Chapter Seven
Sam

"Do you know where I put the copies of the latest crime reports in Europe?" Soroya asks, sifting through stacks of papers on her desk.

I shake my head, looking up from the report I'm reading over at my own desk. "Ask Suzzie, maybe she filed it."

Soroya sighs, tapping her nails on the surface of her desk. "I already asked her. I've been losing everything lately. Yesterday I couldn't find my phone for two hours and you know where it was? I had stuffed in the fridge when I went shopping after work."

"When was the last time you slept?" I ask her.

She rubs her face with both hands, putting pressure on the bridge of her nose and under her eyebrows. "Six months ago."

I let out a dark chuckle. "Tell me about it."

There's a pause, and then Soroya says: "You know what I've been thinking about?"

"Hm?"

"Weekends and vacation days. The Avengers are a government agency and every government agent gets days off, even directors."

"But with so much going on, who would take over when we aren't here?"

"We can appoint a deputy director," she suggests, sitting up, smoothing her hair out, which is coming out of a braid. "Someone who can take over our responsibilities on weekends and holidays."

"Who?"

"I don't know, we could have a vote on it. All I know is that you and I need a break, we need to relax and spend time with the people we love. You've been missing Jade as much as I've been missing Bucky and the kids. We both agreed that our duties as directors were too important to ignore, but we also have duties to our families, to ourselves."

I smile at her, nodding my head slowly, glancing at our schedule for the next few days. It's ridiculous. "I feel bad for the new deputy director. They'll have a very busy weekend."

Soroya shrugs. "If we can survive six months with no break they can survive two days."

I chuckle again, but this time it's far more joyous, filled with the excitement and anticipation of having time off. Soroya notices my shift in mood, eyeing me with curiosity. "Already thinking up weekend plans?"

I nod, turning my attention to the door of our office. "Suzzie!"

Moments later our assistant runs in, her body splitting into two; one waits for me to continue and the other goes to help Soroya find her missing report. The one standing by the door asks: "Yes?"

"I need you to book a hotel room for me. Someplace nice."

"Where? For how long?"

I grin at her. "Two days in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba."

From the other side of our office, Soroya lights up in delight. "Oh Jade will love that."

"I hope she will."

-

Friday night, we take one of the Wakandan ships and fly to Cuba. I picked Cuba because Jade's ancestors lived there before they moved to Denmark. She's never been before. I remember promising her that one day we would go there for vacation, but our lives, even before I was named director, have been chaotic and busy. We haven't had a lot of free time in our lives. But we have the time now, so I'm trying to make it count.

I don't tell Jade our destination, keeping it a surprise. It's only when we land in an airport ten minutes from our hotel, that I finally tell her the location. The smile on her face makes the wait worth it. I had Suzzie set up a car service to pick us up and bring us to the hotel, and as we drive through the city, I'm left in complete awe of how gorgeous it is. Marble colored buildings litter the city, made with some of the most intricuit and detailed architecture I've ever seen. The inhabited buildings are all made of different colored stone, much like buildings I've seen in Italy and Greece in previous travels. The sun has begun setting by the time we arrive, and the lights from the city shine brighter than the stars that begin to peak out in the sky. It's breathtaking.

The hotel Suzzie booked is the Meliá hotel. It's the top rated hotel in the city, and I can see why. Not even mentioning it's equally impressive architecture and the large outdoor pool, but the hotel room is exquisite. Peach walls, tile floors, with a large king sized bed with peach, orange, and yellow stripped bedding. There's a large tile bathroom, a big closet, a sitting area with deep red couches and chairs, a mahogany coffee table, and a balcony that gives a perfect view of the mountain range in the distance. I need to see how much Suzzie paid for this room, it has to have even expensive, she really went all out. On the coffee table there's an ice bucket with champagne inside, with a note attached to it reading: 'Enjoy! Love, Suzzie'. As if I needed more proof that she's the world's greatest assistant.

After we unpack our bags we get some sleep, and I gotta say, the bed is one of the softest things I've ever slept on. It's the best sleep I've gotten in months. It's nice to wake up and not worry about what meetings I'll have to go to or what crisis I need to take care of. I get to wake up, take a deep breath and appreciate life. I can't remember the last time I was able to do that. I let Jade sleep in and order some room service for us: guava pastries with strawberry jam, scrambled eggs, ham, and coffee. When Jade wakes up and tries some of the pastry she makes note to serve jam with the pastries we sell at our bakery. I tell her it's an excellent idea.

We get dressed and go out to sight see. We go see the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumptions, which was built in the 1500's and might be the most beautiful building I've ever seen. We hike up to La Gran Piedra, which translates to 'the big rock'. It literally is a big rock, but a big rock that gives the greatest view I've ever encountered. No picture or painting could ever capture its beauty. We go see a few museums, including the Emilio Bacardi Moreau Museum, the Museo de la Lucha Clandestina, which is a museum about the Cuban revolution, and the Museo del Carnaval, a museum dedicated to the celebration Carnaval. That museum was Jade's favorite. She and her parents would celebrate Carnaval at home every year when she was a child, and she and I have continued that tradition throughout our life together. I bet this city is beautiful during Carnaval, and I promise Jade that we will attend the next Carnaval in person, not just celebrate from afar. The smile that spreads on her face after I tell her that rivals the beauty of the whole city.

We also go to every single bakery in the city, and that's no exaggeration. Jade enters each bakery very methodically, tasting several pastries and making mental notes about things to change with our own pastries and pastries to add to our menu. Eventually she starts writing actual notes down, asking the owners for recipes, and brainstorming additions she could add to the pastries to enhance the flavors. By the time we finish with the bakeries it's nearly dinner. We decide to go to a restaurant near the hotel and take some food back to the room. We do so, then eat our dinner on our giant comfy bed, drinking the champagne Suzzie got us straight from the bottle.

"Did you have fun today?" I ask her as we finish up our meal, which consisted of: ropa vieja (rice, shredded beef, and sautéed vegetables), fried sweet plantains, papas rellenas (basically potato balls), and pumpkin flan for desert.

She swallows a gulp of champagne and nods enthusiastically. "Sam, this has been...I can't begin to express what you bringing me here has meant to me. My parents used to talk about bringing me here one day and they never got the chance to. I almost feel closer to them being here, even though they themselves had only been once or twice. They would have loved it. They always made sure I stayed connected to my Cuban roots, cooking me traditional meals, teaching me to dance, teaching our history, and of course hosting our own mini Carnaval. But really being here, seeing where my family came from, getting to do all those things in the place they were created...it means the world to me."

I smile from ear to ear. "I'm glad you love it here, I knew you would."

"I do...but I wanna know why we came here, why we took such a spontaneous trip. We're both busier than we've ever been, you haven't had time off in months, and now all of the sudden you have time to take a vacation. Has something happened?" She asks, her expression growing more serious.

I take a sip of the champagne and nod my head, wiping my mouth off with the sleeve of my shirt. "Yes, something has happened. I got a change of perspective."

"What do you mean?"

"I thought saving the world was my number one priority, that my duties as director needed to come above all else. But that changed when you went to Hala and nearly died. I haven't been there for you the past few months. I saw you struggling and I brushed it off. I just figured you would move past your guilt like I did, like you had in the past, which was so selfish. I should have paid more attention, should have supported you more."

Jade shakes her head, placing her right hand on top of mine. "You shouldn't apologize for putting the safety of others over everything else. I would have done the exact same. That's what we do, we're Avengers, our duty is to others."

"Yes, but I also have a duty to be there to support, love, and protect you. And I haven't done any of those things lately, and I'm sorry. But I promise from now on that's going to change. I don't care if I'm busy, if I don't have the time, because when I look back on my life, I don't want to have any regrets. I want to look back on my life and remember all the wonderful years we spent together," I turn my hand around and slip my fingers around hers, bringing our combined hands up to my mouth, kissing her knuckles. "You're everything to me, Jade. You're my whole world. I'm sorry if I ever made you think otherwise. And I'm sorry it took almost losing you to realize what an ass I've been."

She leans forward, resting her forehead with mine. "No more guilt. Not from you or me. I'm sick of living in the past."

"So am I. I only want to focus on the future, on our future. In a few years we'll retire and then we'll move back home to Denmark. We'll run the bakery full time, use John's money to franchise like he wanted, and we'll have the life we've always dreamed of."

She smiles, brushing her nose with mine. "Sounds perfect."

I pull back from her by a few inches, digging into the pocket of my jeans with my free hand until I find the gift I got for her. I pull it out and gesture for her to open up her hand. I place the gift in her palm, and watch in delight as her mouth gapes open in shock and wonder. It's a ring. It's nothing fancy, just a gold band with a small oval diamond in the center. I got it right before we left Wakanda.

"You and I talked about marriage once and agreed it wasn't something we needed. That being said, I thought it couldn't hurt to have a symbol of us, a symbol of our love," I pick the ring back up and slip it onto her finger, staring down at it as I say: "This ring is a promise, a promise that I will always love you, always support you, and never abandon you again."

"Sam..." Jade breaths, staring down at the ring.

"Do you like it?"

Jade lets out a breathless laugh, bringing her hand up to cup my cheek, her skin warm to the touch. "I love it. And I love you."

To my delight and surprise, Jade is the one to lean forward and connect her lips with mine, her free hand moving to cup my other cheek. I grab onto her hips and pull her closer, both of us shoving our empty food containers off the bed and onto the floor. One of her hands slides down to the nape of my neck while the other grips my shoulder, which she uses to push herself onto her knees, then without breaking the kiss, she swings a leg around to straddle my lap. The kiss becomes more urgent, our breathing more rapid. I begin unbuttoning the front of her dress, trailing kisses down her now bare skin as I do so, and I feel her hands tighten on my shoulders and a whimper escape her lips as a result.

A loud crashing noise makes us tear away from each other. The beautiful vase that had been sitting on the coffee table has exploded, leaving a scorch mark in it's place. I glance back at Jade, finding her cheeks heated in embarrassment.

"Sorry," She mumbles, trying to catch her breath. "I haven't used my powers since Hala, I guess there's been a bit of a build up."

I shake my head, cupping her neck, my thumb brushing over her jawline. "Nothing to apologize for. That wasn't even that bad. Remember our first time?"

The first time we had sex was about a year into our relationship. Jade was scared of how her powers would react after hearing stories of Soroya and Alex's powers during sex, so she insisted we find a safe place to do it. We ended up having sex in a forest about an hour away from our apartment in Denmark. It was the smart move, eight trees got blown up down to the stump.

Jade lets out a laugh, her cheeks growing even more flushed. "Those poor trees."

"Ehh, conifers are the crappiest kind of tree anyways."

"I think I'll be okay, I just wasn't paying attention to my powers. It won't happen again. I'm fine." She tells me, but I think she's really just telling herself.

"You're sure?"

She nods, beginning to tug my shirt off. I let go of her and lift my arms up, allowing her to slip it over my head and then chuck it onto the floor. She finishes unbuttoning her dress and lets it fall, a deep hunger burning in her eyes as she pleads: "Kiss me."

So I do.