DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE AVENGERS OR MARVEL!
Sarah: The irony.
Sarge: Don't own nothing but my OCs.
Sarah: We done yet?
Sarge: What about this dress? *shows dress*
Sarah: Looks great. What is this Prom you speak of?
Sarge: It's a big formal dance at schools.
Sarah: Ah. Well, have fun.
(The irony, I spent today dress shopping.)
The caravan of vehicles pull up to the dress shop that Pepper had reserved for the whole day. The whole group had to agree that having Tony Stark as an ally had many great advantages. The whole group consisted of Natasha, Pepper, both Rogers sisters, Ava, May Parker, Maria Hill, Bobbi Morse, Darcy (who was coming to work at Stark Industries for some unknown reason), Sif (who had come to see Thor), Sigyn (who was there to help Sif), Sue Storm, and Janet Pym. Sarah holds the door open for the whole group and they file into the dress shop with a multitude of oh's and ahs reverberating in their wake. Bobbi reaches out and runs her fingers over a brilliant blue dress.
"Good morning and welcome," one of the assistants here at the shop says as the group walks up. "I am Ellen and I'll be helping you today with your dresses. We have compiled a group of dresses according to the dresses Miss Potts has suggested for both weddings. Which wedding shall we start with?" Ellen inquires.
"The Rogers Wedding," Pepper replies. "Hers is first after all."
"Very well. If you'll follow me, we've set up a display area with seating for all of you," Ellen informs them. The group walks to the staging area in the back as some of the other assistants pull the blinds down for privacy by order of Maria. "Shall we start with the bride?"
"Yes, that would be a good idea. Do you want any help with the dresses Tasha?" Pepper asks the red head.
"If I need help Pep, I'll call, promise." Natasha follows Ellen behind a screen and after a few bouts of swearing drifting to their ears; Natasha emerges in a long white dress with a red neckline. There's a red pattern at the bottom of the dress as well, but the skirt is far too big for Natasha.
"Opinions?" Ellen inquires.
"Too big," Natalia and Sarah say in unison. The two sisters high five at their decision and managing to voice their dislike of the dress at the same time.
"I'm with the girls. Perhaps something narrower?" Pepper suggests and the rest of the women present nod in agreement. Natasha smiles gratefully and disappears behind the screen. Natasha comes out in another dress, the top held up by a strap that went from her left shoulder around her neck and back to that shoulder forming a small knot there. The dress was wavy and looked very good on Natasha. Natasha trips, however, on the overly long dress.
"It is number one right now," Pepper voices after they talk for a bit. The next dress Natasha gets the seal of approval from her daughters. The strapless dress forms to her figure beautifully. Around the waist is a red band that signifies her waistline. Down from there is a plain white skirt that is longer in the back with a sheer fabric skirt over top of the plain white skirt.
"Mom, you look amazing," Natalia says as Natasha shows off the design.
"Veil or no veil?" Ellen inquires.
"I saw something that I think would look nice for Natasha," May says getting up. She walks across the store to a display and picks up one of the boxes. She brings it over and shows it Natasha and then to the group. The metal silver-white headband looks like small waves with one red band wave through the whole headband.
"Aunt May, you are amazing," Sarah muses.
"Thank you dear, I do try."
"I think we have a winner," Natasha says to Ellen. "I'll take this and the headband."
"Oh course. Let's get you undressed. Shall the Maid of Honor be next?" Ellen inquires.
"Of course, but we have two actually," Pepper says with a smile. "Natasha couldn't choose so both Sarah and I are the Maids of Honor."
"Well, between the two of you, decide who should go first," Ellen says softly. Pepper looks over at Sarah who stands up easily. "Do you have dress shoes dear?" Ellen peers at Sarah's combat boots. Sarah looks at Natalia who tosses her the shoes.
"Thanks Sis." Sarah walks disappears behind the screen with her mother. She helps Natasha change back before changing her shoes and handing the boots to Natasha. Ellen smiles as she brings over a rack of dresses with Sarah's name on the rack.
"Do you think she'll throw a fit?" Ava asks Natalia.
"You should have seen her in Asgard. Loki and I had fun trying to keep her in her formal dresses at times," Sif laughs.
"Remember that time we went to the Harvest Feast and she showed up in trousers? I still can't believe we had to have Hogun, Fandral, and Loki drag her back to her room to change," Sigyn laughs.
"You will have to share the story later, Sigyn," Natasha laughs whole-heartedly.
"Holy shit," Ava gasps. Everyone turns around to see Sarah standing there in a dress that has them all gawking. The red dress is strapless and floor length. There's a cut on the left side of the skirt from the mid-upper thigh down. Around the chest piece, white thread creates an elaborate design of flower or star look on it.
"Baby, perfect," Natasha says dead serious. "That is the perfect dress for you."
"You sure it's not too provocative?" Sarah asks hesitantly looking at the long slit on it.
"You sound like Dad. It's perfect for you Sis," Natalia insists.
"Well, that finishes her up for now. Miss Potts, would you like to come back for your fitting?" Ellen inquires. Pepper nods and comes around the screen with Sarah and Ellen. Sarah rejoins the group in her regular clothes a while later. A moment later, Pepper comes out in a red dress. The two spaghetti straps are on the far sides of her shoulders. There's a pattern of silver colored metal beads, strips, and designs from her cleavage to her navel with the sides curve down to her waist line.
"Well, that's Pepper's dress," Sue laughs softly.
"It looks great Pepper," Natasha insists.
"Let's do the Flower Girl next." Natalia follows Pepper back behind the screen. Ellen, after seeing the group as a whole, had figured out what each person might like. Pepper comes out grinning and Natalia comes out in a red dress, one shoulder on the right, with a flower where the shoulder strap met the main part of the dress. It was floor length and had a pattern from her waist up that made it look like the dress was wound around her.
"Baby sis, you look amazing," Sarah says with a smile.
"Thanks sis." Natalia disappears with Bobbi, Sif (who was picked up as a bridesmaid the second she arrived), and Maria following her as they were the remainder of the bridesmaids. The trio steps out matching plain red strapless dresses with a white sash around their middles.
"We thought we could match," Maria says looking at Bobbi and Sif.
"You look wonderful," Natasha insists. The three change and Sigyn goes behind the screen to find a dress as well. She chooses a red dress that from the waist up looks like it was wrapped on her to her upper chest. The halter strap was covered with silver rectangular gems. Sue, Janet, and Darcy all pick out the same dress because that dress was actually very flattering on them. Ava goes behind the screen and picks out her dress.
"Damn Ava, you're going to have Danny swooning," Sarah laughs. The dress Ava had chosen is floor length with a slit up the middle of the dress to Ava's mid-thigh area. There's a beaded band around her stomach that meets the halter-top half of the dress. The red looks very flattering on her and she smiles.
"Thanks. I'm not one for dresses, but this one caught my eye," Ava says with a soft smile. They had to practically beg Ava to be at the wedding, but she now knows that she'll like the time. May is the last to go and find a dress. The older woman comes out in a simple red dress with a white cut off coat.
"That looks wonderful May," Natasha insists.
"Thank you Natasha." May changes back and Ellen sends the chosen dresses to be put in bags.
"So, now we'll move on to the Potts wedding," Ellen says looking at her list. Pepper goes off behind the screen to choose her dress. Pepper's white dress was beautiful. It was tighter in fit, but it fit her very well. There was a silver band around her waist that made it even better. The straps settled easily on her shoulders.
"Pep, Tony will faint when he sees you," Bobbi laughs.
"I'll have a camera ready!" Sarah giggles in excitement. Natasha is next. She picks out a gold dress with a silver band around her waist. The neckline dipped down into Natasha's cleavage but it wasn't too revealing. She finishes the look with a gold wrap. Sarah, the Flower Girl, goes next. She chooses a silver dress instead of a gold one.
"The theme is Iron Man," Pepper counters.
"And how many suits does Tony have with the silver on them?" Sarah counters. "The briefcase armor, the Mark II before Rhodey trashed it, and he has a few in-progress with silver. Please Pep? I don't look good in gold."
"Pep, it looks good on her," Maria insists. The silver dress has a halter-top design to it. The chest piece cuts off an inch above Sarah's belly button all the way around with a gold band connecting the chest piece to the skirt piece. The gold band then expands on the chest piece as a solid metal band (painted gold) to hold Sarah's chest and clamped around her neck to hold it up. On the skirt, the gold cloth band is sewn into the silver skirt and outlines the sides of the dress hem until Sarah's mid-thigh where there are slits on both sides.
"All right. It looks good," Pepper concedes.
"Thank you Pep!" Ava leans up to Natalia as Sarah goes behind the screen again.
"Can you say Sexy Flower Girl?" Ava giggles.
"Aaron is going to be jealous," Natalia laughs in return.
"More like he'll rip Loki off her," Sigyn laughs. "I'll have to warn Loki of a territorial boyfriend." Bobbi, Sif, and Maria settle on simple gold dresses with a silver band around their stomachs. These have only a left shoulder but include wraps, so the three are smiling. Natalia ends up copying her sister, just with a decent dress, silver looks better on the sisters. Ava goes with a mixture of silver and gold in a one-shoulder dress. May goes with a gold dress with a silver coat; no she went with the silver dress with a gold coat at the last minute. Sigyn has Sif run her back to Asgard and Sigyn picks up a gold dress from Asgard for herself. Sue, Janet, and Darcy pick out three different dresses with a mixture of silver and gold. Once all the dresses are picked, the girls raid the shoes and the jewelry. Tony wouldn't like their bill but hey, Steve was paying for the boys.
Across town, the boys are in a suit store that Tony had rented out for the day. After nearly an hour of mismatching suits for the men, they had all had on black suits.
"Thor, why do you have to have such wide shoulders?" Tony questions as they finally found a coat that fit Thor properly. It was the group's opinion that shopping for Thor and Steve was never easy, their muscles tended to mess up the suits.
"Mother is still trying to figure that one out, Tony," Loki laughs. The God of Mischief is reclining on one of the leather chairs. His black hair is down instead of in its normal ponytail. "The year he became a man, he went through five suits of armor, he out grew them all."
"And yet, Brother, you still managed to find Sigyn for a bride, even though you are meeker than I," Thor laughs.
"Fandral is meeker than you and has yet to find a bride. Of course, if he ever did, he would cheat on her. I believe the word is playboy, yes?" Loki questions looking to Tony.
"You have an Asgardian version of Tony?!" Clint laughs clutching his sides as they started to hurt from the pain.
"Dad, why do I have to wear a monkey suit?" SJ complains.
"Because you have to look nice for the wedding," Steve answers.
"Can't I wear a vest or something? This jacket is uncomfortable," SJ whines. Loki spots a black vest, snaps his fingers, and SJ is in the vest and the jacket is in his hand. "I'll put the jacket on for the ceremony, promise!"
"Fine. Loki, no magic," Steve warns.
"Sorry Captain," Loki says before muttering on his breath, "No I'm not." SJ high fives Loki and the god beams. He and SJ were getting along nicely after all.
"So, ties gentlemen?" the man helping them inquired.
"We'll need two sets of ties. Let's see what you have," Tony says motioning for the gang to follow him. They walk over to the stand of ties and the two grooms set about looking for the correct ties. Tony tosses one to Steve as Steve tosses one at Tony. The two teammates look down at the ties and then at each other with identical smiles.
"So, red and gold," Tony chuckles looking at the tie. It is base red with streaks of gold. "Very fitting. Thank you Steve."
"Red, white, and blue, you know me so well Tony. All right, step on up and get a tie boys," Steve orders. The group grabs a tie of each color before going over to find shoes for the occasion. After changing back into their regular clothes, they head for the Tower again. The two groups hid their clothes before meeting each other for dinner. Aaron sneaks a kiss from Sarah while Steve isn't looking.
"So, the parties are Friday night," Tony says, "and the other parties will be the following Friday night. The girls are headed to the hotel for Friday night. The ballroom will be set up for us and the indoor garden is being prepared for the wedding on Friday. Steve and Natasha will take their one-week honeymoon to Paris, France from Saturday night until Friday morning. Then Pepper and I will be taking a week honeymoon in a remote little ski resort until the following Friday night, and we should be back here by the morning. Nobody kill each other over the next few weeks."
"We're not all that trigger happy," Clint scoffs. His eyes stray to a few assassins around the table.
"I'm going to turn in early. I've got a headache," Sarah says softly after putting her dishes away. Sarah flinches when the phone goes off and puts her hand to her head. Bruce watches as her gauntlet lights up the second she's away from the group. Aaron watches her leave for a second before moving to follow her. Tony puts a hand on Aaron's shoulder and motions the kid to follow him for a moment. Aaron and Tony step into his office.
"Tony, what's up with her gauntlet lately?" Aaron asks the billionaire. "It keeps lighting up."
"Aaron, there's something I think you should know. Sarah's sick right now. Bruce and I have the treatment inside of her gauntlet and we're working to help her. Can you make sure she doesn't get into any physical confrontations for a while?" Tony asks him. Aaron nods and Tony sighs. The billionaire pulls out a sealed see-through case the size of a mini-lap top from his desk. He holds it out to Aaron and he sees the flask device. "Give it to Sarah. She needs a refill. Tell her this one is stronger and that I told you the bare minimal." Aaron nods and takes the case from Tony. "Don't tell anybody. Only Bruce, myself, Sarah, and a few other scientists know. Not even Steve knows." Aaron nods again and hides the case in his sweatshirt. He walks out and down to Sarah's room. The door opens with a tap of his knuckle and he sees Sarah sitting on the bed, her skin is pale, she's shaking, and she looks like she's in pain. Aaron closes and locks the door before walking over to her. He sits down and opens the gauntlet up. He removes the flask from the gauntlet and places the new one in. He seals the gauntlet back up, hears the hiss as the flask seals into the gauntlet, and administers the medicine. Sarah recovers after a few moments and Aaron puts a hand to her cheek. Sarah looks at him with tears in her eyes.
"What did he tell you?" Sarah whispers.
"Tony said you were sick and that they're trying to help you. The new flask is stronger than the last one." Aaron rubs her cheek softly. "He's worried, I can see it."
"Will you stay with me tonight, Aaron?" Aaron nods and kisses her lips softly.
That next Friday night, the girls are all in the massive suite at a hotel for the night. The dresses are hung up and the girls are all in their relaxing clothes. The women present are Maria, Natasha, Pep, Sarah, Natalia, Bobbi, Sif, and Sigyn. They are watching a cheesy love story movie. Sarah and Natasha toss popcorn at each the others when they cry over the movie. Pep and Bobbi insist on paint everyone's nails. Over all, it's a very good night. Over at Stark Tower, they were having fun as well. A multitude of games, movies, and challenges had the boys laughing hysterically.
"You ready to be married Steve?" Clint asks Steve as they settle on random couches and air mattresses for the night.
"Back before the Ice, I thought I'd marry Peggy. But now I see that I wasn't ready back then. Now, I love Tasha with all my heart and soul. No one has ever made me that happy before. She's amazing," Steve says with a smile. "I don't think I could imagine living without her."
"What about the little one on the way, my friend?" Thor inquires.
"The kid will make it just that much better," Steve chuckles softly.
I'm splitting the wedding stuff into three mini chapters. This is Mini Chapter # 1. They get shorter as we go, then we'll be back to normal.