuke, knowing damn well this would be the outcome. Probably at Pierce's request."

Running into a back room, Pepper put her thumb down on a small pad against a cement wall, a little machine coming out to scan her eye. It turned green, a large steel door opening and leading into another room. At the end of the long hall was another elevator. Three doors opened, letting all of you in, and three doors closed.

You were scared to say the least, just like everyone else was. This would be it, this was the end. It was like The Incident all over again. But what may have hurt more, was how much Steve had worked to rebuild the country, all of that could have been destroyed in a second.

The bunker you were currently in looked much like the one Steve had put you in Nat in only a few weeks prior. It was luxury, to say the least, but substantially larger with more room. Immediatly, you all gathered in the living room space and turned on the TV to see what was happening.

"A nuclear bomb sent from the President is heading straight to New York City. Many are rightfully fearful of the impact, some saying this could be a repeat of the Incident but to even greater lengths." The reporter stated, some fear laced in his own voice, "However the superhero group that helped to rebuild the country, the Avengers, have once again assembled in an attempt to save New York City, and potentially the future of the country."

"We are hearing now that the bomb is expected to drop in less than two minutes. The U.S. military has attempted to shoot it down but to no avail."

"So this is it?" Rachel asked next, you could tell she was about to go full panic, "We're all going to die."

"Don't say that," Pepper snapped from behind the couch where she was standing, "You fail to remember that these are the Avengers."

"And they haven't fought in 10 years!"

"You're trying to say they can't fight?" Pepper fought back with an annoyed tone. "Bucky's your boyfriend and you're really going to say that?"

"Enough!" You finally called out. "This country could end in two fucking minutes, the people we're closest with are currently fighting to try to stop a nuke, and you two wanna fight?" The two of them looked at you, immediately sighing in defeat as they knew you were inevitably right. "We just... have to have a little faith."

Your eyes stayed glued to the TV in the realization that yes, the creeping fear of a larger scale Incident would indeed happen. It was genuinely scary, and completely out of your control. It was now in the hands of a group of people you trusted, but this was easily questioning that trust.

You all sat and stared in awe at dozens of rockets from various military bases across the country attempted to blow the bomb, but none of them worked. Instead, they were just a hair short of keeping humanity intact, resorting to a more digested fear and anxiety growing amongst everyone. You weren't sure what the boys were up to. All you knew was that they would try to their fullest extent.

"We are counting down, only a minute left folks." The reporter sighed, rubbing his forehead in frustration. You inaudibly gasped unsure what to do. You felt Rachel, who was next to you on the couch, place her hand on yours. You graciously took hers, squeezing it withing your own and giving her a brief glance and forced smile.

In truth, you wanted to cry knowing Steve was not with you, that he was on the ground level. That if this bomb dropped, he would be gone. Another corpse left to decay within the radioactive toxins caused by not only a bomb but the corruption of the country. And it hurt you, even more, knowing how much time and energy he had placed into helping the place that had now betrayed him.

But here you were comfortably suited in his bunker. Waiting for the moment it went off. The moment you would know your soulmate was gone.

A single, warm, and salty tear streamed down your soft cheek and onto your shirt.

"Thirty Seconds." The newscaster finally said, he was covering his face with his hands out of frustration and disappointment.

You closed your eyes thinking of everything. The first time Steve placed his finger on your face, the flinch you had in response. The nearly quiet conversation that took place before arriving home for the first time. The way Steve managed to unfold you with such ease, patience, and passion as if you were a folded letter ready to rip at any moment. Your first kiss under the dark sky, over New York.

"15 seconds."

When he first met your family, in the field where you confessed your love to him and he did the same for you. The first night you two made love and the way he worshipped your body, making sure he praised every inch of you. The moment he proposed and confessed just how much he wanted to spend the rest of his life with you. And he did.

"10 seconds." You didn't move from where you sat, your eyes still closed in place. You couldn't bear to watch knowing what was going to happen. You knew you would never be able to unsee or unfeel what was about to happen.

"5 seconds." This was it. The end. You braced yourself, you felt everyone else doing the same. In your head, you counted.

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

You took a deep breath. You heard nothing but the light buzz from your ears that your brain made to fill the silence. You finally pried your lids open, looking at the TV.

Everything was the same. The newscaster lifted his head up, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He squinted at the TV, presumably the monitor. "Oh my-" He gasped and smiled, a laugh coming from his mouth, "Folks this is the best thing to happen in a century! Tony Stark, better known as Iron Man, has just taken control of the bomb, en route to moving it almost 100 miles off the coast of the Hudson and into the Atlantic where it will go off in the depths of the ocean." Your eyes went wide, it was unbelievable. You had just prepared for the greatest tragedy of your life, but here you were. Everything was going to be okay.

You released a long breath as everyone else began to cheer. You smiled and began lightly laughing, a celebration already beginning. "They did it." Pepper said, "They really did it." She gasped out in relief.

"I can't believe it," Rachel admitted, "That's incredible."

"They did it again." You remarked, "They saved the world. Again."