Caged Bird [T'Challa]

Twenty-Two

"Come on, kiddo. Up." Hunter rolled over and blinked away the sleep. Sleep?

She sat up quickly and looked around. She was back in Stark towers, in her old room. "What...happened?" Her gaze shifted to the person who had woke her up. "Clint? What's going on? Where's Thanos?"

Clint looked confused as he looked at the blonde. "Who? Nevermind. You need to lay off the junk food before bed, it gives you strange dreams." He dropped the blanket he had yanked off of her onto the bed and waved a hand in the air dismissively. "Anyways, we have a meeting with Shield in less than a hour so hurry and get dressed."

"Shield? I thought Shield disbanded after we found out Hydra had infiltrated it."

Clint looked at her as if she grew another head. "Hunter, we killed Hydra off a long time ago. Bucky living here is proof of that."

This will set everyone on a different timeline... The words echoed in her head once more. "Right, sorry. Guess it was just my nightmare." As soon as Clint walked out, Hunter rushed around throwing on simple clothes, pausing in front of the mirror. Her hair was still them same pale blonde and her eyes were still the same bright blue. The only difference was that she looked more alive. There were no signs of stress or worry. She reached down to play with her engagement ring only to find it missing.

"Right...my time with him is gone..." She muttered to herself. She sighed before she walked out of the room, rushing to find Clint again.

She rounded the corner, slamming right into two people. She stumbled back, blinking a few times. It was Steve and Bucky. "Steve! Bucky!"

Both men offered a smile to the young woman. "Hey Hunt, headed off to the meeting with your dad?" Steve asked, a smile still on his face.

"Tony is waiting for you on the roof. He and Clint have the quinjet ready." Bucky added in.

Her heart beat sped up at the word dad. So in this timeline..he knew. "Right...see you guys later." As she made it to the elevator, a kid around the age of fifteen stepped out with Natasha.

"Hey Hunt." Natasha greeted with a smile.

The kid smiled brightly at the blonde and waved. "Hey, Ms. Hunter." He called out before he followed behind the red head assassin as she walked in the direction Hunter had come in.

A smile tugged at the blonde's lips as she stepped into the elevator. Maybe this timeline wouldn't be so bad, minus not being with T'Challa. As the elevator opened, she walked out to the roof where Clint and Tony were waiting, chatting away.

"There's sleeping beauty. Ready to go?" Tony joked, motioning to the quinjet.

She nodded slowly and followed him into the aircraft. "So. What is this meeting about?"

Tony let Clint pilot as he took a seat across from the blonde. "I dunno, something about the people who helped Manchurian mandate." He waved his hand dismissively. "You know, for a billionaire's daughter you sure don't dress the part."

Her mind was trying to process a million things at once. In this timeline, everything was at peace. Everyone was happy. Her thoughts shifted to T'Challa, Shuri and Okoye. She hoped that they were this happy.

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Hunter stretched a bit as she exited the quinjet. She waited for Clint and Tony before the trio entered the building. A sliver of red passing in her peripheral vision made her pause. She turned, beginning to look for it again and froze when the Dora Milaje entered her vision. In the middle of them, Okoye and T'Challa stood side by side. Beside T'Challa was T'Chaka, talking to his son with a soft smile on his face.

At that moment, she wanted nothing more than to run into his arms. To kiss him. To just hold him, but she restrained herself. Reminding herself that he wouldn't remember her.

Sensing someone staring at him, T'Challa lifted his gaze and looked to her, a smile tugging at his lips. Before she could stop herself, she smiled back and slowly walked towards him. Maybe she could just speak to him a moment.

She stopped a few feet from them. "Sorry to bother you, but are you the ones that helped out my friend, Bucky? I just wanted to thank you."

T'Challa stepped forward, leaving barely a few feet between them. "No thanks is needed. My sister enjoys a challenge." Confusion passed over him as he looked at her closely. "Have we met before? I feel as if I know you."

She wanted to say yes, but the rational part of her took over. "I am the daughter of Iron Man, you may have seen me on the news." Sadness weighed down her heart. The man she had loved with all of her broken soul was standing barely a foot in front of her, but he didn't remember her.

"Maybe so." He offered a hand to her. "I am T'Challa. Prince of Wakanda."

Oh how she missed Wakanda already. She took his hand in hers gently. "Hunter Car-I mean Stark. Hunter Stark." Just as when they first met, he placed a kiss on the back of her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, your highness."

"Please, just T'Challa is fine."

A wave of familiarity washed over her, a smile tugging at her lips. "Isn't it disrespectful to refer to a prince as such?"

The prince smiled at this. "It's even more disrespectful to ignore the orders of a royal."

She grinned openly at this. "Touché."

"Hunter, come on!" Tony called from down the hall, catching her attention. She looked at him, almost laughing. He was standing with his hands on his hips, tapping his foot. He looked like such a mom.

"I suppose you should get back." T'Challa caught her attention again, slowly releasing her hand. "Perhaps, after the meeting, we can get dinner?"

Hunter's heart beat sped up as she heard this. "Sure, dinner sounds lovely." Her cheeks were pink as she slowly backed away. "See you then." She waved slightly before turning and running to her dad.

She may have lost the time that she had with T'Challa, but she could always make more. The most important thing is that everyone was alive. They were alive and happy it seemed.

She ran up to Tony throwing her arms around his waist and burying her face in his chest. This caught him off guard, but he hugged her back. "Uh, you okay?"

She smiled up at him. "I've never been better."

It was true. Her life was finally lining up to be perfect.

The end...