Chapter 10

"So, ok. You are going to really be furious with me, Alice."

Alice swung her legs over the side of the bed and said, "Why?"

"Because I've really been keeping things from you."

Her eyes alight with amusement, Alice laughed and asked, "Oh, you are finally ready to tell me? Silly girl. So, who is the secret boyfriend?"

Her eyes narrowing as she stared at her friend, Mary-Claire asked suspiciously, "Do you already know?"

"Of course, I know. It has been so fun to tease you about it all this time. I saw you talking to him at my charity dinner. He was very clearly into you. Steve in law enforcement. That is a very funny way of describing Captain America."

Relieved, Mary-Claire declared, "Oh, I am so glad you aren't angry. I've been super worried about it."

"Well, one other thing. Did you ask Robert not to talk to Glenn?"

"I didn't even think about it. I didn't think they discuss things like that."

Alice laughed and flopped back onto Mary-Claire's bed. "Oh honey. Glenn thinks of you as his baby sister. You know that. When you lived with him when you were at Stanford Law, didn't he act more like a devoted brother?"

"Well yes, but Robert just doesn't talk about things."

"About you, he does. Glenn strongly approves and is so relieved that there is someone he can trust to take care of you that he has been almost not a big jerk this last week, which has been useful as I've been clearing out closets and boxing things."

"Oh. Oh, dear, Alice."

"I'm perfectly fine about all that and you know it. Glenn is a different matter, poor man. I want to focus on you though, dear."

"If you say so. Ok. So, they ruined my next piece of information, I assume?"

Alice sighed. "Yes, honey. That I really wish you had been able to tell me yourself about the proposal and everything. But Robert and Glenn, when it comes to you that is, are like…narcissistic, arrogant nannies."

Not disagreeing with her friend, Mary-Claire nodded and then admitted, "Well I had no idea it was going to happen though. I really didn't know for sure how Steve felt. I just knew that I am so crazy about him that sometimes I wonder how I'm ever going to find my balance, you know? Anyway, before we talked I definitely didn't trust that I was really the right sort of girl for him."

Propping herself up on one arm, Alice asked indignantly, "Well why not? You are awesome sauce poured over a delicious dish of beauty, brains, and poise. What would he have to be smoking not to fall for you?"

Mary-Claire shrugged. "I'm nothing like Peggy Carter."

"Well of course you are not. He is a grown a** man. He wants a girl that is going to complement who he is now. He's not a lovesick puppy going off to war anymore. She was his reason to return from war. He is back now and he needs a reason to keep living, instead of just merely existing. Haven't you thought about the level of psychological trauma and PTSD he must have? His unit was called the 'Howling Commandos', so what did you think he was doing every day out there, sugar? He defied death daily and killed dozens of enemies—both HYDRA and Nazis. Now it must be agony knowing everyone he ever knew is dead and HYDRA wasn't actually defeated. Everything has changed. America is different. And now he is supposed to go out and fight aliens and monsters and keep right on doing it whether he is tired or having a horrible day or suffering from a flashback. I don't know how he even gets out of bed in the morning. However, I am sure that having his relationship with you to live for has changed his life."

Mary-Claire breathed out a long breath and stared at Alice. "Golly, I wish I'd talked to you before. That is a much, much more concise description of what he was trying to tell me last night. Steve talks in tangents and circles and is so verbose that I was going nuts waiting for him to finally say it all. However, I wish that he hadn't needed to say it at all. I should have realised everything myself, especially if you did."

"No, honey, I'm not the one in the relationship with him. I don't have any emotions riding on an assessment of Steve Rogers and his interest in you. You are always so quick to doubt yourself, you know, dear. I can just imagine that you've been agonising over how amazing Peggy Carter is and how you don't feel you match up."

Hanging her head, Mary-Claire said quietly, "Well, that is exactly how it has been. You know me far too well, Alice"

Putting her arm around her best friend, Alice said seriously, "Oh honey, you aren't second place or a consolation prize for Steve. You need to draw a line in between his crash in the ice and waking up in the present. Everything after waking up here would be so painfully bittersweet and difficult. He cannot be the man he was then, you know?"

"He said that, too, only gosh, his explanation was much wordier."

"Based on that speech at my charity, Steve is not really a man of words, so when he does speak, I can imagine that it is very conscientiously thorough."

Mary-Claire winced and nodded, but then changed the subject. "So, Father Doyle says he will agree to 6 weeks."

"Mean old Doyle is seriously bending the rules?"

"Wow, you too? Father Doyle is always so nice to me. Steve said Father is a tough nut, so I guess he agrees with you."

Alice gasped and waved her hands, as she insisted, "But how are we even going to manage a wedding so fast? Six weeks is very close! Where are you going to have it? Are all the cousins coming? Oh my gosh, if I'm not the maid of honour then I will die."

Mary-Claire laughed. "Silly, of course you are. I didn't think I needed to ask. Why would you doubt that?"

"I don't know. Bride brain makes women go crazy."

Glaring briefly at her friend, Mary-Claire stated lightly, "Ugh. I'd have to be certifiable. Ok, so we aren't doing anything huge though. We can't. No publicity."

"Oh. So no to the massive bridal shower and all that?"

"Yes. I mean, Steve said he'd do anything, but I can't handle press and paparazzi and all that."

"Well, of course he would do anything, poor man. You don't know what Robert told Glenn about when you got engaged."

"Oh, my goodness, what did my brother say now?"

Tossing a gossipy look at her best friend, Alice responded, "Only that Steve is so wild about you that he nearly gave Robert the middle finger when challenged about the two of you making out. Glenn thinks it's pretty d*** hilarious, you know. I think Robert is both half pissed off and half impressed."

Rolling her eyes, Mary-Claire replied flatly, "My brother is such a dork." Then she added with a reminiscent smile, "But yeah, Steve sort of told Robert to get out of his business."

Alice smiled and nodded her head with approval. "So, no, I'm not surprised that Steve would agree to anything you wanted, as long as it ended with you and he married. Knowing you, yeah, you need small and very private. The whole Captain America thing would really suck if someone thought your wedding was newsworthy."

Mary-Claire shivered. "I couldn't abide publicity, Alice."

"I know, honey. However, you know that one day people will find out. Hopefully, the world won't care that much when they find out one day that Captain America has been married for years and has three kids or whatever."

Mary-Claire laughed. "I don't think that we can keep our marriage a secret that long, Alice."

"Oh, you know what I mean. Yes, honey, I can see it now: you and Cap on the front of People Magazine with an enormous star-spangled baby in your arms."

"Ugh, yes, you are sooo funny, Alice. Right, so after we leave the church, a private party in a dining room at the St Regis."

Alice snorted. "Yeah, that's Robert's contribution to the planning."

"Yes, of course, that is his decision. I know I am breaking the Southern Girl Code, but I literally don't care about any of the other wedding stuff. I just want a really incredible, perfect dress and to get married by Father Doyle to Steve as soon as possible with you, Robert, Glenn, and Sam Wilson there. Maybe just one cousin: Natalie."

"That small? And which one is Natalie? Is she one of your Aunt Amelia's daughters?"

"Oh you remember, Natalie. Really red hair and almost as short as me? Anyway, Sarabeth isn't coming and I don't want the rest of the family."

Alice stared at Mary Claire for a moment and slowly said, "You don't have any cousins with red hair...oh. Ok. That cousin. Well, that should be interesting." It was another second before Alice recovered her poise and then continued, "Of course, Sarabeth isn't coming. She can't approve of anything you do. You could be a Mother Superior and she'd say it wasn't good enough. She is a prune-faced b****."

Mary-Claire replied with narrowed eyes and a steely tone, "Yes, I'm pretty furious at her, but I wish she would at least try. Anyway, I thought Steve would want more of the other Avengers there, since he says they are his friends. However, he doesn't."

Alice sighed. "Oh well, at least we don't have to deal with Irondork. He's such a freak job."

"Well…he isn't my favourite, but Steve says they are good friends. I have only spoken to Tony the once, you know, and he looked like he was having a hard time with Pepper. I feel sorry for him."

"Pepper is the only thing Stark loves more than himself. She's the only thing he even notices other than himself sometimes. Pepper has both hands full with him."

After a moment, Mary-Claire replied, "Alice?"

"What honey?"

"I'm ridiculously happy."

Alice laughed and swatted her best friend playfully. "If you weren't, then I'd be very concerned."

The two friends lay side by side on Mary-Claire's bed, staring up at the inside of the huge pale green silk canopy. It was several minutes before Mary-Claire said with a slight smirk, "I already worked on my wedding monogram with Robert's assistant."

"Oh. My. Goodness. Wedding monogram before you even have the dress. Your Southern cred is still intact."

"And I informed Robert that I'm taking all of Mama's Francis I silver and the whole set of Chinese Bouquet."

"Now that's my girl. I knew you were going to take that Francis I. You always said you weren't, but I knew it."

"Well, that stuff is as ugly as sin, but it is our family tradition. What can I do?"

"Nothing, of course. Tradition is law."

Steve darted a glance over at his friend and then averted his face somewhat as he asked awkwardly, "Sam, I got something I need to ask you."

Sam looked up from tying his shoe and then stood up. "Yeah? What's up?"

Pausing for a moment as he tried to find the words, finally Steve said, "Well, Mary-Claire and I are getting married next month on the 22nd. I want you to stand up with me."

Sam sat back on the sofa and stared at Steve for a moment before asking, "You mean be your best man? Seriously, man?"

Flushing down to his collar line, Steve replied with sudden embarrassment, "Yes."

Lurching up from the couch, Sam briefly gripped his friend in a tight hug. "Of course, I'll be your best man, dude. D***, I'm happy for you, man. I know you've been worried about it. Mary-Claire is a great girl, Steve."

"That she is. I'm incredibly lucky."

"The 22nd though, that's like, what, 6 weeks away? I take it you aren't doing some big huge thing then."

Steve shook his head and shrugged. "No, just family. St Agnes Church, then dinner."

"I thought you Catholics couldn't get married that fast."

"Not usually. Luckily, Mary-Claire is a particular favourite of the priest. Also, it seems Father Doyle was right down where the worst of the Chitauri battle was, so he was surprisingly on board with an exception. The bishop has agreed. They decided to get him involved because of my age. It seems that is a thing."

Sam laughed. "Huh. You're just an old man robbing that cradle, Steve. Yeah, you better stop that now."

"Yeah, thanks, buddy."

Far too amused to stop teasing his friend, Sam smirked as he asked, "What was it that Romanoff called you? Oh yeah, that's right, a fossil."

"Yeah, a fossil. Very funny. So, I have another favour to ask of you. It comes from Mary-Claire. She wants you to wear your uniform."

Sam took a deep breath. "I am pretty happy leaving that thing in the back of my closet, Steve. However, for Riley's sister, I will do it."

"She is going to be carrying his medal in her pocket as her 'something blue'. Sorry, actually, I'm not sure I was supposed to tell you that."

"S***. Ok, yeah, I'll be in my d*** uniform and I won't even mind."

Breathing out softly, Steve added, "Thanks, Sam. I'll wear mine if it makes you feel more comfortable."

"H*ll man, do they even make that ancient s*** anymore?"

"Really humorous, yeah, I will be wearing the standard modern ASUs, Sam. I had to wear them to the White House, remember? Not my favourite day. But, if you want, we'll dress up together in our old uniforms and try not to feel ridiculous."

"Deal. It would be worth it just to see you in that ugly a** Army blue suit. Did they give you all the right medals and everything?"

Steve gave Sam a strange look. "You can't wear medals you haven't earned, so yeah."

"AAFES doesn't typically stock old s*** like that, so I just wondered."

Steve punched Sam's shoulder lightly and said, "Enough with the age jokes. buddy. Listen, you need to know that I am not announcing this to everyone. I am serious about that. You and me, Mary-Claire and her best friend, and her brother and two of her cousins. That is all that are coming. Her sister doesn't approve of me and isn't going to be there."

Sam made a loud, derisive sound and replied, "Sarabeth? Tall blond Amazon of b****iness? I remember that woman had a tongue that could scour paint off a wall. She is just mean to the bone. I have no desire to see her again."

Steve stiffly said, "Well, Mary-Claire is pretty upset."

"I'm sure she is because she is nice like that. However, I'm just telling you that you are not missing a single thing."

"I'd bear with it if it makes Mary-Claire feel better."

Casting a knowing look at his friend, Sam commented, "Mm-hm, I know. I'm surprised you aren't inviting more of the team. I think they'd want to know, Steve."

Having clearly expected this comment, Steve replied, "Yeah, I considered it. I want to keep it very simple and Mary-Claire has serious social anxiety, so it could never be large anyway. Yet, I still feel the best play for her safety is to keep our relationship extremely compartmentalised, Sam."

"You sound more like Black Widow there than Captain America, Steve. You can trust your friends with something important like a wedding. It doesn't have to make you unsafely vulnerable if your co-workers know that you are married."

Steve shook his head and set his jaw very firmly. "It has to be this way, Sam, trust me. I just have a feeling about it. Barton has kept his family protected in that way. It might be smart to do something similar for Mary-Claire."

"A farm? Seriously, buddy…"

Steve snorted. "I didn't mean on a farm. My girl needs a city. H***, she needs a car service, her private shopper at Bergdorf's, and that hair guy that comes to her apartment weekly. No, I just want to be sure she is not a target. I know you and Natasha are trustworthy. But I don't think I can let it get beyond you two."

"You trust Romanoff, but not Stark or Rhodes?"

Steve looked sternly at Sam. "We can trust Natasha, Sam.

Unfazed by Steve's reaction, Sam replied, "I trust that if she was not going to work with us, that Romanoff would stab us in the front, not the back. She might even feel bad about it. Not sure I believe that she would never go against us though."

Steve shook his head firmly. "Natasha will do what she believes is right. She is no longer anyone's tool but her own. She has a lot of red in her ledger, as she says, and she needs to work that out and you got to respect that, Sam. However, she will never betray me, I believe that."

"Okay, maybe not you. You don't realise how many people would just follow you blindly out of trust, Steve. Stark has got you as his moral anchor right now, you know. He knows he f***ed up with Ultron and his bro Banner's not there. Rhodes has his Iron Patriot s***, so he's not there often either. You need to watch it with Stark. He just isn't in a good place, man, but he trusts you as much as the rest of us do."

Taking a deep breath, Steve replied, "I know he does, Sam. I am not going to fail my responsibility. Even Mary-Claire knows how it is."

"What do you mean?"

Giving his friend a piercing, haunted look that startled Sam gravely, Steve said, "When I wanted to have the Captain America conversation with her, she hijacked it to inform me that she comes second to my mission or she doesn't come anywhere near me. There was nothing I could say right; she didn't want to hear a d*** thing. Mary-Claire made it clear that she will not allow me to have to decide between my job and her. I suppose she saw ahead of time how I am and wanted to save me the pain of telling her."

Sam shook his head and sighed long and hard. "No, Steve. She just believes in you and in your mission, ok?" He dropped his head into his hands and muttered, "Sometimes she is so like Riley that it is hard to take." He stood up and walked across the room to stand at the window. "Ri was stupidly noble like that. Dumb f***er always raced off into every single battle with eyes blazing from the thrill of 'doing what was right'. Do you know how many times I knew we were going to die as he made a command decision that was risky as h***? Of course, I always followed. Then every time we got back; he'd give me that hurt puppy look like "trust me now?". There was no talking to him about it, so I just didn't." He took a deep, heavy breath and said bitterly, "You know, it infuriated me what they did. That MOH submission was so redacted it was like a fabrication. Riley redefined bravery for Pararescue, but they couldn't write half that s*** down, since it was all classified. I'd never tell Mary-Claire how much of a lie that story was."

Steve continued lounging back against the sofa cushions with a deeply sympathetic look on his face. He gave Sam a moment to calm down somewhat before he replied, "She has some idea already, Sam. She asked me once if I thought that she would ever get to know the real story behind his Medal of Honour."

"You know that I can't tell her."

"I know. I was honest with her, buddy. She rarely talks about Riley, you know. I think we've only discussed him honestly twice. Once was our first date. The more I have thought about that since then, I think she was unconsciously telling me then what she expected."

Sam made a shocked sound and then watched his friend carefully for a moment. "You seriously think she was telling you that you have to live up to her dead Medal of Honour recipient brother if you want to be with her? Come on, Steve."

"I don't think Mary-Claire knew she was thinking or feeling that, but I think that is the standard that I had to match to capture her interest, yes."

They stayed there in silence for quite some time. Sam finally went back to the sofa and flopped down. After a quick look at Steve, who was staring ahead blindly, Sam said softly, "Well, you captured her interest."

Steve laughed roughly and replied, "Yep."