Summary: There's no one he trusts more. She wishes it wasn't necessary.

::: ::: :::

Felicity eyed the older gentlemen waiting in the team conference room with trepidation. He looked vaguely familiar. Maybe he worked for Tony, in which case how did he know Steve and why did her boyfriend suddenly look so nervous.

"I know this probably isn't the best time, and I should have talk to you about this first, but you're going to London in four hours and I deploy tomorrow. There's never a right time."

Felicity gulped, especially when he took both her hands and gave her that look that said, I'm going to man up and give it to you straight. Did she love him with her whole heart, yes. Did she picture growing old with him? Was that even possible with the Super Soldier Serum running through his veins? Did she want anyone else? Absolutely not. Was she ready to don a white dress, front up to a Rabbi and pledge forever… there certainly wasn't anyone else she could picture doing that with, but was she ready. Honestly, she was terrified of what was about to come out of his mouth. Especially if it was, "Will you marry me?"

"I want you to be my power of attorney."

So not what she had been fearing, but still close enough to the truth of where he was in this relationship that her heart spluttered in her chest. "Are you sure, I mean besides the obvious what does that even entail?"

"If I was ever incapacitated, impaired or unable to act for myself, you will be my voice and exact my will. Felicity, considering my line of work, this really can't come as that much of a shock can it?"

"There's no one else? I mean, what about Sam?"

Steve frowned and squeezed her hands. "Felicity, Sam is a good man but the fact of the matter is everyone has a breaking point. I don't want to test his. Ever since they made me what I am, everyone has wanted some part or all of Captain America. There is no one I trust more than you. If I die, I want to rest in peace. Not be frozen in a lab somewhere studied like a lab rat. Or hooked up to machines that will keep my artificially alive so they can get their money's worth in the name of science."

Felicity paled and could keep her body from betraying her emotions over the distress that scenario provoked. "I… I wouldn't let them. They'd have to pry you from my cold dead hands before that ever happened. And any one of our friends would do the same."

Seeing the tears in her eyes, and feeling her tremble, Steve pulled her in for an all encompassing hug. "Love, I'm sorry. I wish the world were as you believe it to be."

She sniffed against his chest and pressed herself closer to his warmth, needing to feel and breath him in desperately in that moment. "I'll do this for you." This close to him, tilting her face up to see his eyes, she knew she was going to get a crick in her neck but he was always worth it. "You better not die on me, mister. In my head, we're always in matching rocking chairs with me, grey and frail, while you still looked like the hunk you always do. Sometimes I hate, Dr. Reinstein just a bit. And then I can't because if he'd never created the serum, we would have never met."

He thought that mental image was ridiculous. He wasn't immortal. He might heal fast, but he wasn't invulnerable. Banner had tested his blood recently, it did show age proteins. Granted they were nowhere near how old he was supposed to be, but that was obvious simply by looking in the mirror. He had no doubt that he wouldn't live forever, whether through the passage of time or falling in battle, his end would come. But for the future he did see, he wanted with her. Steve kissed her lips quickly, blushing when he side-glanced at the two people waiting on them behind the glass wall. He took her hand in his and lead her inside.

As he held her chair for her, he returned her tentative smile. He knew this was only the first of the disagreements they'd settle in the next hour or so. Getting her to the meeting was just the first hurdle. He hoped she didn't storm out once the enduring power attorney paperwork was done and they started in on his will. He didn't have a lot to his name, but what he did own, he wanted to go to her.

::: ::: :::

Felicity needed a breather after that legal ambush. Not since she'd accepted the position as a Department Head at Stark Technologies had she been asked to sign so many documents in one sitting. She was only marginally less mortified that Tony hadn't needed to stay to listen to Steve's Will. They'd called him in to witness everyone's signatures and then he'd left, but not before winking at her. Damn him.

She knew she was being unreasonable, but she'd avoided Steve until Happy told her it was time to drive to the airfield.

When she left the balcony to find him, she all but flew at him in a tackle hug. "I'm sorry I was being a bitch. You just really caught me off guard, and it's not fair. I hate surprises. I don't like not knowing things, Steve," she babbled at him.

Steve didn't want to let her go. It was the first time, they'd be on mission where she wouldn't be in his ear. But he knew this was the first break she'd had in awhile. The past year had been non-stop work for both of them. He wished he could go with her. See the sights of London as they were now, not as they had been in his memory of a life-time ago, when he hadn't had the luxury of soaking in sights and sounds. She was going to spend time with Jane and Darcy, and upgrade Jane's system so that she could back up all her work in a secure data cloud that Felicity promised no one could steal from her - ever.

"Call me up, anytime," he said reluctantly setting her on her feet.

"Even if you're in the middle of fighting a HYDRA agent," she teased.

Steve chuckled. "Especially if it's only one."

Felicity playfully swatted him on the chest and then leaned up to kiss him soundly.

Happy coughed from outside the gym.

"That's my cue. Head down, soldier. And come home," she ordered softly.

Steve nodded. "Yes, darlin'."

Felicity chewed down on her bottom lip and backed out of the room. She closed her eyes against the flood of emotion she felt whenever he called her that. Steve had shared a few stories about his parents, but this was the one that was never far from her thoughts. His father had always called his mother, his darling. His one and only. For the short time that he'd seen them together growing up, before his father had passed, Steve had always wanted to find that some day. He was a romantic, a man out of time - impeccable manners, gallantry and old-school charm. He served his country and protected the innocent without a thought for himself. She was at war within herself every time she saw him in his suit. He was Captain America. She would never ask him to stand down. But just looking at him in that uniform and hearing the stories of what he'd faced, lived through already… she wondered when was it enough. When will he have given enough? Would there come a day when she would have to make good and deliver on her promise, that document she'd just signed. She prayed she never would. She was his woman and he was her one and only too.

"Please, keep him safe," she whispered heavenward.