From the time I got myself changed, showered, and let out of my room, I didn't get a second's rest.

Todd was my escort for the time being. Currently, he was being a pain in the ass about a request I asked of him.

"Kiara, no."

"Todd..."

"Need I remind you that she tried to kill you?"

"Yes, you made that abundantly clear. But I want to talk to her, myself. I want to make sure there's no bad blood between us. Not that there ever was, but apparently there is since I lived and her brother..."

I knew Wanda Maximoff's grief, I did. I mourned over a former lover, though, not a blood brother. I knew that her grief was different than mine, but in general, grief was grief.

"I don't want you to end up in a coma again," Todd said worriedly. "She did a number on you guys before. Steve told me."

"Look, if things get bad, then they get bad."

"You're not suggesting you take her punishment if things get out of control, are you?"

"If that's what makes her feel better..."

"Kiara," Todd scolded me. "No, that's a bad idea."

"I have to do this. It'll make me feel better, whether or not I get the outcome that I want from this. You have to let me do this. One time, and then I won't do it again." I looked at him.

Todd sighed heavily. "You're lucky I love you."

"I'm the lucky one, huh?"

"You have to be, you survived bullets."

He did make a fair point there.

Todd led me to Wanda's room, which held not only the Maximoff girl, but Aria as well. Both women acknowledged us, and Aria put a hand on Wanda's arm. I was apprehensive, seeing the Maximoff girl's eyes glow red, but the color faded.

"If anything happens, you call me," Todd whispered.

I nodded as he left. I stepped into the room, and it was thick with tension.

"We heard you woke," said Wanda. "You look well."

"So do you." I wrung my hands. "I heard what you did, or tried to do."

"I'm not surprised. I would want to know if someone tried to kill me, too."

"I know why."

"Do you?"

I nodded slowly. "You were in pain."

"I still am."

"Wanda," Aria said gently. "Let her speak."

"I get it, you're in pain," I told Wanda outright. "You lost your twin brother. It's not something that goes away overnight. The suffering, the grief, it takes hold of you. We can't bring him back, and unfortunately, we know that. You know it, and I know it. Hurting me won't do anything but, well, hurt me." I shrugged.

"How do you know what loss feels like?" Wanda said coldly.

"I've felt it. And it sucks, to be honest with you. I lost someone I loved, deeply, and it tore me apart. I lost him, twice, before he actually died, and when he did. I lost the man that I fell in love with on my home realm of Asgard. He became something that I could not love. And when he actually died...it was final. He was never going to come back. I didn't lose a sibling, but I lost someone. I know the two griefs are different, but they are grief all the same.

"I know you blame me for Pietro's death. You might even blame yourself, I don't know. But you wish it was him standing here, with you, instead of me. Whether or not you want to mend this bridge, that's up to you. I know where I stand, and I don't wish for us to be cold to one another. If you choose to keep our...relationship how it is, then I will be okay with that."

Wanda picked at the black polish on her nails, remaining mute. Aria stared at Wanda, waiting for the Maxmioff girl to speak. I waited, patiently, for the same thing. I felt better, with a burden off of my chest. Whatever Wanda chose to do with my speech was completely up to her, and I would accept whatever she told me.

I heard Wanda sigh, but she did not meet my eyes.

"I know it was not your fault that he died," she mumbled. "I was told he died a hero."

"He did. He did a better job of being a hero than I did. I forgot the important part of being one: protecting the civilian. I went straight for Ultron, I hadn't even thought about how to save Clint or the boy. His death means something, Wanda."

"It does," she agreed, and that surprised me a little bit. She picked her eyes up to meet mine. "I apologize, for trying to kill you. I was acting out of anger, and I have accepted it for a little while now. Aria has been helping me see that." She glanced at the other Asgardian. "She has helped me more than anyone since..." She cleared her throat awkwardly. "Everyone refused to get near me after they removed me from your room. No one wanted to deal with me, except for Aria. She refused to let me be alone."

I squinted, now picking up on the looks Aria and Wanda were giving each other. There was something else in the air. Are they...? Should I even begin to ask? Can I ask such a thing?

"She's a good friend," I said to Wanda.

"Yes, she is. She is a good person."

Their handholding definitely confirmed my suspicion. Well, I'll be damned. I wonder how that happened. But that was a story for another time. "So...What kind of terms are we on?" I asked cautiously.

"Let's call it civil."

"I'll take civil, for now." I offered Wanda a small smile. It was encouraging to see her give me one in return. "I'll, uh, leave you two...alone." I headed out of the room. Aria...

I wasn't looking for it, I swear. It just found us and swept us off our feet.

As long as you're happy...

She's magnificent, Kiara.

Spare me the gushing, please. Perhaps she can teach you about Earth instead of me.

I'll still need you every now and again.

But you can bond with Wanda more if she helps you.

Perhaps.

Does anyone else know about...that?

If so, nobody has brought it up to either of us. Why?

Just...asking. My conversation with Aria was cut off when I encountered Steve. His hug wasn't as strong as the past ones he'd given. He pushed hair away from my face to kiss me, and I sighed against his mouth.

"It's good to see you up and walking," he murmured.

"It's good to be doing so," I replied, snickering. "I can't believe I was out for days."

"It was the worst few days of my life."

"Really? So being frozen or finding out that Bucky is alive, those don't count?"

"Being frozen was years, and finding out about Bucky was a day, Kiara."

I rolled my eyes. "Technicalities."

"At one point, we weren't sure you were gonna come out of it."

"Never underestimate an Asgardian." I beamed, combing through his hair. I put my forehead to his. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

"Hey, the lovebirds are back together!" chimed Tony.

"Hello to you too, Tony," I said. I moved from Steve to hug Tony carefully. I did a mock bow to Thor, who gave me one in return. "Where are you both going?"

"Actually, we were just heading out. Want to see us off?"

I chuckled. "Sure, why not?"

I was arm-in-arm with Steve as we walked outside of the Avengers facility. The sky was clear and sunny, and the lawn of the facility looked crisp and clean.

"Nice," I commented on the facility.

"Glad you think so," said Steve, "'cause we're gonna be living here."

"Hopefully you don't have to move again, ever," commented Tony. "But, guys, let's focus on the task at hand here, shall we? We're dealing with something new."

"Well, the Vision's artificial intelligence," said Steve.

"A machine."

"So it doesn't count."

"No. It's not like a person lifting the hammer."

"Right. Different rules for us."

"Nice guy, but artificial."

"Thank you."

"If he can wield the hammer, he can keep the Mind Stone," Thor said thoughtfully. "It's safe with the Vision and these days, safe is in short supply."

"But if you put the hammer in an elevator..."

"It would still go up," argued Tony.

"Elevator's not worthy," said Steve.

"I'm going to miss these little talks of ours," said Thor.

"Well, not if you don't leave," Tony reminded him.

"I have no choice. The Mind Stone is the fourth of the Infinity Stones to show up in the last few years. That's not a coincidence. Someone has been playing an intricate game and has made pawns of us. But once all these pieces are in position..."

"Triple Yahtzee?"

"You think you can find out what's coming?" asked Steve.

"I do. Besides this one, there's nothing that can't be explained." Thor left an Asgardian mark on the lawn as he beamed back to our home realm. Once upon a time, I would have joined him in the journey now. Now, I was where I was supposed to be.

"That man has no regard for lawn care," Tony tisked. "I'm gonna miss him though. And you're gonna miss me, the both of you. There's gonna be a lot of manful tears." His car rolled itself on the driveway. I shook my head, amazed by the technology.

"I will miss you, Tony," Steve admitted.

"Yeah? Well, it's time for me to tap out. Maybe I should take a page out of Barton's book and build Pepper a farm, hope nobody blows it up."

"The simple life."

"You'll get there one day."

"I don't know, family, stability. The guy who wanted all that went into the ice seventy-five years ago. I think someone else came out."

Funny, because that's not how it came off when he proposed at Sokovia. I swallowed back a comment in my throat. That incident was between the two of us, and I wasn't about to let Tony Stark of all people get a hold of that.

"You alright?"

"I'm home."

"If you ever get the need, stop by, firefly."

I chuckled. "Provided I'm not busy being in a coma, I'll try."

Tony lost his joking demeanor. "You kid, but it was not fun to witness."

"He's not wrong," Steve said as Tony sped off in his car.

I broke off from Steve, circling around the burnt grass where Thor shot up to Asgard.

"What's on your mind?"

"So, we're living here now, huh?"

"It's a nice place."

I nodded.

"Seriously, Kiara. You've got that look. You know you can tell me."

I sighed deeply. "You know we need to address it."

"Address wh...oh." Steve bushed and looked down at the grass. "Right. That."

"Yes." I finished my circle to rejoin Steve, who refused to look at me, up until he looked at me in confusion.

"Yes what?"

"Yes, I'll marry you."

He looked at me, bewilderment crossing his face. "You're sure?"

I nodded. "I didn't have time to think about it in Sokovia, which was the worst place to pop that question."

"I will give you points for that."

"I thought about what you said. And you're right. Life's too short to wait around for anything to happen, I've realized this by almost dying. I'm not the immortal Asgardian that I once was, I'm more vulnerable now. I'm more human than ever before, and now my time is precious. I don't want to waste a single minute in regret. The first rule of truly living is to do the thing you're most afraid of."

"So...you're afraid to marry me?"

I rolled my eyes. "No, I'm afraid to go into something and not know the future. I didn't have that fear until I lost some of my invincibility. Everything is up in the air, even what we're about to embark on. I love you, Steve Rogers, and I would love nothing more than to marry you." I giggled, seeing how catatonic he'd gone. I touched his face, and he jumped. "Love, you can speak."

"S-sorry." He cleared his throat. "I just...When you said it the first time, you were..."

"I know. I was afraid that I wasn't going to make it, and I wanted you to know."

"You could have said it out of fear of time."

I shook my head. "It seems like I did, but I didn't." My fingers ran through his hair. "I want to marry you. You...you could say something, you know."

He didn't have to, his words were expressed in a very passionate kiss. "I was so concerned about you pulling through that I didn't leave to get you a ring," he said abashedly.

"I'm not too worried," I said gently. "Besides, we'll have time for that."

"Speaking of time, I've got one more surprise for you."

"Oh Odin's beard, what have you done?"

"Just, follow me."

A little wary, I took Steve's arm, and he led me back into the new Avengers facility.

"Okay, I'm won over," I said as we took a tour. "It's impressive. So, what's this surprise you won't say a word about?"

"We need to make a quick stop first."

In a prior stop, Steve grabbed a tablet, but he refused to let me see what was on it. I didn't realize who we were searching for until we stumbled upon Tasha. I felt a little bad for her, since hearing Bruce was missing. I knew she'd do everything she could to track him down. She'd be relentless about it, too.

"You want to keep staring at that wall, or do you want to go to work?" Steve teased her. "I mean, it's a pretty interesting wall."

"I thought you and Tony were still gazing into each other's eyes."

"Oh, they were practically drooling over each other," I joined Tasha.

"Jealous?" Steve taunted me.

"No way, I know I don't have to worry about you." I beamed.

"How do we look?" Tasha asked Steve.

Steve handed her the tablet. "Well, we're not the twenty-seven Yankees."

"We've got some hitters."

"They're good. They're not a team."

"Let's beat 'em into shape."

"I'm sorry, but what's going on here?" I asked.

"Oh, so Steve didn't fill you in?" Tasha tisked. "Some boyfriend you've got there, Kia. While you were...out of commission, and since the team is a little...spread out right now, we did a little recruitment."

"Recruitment?"

"Some new players. It was about time we expanded our roster."

"Wait...you recruited new Avengers?"

"Yup."

"Please don't tell me—"

"Todd is not on the list. He's good where he's at, I offered it to him."

"And he declined? Wow." I thought Todd would have leapt at that chance. Guess he realizes just how potentially dangerous our lives can be.

"Want to take a look?"

"If I'm part of this training group, of course I'm going to want to." I snatched the tablet, thumbing through the added roster. Rhodey, Vision, Wanda, Sam, and Aria. Five new recruits. "Hmm, interesting bunch. Think they can handle it?"

"Whole point of them signing up, right?"

We entered a training room. Rhodey was in his War Machine suit; basically a dark, gray and black toned Iron Man suit which looked bulkier than Tony's suit. Vision ghosted in to hover in midair, his green cape flowing behind him. (He must've liked Thor's from the moment they met.) Sam landed inside the room, his metal wings being tucked away. Wanda, using her magic, hovered down, complete in a different outfit. Aria was beside her, hair pulled back into a plait, few strands of loose hair irritating her eyes. She bore a dark green jumpsuit.

Surprise! she screamed in my head.

Think you're up for this?

If I didn't believe in myself, I wouldn't be here, would I?

We won't go easy on you.

I don't expect you to.

I looked over our recruits, feeling a sense of pride swell in me. On top of being someone's fiancée, let alone to Captain America, I was one of the mentors for our new batch of Avengers. 

**#Stiarawedding**