A Special Surprise

I wake up moving my hand to feel Steve but his side of the bed is empty. I open my eyes and see the clock and it's already in the afternoon...I slept in for a long time! As I am wondering where Steve is I see a single rose and note he wrote for me on his pillow, I was a little hesitant to read it though...especially what his last letter was about. I sit up and put the sheet around me and read the note, "Morning beautiful, I had to go run a little errand, I will be back soon. -Love, Steve." This puts a smile on my face, I hold the note close to my chest and smell the rose, he is always so thoughtful!

I get dressed and 2 hours later Steve walks in, this brings a smile to my face. "Your back," I say as I go to give him a kiss.

"Yeah of course, I said I would." He replied.

"Yeah, but the last letter I got from you wasn't a good one." I gently reminded him.

"Oh, I'm sorry...I completely forgot about that, were you really worried?" He asked feeling guilty.

"...A little." I honestly answered, I can't lie to him.

He exhales and has me sit on the bed and he sits beside me, "I'm sorry about that...when I wrote that note...I didn't know what was going to happen, I just knew that I was going to end all this. It wasn't until I got there and Ross told me they were never going to stop coming after you that I knew I had to do something...so I made him a deal...me." He explained as he put a piece of hair behind my ear. I didn't know what to say, it was hard to debate that when I would have done the exact same thing for him.

"Well...never do that again. Ever!" I say seriously with a pointed finger.

"Yes ma'am." He replies softly as he caresses my cheek.

"Why did they come after me anyways? I have been out of hiding for 4 months and they surprisingly were leaving me alone...until now." I asked him.

"I don't know...I'm not positive but I think somehow Ross found out that it was me who sent the CIA the evidence linking him to Hydra and decided to get more revenge on me...just in case I was alive." He answered.

"I can't believe you actually got the evidence, how did you pull that off?" I ask with a smile.

He smiles, "I hid my phone in my back pocket and already had it ready to be sent to them, even though I had my arms tied behind my back I was able to push send after they shoved me in a van. I thought if I'm going down then so was he."

"Where did you go this morning?" I ask him after a few minutes.

"Went to go talk to Sam and Natasha...let them know I was alive and fill them in on what I have been doing with the CIA." He told me.

"They must have been so happy...they both took it hard." I replied softly.

"Yeah...I know." He could only say, "Are you hungry? I can grab us something and then we can take off."

"Where are we going?" I asked confused.

"Remember we have to keep moving and not stay in the same place for too long? Especially a place like this"

"Oh...I thought you were just trying to get rid of me before." I said softly, avoiding looking at him.

"No...I wanted you to be safe." He replied taking my hand, I just smiled at him.

"Do you still have to leave?" I ask him hesitantly.

"...Yes...but not right away." He gently said, I just nodded my head.

"Now go get us some food, I'm starving." I grin and he chuckles as he leaves.

We eat at the hotel first and soon head out. We ride on his motorcycle for about an hour until we not come to a hotel but the cabin that we were last in, the one after I almost got shot.

"I thought we were going to a hotel?" I ask as I get off the bike.

"Well, before I had no choice but to take you to a hotel, I didn't know where else to go but now you can stay here while I'm gone. Nobody knows about it except Nat, Sam and Maria." He explains as he's taking off my helmet for me.

He unlocks the door and ushers me in first like the gentleman that he is and when I turn on the light I am at loss for words as I am surrounded by red roses all throughout the cabin, rose petals everywhere on the ground, I put my hand over my mouth completely stunned. I have never seen so many roses.

"Steve, what's this for?" I finally speak.

"It's for you." He only says.

"When did you do this?"

"Well, I usually don't like to give away my romantic secrets but let's just say I did more then go talk to Nat and Sam" He told me, "They also helped me."

I couldn't stop smiling, I smell the first batch of roses that's closest to me. I turn around and wrap my arms around his neck to give him a kiss, "They're beautiful, thank you!" I give him another kiss and hug him tight to my body, "You didn't have to do this," I whisper in his ear.

"Yes I did." He whispers back in my ear but was being very seriously, he pulls back to look at me, "And I have another surprise for you."

"Another one?" I ask him, what more could he do?

I was about to follow him but he stops me and makes me stay right where I am, I have no idea what he could do that could match this! I can't stop looking around at all the roses, my smiles doesn't leave my face. He goes into another room and opens the door and out runs Luna. "Luna!" I say excitedly. Okay, he made it even better!

"I know how much you missed her..." He said petting her head.

"That means Renee and Amber know your alive." I realized.

"Yes...that was a very interest conversation, I'm convinced they thought I was a ghost at first." He said as I chuckled.

"They're not the only ones...I thought I saw a ghost too that night." I lightly tease.

I lean down and rub her head and ears, she licks my face and starts trying to jump on me and that's when I noticed on her collar a diamond ring hanging off it. I froze, I couldn't believe what I was seeing but I was also confused, I got a lump in my throat and was starting to lose my breath. I stand up, "Steve, what's going..." I start to say as I turn around and see Steve on his one knee, I couldn't move.

"Iris, I've wanted to ask you this for a long time now...at Christmas I was going to but I was scared and worried that I was rushing you and didn't want to push you away but after everything that's happened...I can't wait any longer. These past 4 months...I was lost...more then you know and I didn't know it at the time but the only thing that kept me going was this woman in dreams, trying to help me remember, trying to bring me back to who I truly am but I was too stubborn to realize it...to afraid to face it and this morning when I was watching you sleeping I realize that... life is too short and I am done being afraid...Iris, I love you, will you marry me?"

He takes the ring off of Luna's collar and holds it out to me. I was speechless, no words could come out of my mouth, I was in complete shock, I never expected him to propose...especially right now with everything going on. The second he started saying those beautiful words any fear I had immediately went away. I realized I was leaving him hanging and wasn't answering his question and he was starting to get a little sad look in his eyes.

"Yes." I blurted out really fast.

"Yeah?" He asked with a smile, I nod as I bite my bottom lip and tears go down my face.

He stands up "Yes, I want to marry you!" I jump in his arms and wraps them around his neck and he lifts me off the ground and embrace each other with a big hug and kiss. After he puts my feet back on the ground, he puts the ring on my finger, I look at it for a second and it's so beautiful "You scared me for a minute there." He whispers.

"I'm sorry...I was just in shock." I answer, "I just never thought you would actually want to get married...to me." I answered honestly.

"You were wrong," He could only say, I could only just smile at him.

"What about Ross? Don't you want to find him first?" I ask him.

He takes a breath and holds my hips, "I don't plan to stop looking for him...but I'm done letting him postpone and ruin my life...our life."

"Do you still have to leave?" I ask him.

"...Yes...when I get back whether we find him or not we're setting a date and getting married." He tells me.

"...No..." I suddenly blurted out, he looked at me confused.

"No? Are you having second thoughts?" He asked.

"No, of course not. I want to get married before you leave."

"You do?"

"Yes, because no matter what happens when you leave I want to make sure that I can call you my husband." I answer as he smiles at me and exhales in relief.

"...Thank God you said that, I wanted to get married too before I left but...I didn't want to rush you."

"There you go being afraid to rush me again..." He gave me an eye roll, I had to tease him a little, "I'm done being afraid too."

"But be honest, if I had asked you at Christmas, would you have said yes?" He asks me.

"...I don't know...when you gave me my mom necklace and it was in that little box...I thought it was going to be a ring and I wasn't sure how I felt about it...I mean I knew I loved you but...I was also terrified." I answer honestly.

"Are you scared now?"

"Not anymore...there is nothing I want more then to be your wife." I reply softly, "I love you." I put my hands on his face.

"I love you too." He repeated.

I bring his lips to mine and kiss him passionately, I wrap my arms around his neck. He puts his hands on my hips and gently lifts me up and I wrap my legs around his waist as my arms are still around his head as his are completely around me, I stop kissing him and stroke his face with both hands.

"Make love to me now." I whisper raking my fingernails on the back of his neck.

"Yes Ma'am." He gently whispers back, I smile right before I kiss him again and we both held each other even tighter and kissed very passionately as he began to walk us to the bedroom where we made love all night, it was amazing! I didn't sleep very much, I was too excited and happy to sleep. I just kept looking at my ring reflecting how lucky I was!

They're getting married! Did you say that coming?