Rosalie had never seen anything like Wakanda before. She had been slightly nervous as she had followed Steve off the Quinjet. Steve had sensed her apprehension, clearly worried about being on the run and taking advantage of someone's hospitality. Keeping her hand inside of his, Steve squeezed her fingers. His jacket was still on her shoulders and she looked exhausted, almost as though she was ready to sleep for the next few days. Wanda and Sam followed them out alongside Bucky.
Moving across the path, Rosalie tried to look around and take everything in. It was warm, the sun was beating down over the city. It was almost like something out of a film. She had never seen anywhere look so futuristic.
"Captain."
Rosalie diverted her gaze to see a man leaving a building and she recognised him instantly. She was more shocked to see that next to him, Natasha was walking towards them. She was dressed in dark jeans and a plain blue shirt. Her hands were in her pockets and she had a smile on her face.
"It is good to see you again," Steve said to T'Challa as the Prince stood across from them and smiled demurely, flanked by four women wearing red uniforms. "Thank you for letting us come."
"After everything that happened, it is my pleasure," T'Challa said to him, hand on his chest. "My home is now your home."
"Thank you," Steve said, "again. Anyway, can I introduce you to Sam and Wanda. They're part of the team."
"Hi," Sam said. "Cool place you've got here."
"Pleasure," T'Challa said. "And feel free to explore. You are all welcome here."
"Thank you," Wanda said to him.
"And this is Rosalie, my fiancée," Steve said as T'Challa smiled and inclined his head to greet her.
"Hello," Rosalie spoke, wondering why she sounded slightly nervous as Steve kept hold of her hand.
"A pleasure," T'Challa spoke. "I have heard a lot about you, Miss Jonson. It is safe to say your Captain is besotted with you. I have never heard a man talk about a woman as much as him."
Rosalie smiled up to Steve as he scratched his neck and she nudged his side.
"Oh you get used to his gushing after a while," Natasha said and she smiled before embracing the members of the group, even surprising Rosalie with a quick squeeze.
"You must all be exhausted," T'Challa said. "I have rooms made up for each of you in my home. Please, follow me and you can rest before dinner."
…
Rosalie continued gaping as she looked around the room. She had showered and had left the bathroom with her hair dripping wet down her back. The white towel hung around her body as she padded bare foot into the bedroom from the en-suite. Steve was sat on the edge of the bed and he watched her move towards the floor length window where see through curtains hung. She peered out over the landscape as Steve watched her.
"It is quite something," she admitted to him and he moved to stand besides her, hands in his pockets.
"It is," Steve agreed with her.
She turned her head to the side, peering to look up at him and he smiled back down to her. He moved a hand to hold onto hers and she leaned against his side.
"I went to speak with T'Challa while you were showering," Steve said to her. "He is ensuring that your parents are safe and has reassured me that there is a private line that you can call them on later today. I told him that they were important to you."
"He is going above and beyond just harbouring us," Rosalie said to him. "It feels redundant to buy him something to say thank you considering nothing is probably adequate for harbouring criminals."
"Criminals, huh?" Steve asked her, letting go of her hand and moving back to the bed.
She heard his tone and bit her tongue. Turning to look to him, she shook her head. "I didn't mean it like that," she promised him. "Steve, I didn't think."
"No," Steve shook his head and ran his hands down his cheeks. "It isn't you, Rose. What you said is right. I am outside the law now…we are all outside the law. It doesn't feel nice. It feels horrible. I'm Captain America…I'm supposed to follow the law."
"You did what was right," Rosalie promised him, sitting down next to him. "You went to help Bucky. He needed you."
"And you needed me," Steve said to her. "I keep thinking about what if…what if I had just signed the Accords? We could be back in New York, Rose. You could go back to your job and we could be arranging our wedding. We could be getting married by now if I had just signed."
"And what about Bucky?" Rosalie asked him. "He would be locked up in a cell or even worse."
"But you always said that you didn't want this life…hiding because of me," Steve said, looking down to her and she shrugged, pulling the towel tighter around her midriff.
"And I didn't want this life," Rosalie said, "but the way I see it, we haven't chosen this. We have just ended up here and I realised that so long as I have you then I am fine. Did you think I would go back and live a normal life when you are not there? I think I am too much in love with you to do that."
Steve bent down and kissed her sweetly, his lips lingering on hers. She smiled into the kiss and ran a hand down his cheek. Holding onto it, she let her lips pull back from his and she kissed his cheek quickly before pushing a hand through his hair.
"I don't know how long we will be here," Steve said to her. "I told Tony that I would always be there if he needed me, but I don't think he will be talking to me, not after what happened."
"And what happened?" she asked.
"He found out that Bucky killed his parents," Steve said and Rosalie's mouth dropped open and Steve nodded. "I knew that they had been killed by H.Y.D.R.A. I found out when Zola told me, but I didn't know Bucky was the one who had done it…Tony was annoyed. He was annoyed that I knew and we fought. I protected Bucky and left Tony…I…I gave up my shield, Rose. I left it behind."
"Tony…he…he is your friend too, Steve," Rosalie whispered. "After everything he has done for us…this can't be the end."
"And I hope it isn't," Steve said to her. "But I made a choice that day we fought. Bucky didn't know what he was doing. Tony would have killed him, but it wasn't Bucky's fault. I couldn't let him."
"Of course not," Rosalie said, knowing where he was coming from. "But I understand what Tony was saying, Steve. If anyone dared to hurt my parents then I would want to kill them too."
"I know," Steve said, "but what else can I do, Rose?"
"Nothing," she said to him. "You have done what needs to be done and we are here. We are here and all we can do is see what happens in the future."
"You know that I will be apologising for dragging you into this for the foreseeable future, right?"
Rosalie smiled and kissed him briefly before standing up. "And that is just you," she said to him. "Anyway, I am going to go and change. I will be back in a minute."
Steve watched her leave, catching the glistening of her engagement ring as she went and he vowed that he would marry her for the second time that day.
…
Rosalie had been talking to her parents for over an hour and Steve had been to see Bucky as she spoke with them. They were due to go down to dinner that evening to eat with everyone else. Rosalie had checked in on Wanda, making sure that she was okay before she spoke with her parents. Steve returned to the room as Rosalie multi-tasked. She had the phone on the dresser and was pulling on a white, long flowing dress, zipping it up. Steve could hear her mother's worrying voice as Rosalie turned her head over her shoulder to smile to Steve.
"Steve's just walked in," Rosalie informed her mother.
"Steve?" the woman asked. "Where is he? Is he okay?"
"He is fine, mom," Rosalie promised her.
"Can we talk to him?" Jennifer asked her daughter.
Looking to Steve, he nodded and Rosalie handed him the phone. He took it off of speaker and placed it to his ear as Rosalie squeezed his shoulder and moved into the bathroom, intending on brushing her teeth.
"Jennifer, can I say how sorry I am that I have dragged you Rosalie into this mess," Steve began, feeling slightly apprehensive as he stood by the window and waited for her parents to snap at him. He would not blame them for doing that.
"Oh, Steve," Jennifer said, "Rose told us everything that has happened. It sounds horrible, but we understand. We understand completely. She…well…we are worried about her, Steve, but we know you will look after her."
"I promise that I will," Steve said to them. "I just need to…well…I understand that we are engaged and had been making wedding plans, but they might need to be put on hold until we are back home…if we make it back home."
"Steve," Martin took his turn to speak, "Jennifer and I understand that we cannot come to you two. We know that people will be watching our movements and if they knew we were to go to wherever you are then that might lead them to you. We don't want that, but who knows when you two will be home. There are practicalities you need to think of."
"And guess who has already through of them?" Jennifer asked, a teasing tone to her voice.
"Well, it is serious, Jen," Martin said and then directed his attention back to Steve. "We will go to your apartment and pack your things up. We will keep them in storage so that they are safe and sort out the bills and putting the apartment back on the market."
"I…well…I did not think about that."
"And then there is the matter of Rosalie's job. I am certain she will not be keeping it," Martin said. "Plus there is the matter of your wedding. You two…well…Jennifer and I want to be there, Steve, but we do not know when you will be able to come home. We don't want you to wait to get married."
"No, sir," Steve said quickly. "I cannot marry Rosalie without you there. I cannot do that to her."
"But we cannot ask you to wait," Martin said.
"What if there was another way?" Steve wondered. "I…give me a few days and I will think of something."
"Okay, Steve," Martin said. "Anyway, we should let you two go. Can we say goodbye to Rose?"
"Yeah, just a moment," Steve said, "she is coming out of the bathroom."
Steve held the phone to Rosalie and she took hold of it, smiling to him as she bid goodbye to her parents. She placed the phone down and Steve asked her if she was ready to go for dinner. She agreed with a nod and walked with him down to the dining room.
….
Bucky found Steve after dinner, asking if they could talk. Rosalie had gone for a walk with Wanda after being told of a path by the waterfalls. Sam had gone off with Natasha, the two of them talking about what had gone down. The two old friends had gone to Bucky's room to talk. Steve sat down on the window ledge as Bucky perched on his chair.
"I have been thinking," Bucky said to him.
"What about?"
"I want to go back to sleep," Bucky said in a whisper. "I need someone to discover how to fix what is wrong with me…until then my mind isn't my own, Steve. I worry what could happen."
"You don't need to do that," Steve said with a shake of his head. "Buck, you are safe here."
"No," Bucky said, "I do not feel safe, Steve. I do not feel like myself. This is for the best. I have made my mind up, Steve and I have spoken to T'Challa. He said it is possible for me to sleep while his team work on something so that I am myself and no one can take that from me."
Steve sighed. "When were you thinking of doing this?"
"In the next few days," Bucky said.
"Well, can I just ask you to hold off for a while?" Steve said to him.
"Why?"
"Because I have a plan for this weekend," Steve said, "and I need you there for it. You are the only man who is the one for the job."
Bucky frowned. "What job is that?"
"Best man," Steve said and Bucky's eyes widened. His lips quirked for a moment and Steve laughed, chuckling and scratching the back of his neck. "I know, it seems sudden and absurd after everything that has happened, but I want to marry Rosalie."
"Does she know about this plan?"
"She has no idea," he said. "But I have spoken to T'Challa and he has said that it is possible. We have put this off numerous times before and I don't want to wait any longer."
"Well…this is weird," Bucky admitted. "I never thought that I would be here to see you get married."
"Never thought I would get married," Steve responded. "I never thought either of us would be here, Buck, not after what happened in the War."
"I'm happy for you," Bucky said, moving as Steve stood up, the two men embracing. "She's good for you and she really does love you so much."
"I know," Steve said, pulling back and holding Bucky's shoulder. "And I want you there, Buck, as my best man."
"I can think of no greater honour," Bucky said earnestly and smiled at Steve, remembering that small skinny kid from Brooklyn.
…
A/N: Do let me know what you think!
