Chapter 18
I trained over the next few days, several hours at a time. Steve, Bucky, and I worked on improving my reflexes and strength.
The super serum sharpened my memory. It was easy to learn the moves and commit them to memory. My muscles reacted before my brain could register the motion. "Go with it," Bucky advised.
"If you allow your body to do what comes naturally, it would be easier to control," Steve said as I tripped over my own two feet. I landed on the ground, pulling him down with me. We laughed as I attempted to untangle my legs from his. He gave me a quick kiss before pulling me to my feet.
We trained during the day. Nights we dedicated to helping the children with their homework. Friday night, Peter Parker arrived with Matthew Stankovic. Mary Alice sat on my lap to tell me a story. On their way home, Angie was arguing with her about pretending to be a horse. "She was saying I couldn't be a palomino because my hair is too dark. Peter said I could be any breed of horse I wanted," Mary Alice told me. She lowered her voice to a whisper, "Those are my romantic soulmate words." She continued, "I told him I was a palomino. He said those are his special words."
"Did you see the words?" Steve asked quietly. She nodded.
I looked towards Valerie. She was talking to Angie. "You showed him your words, didn't you?" I asked quietly.
"Mom and daddy are going to be mad. I almost showed him my boobies," she whispered. "Uncle Lester said I shouldn't lift my shirt to a car full of boys."
"Uncle Lester is right, Mary Alice," Steve kindly said.
"I promise not to do it again," she said with tears trailing down her cheeks.
Peter walked up to us when he saw Mary Alice crying. He kneeled in front of her and gently wiped the tears from her face. "Mary Al, why are you crying?" When Peter said her name, it sounded like Maryal.
"Angie told on me. Mom's going to ground me," she replied.
"You don't know that for sure, do you?" he asked.
"Not for sure," she admitted.
He looked over his shoulder. I saw Valerie wink at him. "I think your mom won't ground you, but don't show me or anyone else your body until we're older. Okay?"
"Thank you, Peter," she said before leaning into him for a hug. It was going to be interesting to see how their relationship progresses over the years. Valerie and Ram approached us to lead Mary Alice to a private location to talk.
Steve and I watched them leave the room. "They'll tell her exactly what we've already said," Steve whispered.
"I know," I agreed as I watched Peter talk to Matthew.
Pepper sat beside me on the couch. She bumped me with her shoulder, silently demanding attention. "Ram filed the adoption application," she quietly said.
"They need to get married before the judge grants the adoption," I stated.
"They need to get married before the judge grants the adoption," I stated. "Did Sutton sign over his parental rights?"
"Yep. I have a marriage license for Val," Pepper said before leaving.
I could tell Darcy was plotting something. As the thought crossed her mind, I giggled. "Rogers and Rogers. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to hogtie Valerie Sutton. You must force her to wear a pretty wedding gown provided by agent Potts. You must lead her to the largest conference room at Rangeman, New York. Jacob Ramsey, the man Sutton will forcibly marry in a few hours, will be waiting for your arrival. As always, should you or any member of your selected team be caught or killed, Pepper will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This conversation will be a figment of your imagination in five seconds."
"Rogers and I accept the mission," I replied a second before she left. "Darcy's been watching Mission Impossible again," I told Steve.
"I haven't watched that movie yet," Steve stated. "It's on my list of must-watch movies."
"If Darcy expects us to get to Rangeman in a couple of hours, we need to get ready," I replied.
"I'll talk to Ranger," Steve said before walking towards the group of men.
Valerie returned with Mary Alice. They must have had a good conversation since Mary Alice looked happy. "Thank you, Aunt Steph," Mary Alice said before she hugged me.
"Val, do you have a few hours available?" I wondered.
"I have the entire evening free," she answered.
"Rangeman is throwing a grand-opening party," I lied. "I have dresses for us to wear. The problem is, the party starts in two hours. With Friday night traffic, we only have forty-five minutes to get ready."
"What are we waiting for?" Val asked. She grabbed my hand to drag me to the elevator. Valerie started rambling off about everything we need to do.
"Braid my hair," I suggested when Valerie said she wanted to loosen my curls.
"Hm. That would definitely speed up the process," Val agreed.
Natasha, Darcy and Pepper entered my apartment wearing beautiful gowns. Darcy pulled Valerie towards my washroom to do her makeup. Pepper expertly braided my hair. Natasha grabbed the dresses from my closet. Valerie's dress was a simple ivory sheath dress covered in delicate lace.
My dress perfectly matched my eye colour. The dress accentuates all of my refined curves. I went with the lower heels since I grew another few inches taller. "I'm going to be taller than Steve," I complained as I stood in the four-inch blue stilettos.
"Steve won't care. Those heels are sexy," Natasha reassured me.
"A woman shouldn't be taller than her husband," I argued.
"It's only a few inches taller," Pepper reminded me.
"I'll be taller than Valerie," I tried a different tactic.
Valerie laughed. "Steph, honey. You were taller than me since high school," Valerie stated.
"Fine!" I groaned. "I'll wear the sexy heels."
Darcy clapped her hands together. "Yeah," she squealed.
An alarm sounded from Pepper's wrist. "Time to go," she announced.
Steve drove Valerie, Angie, Mary Alice and me to Rangeman.
Angie and Mary Alice were wearing beautiful dresses. "My dress is pretty," Mary Alice whispered. "But I prefer pants."
"I know, Sweetie. Thank you for wearing it anyways," I replied.
We arrived at Rangeman with a few minutes to spare. Ella hugged me when I entered the conference room. "You look beautiful, hija," she whispered. She hugged Valerie and repeated the words she said to me.
"Wow," Peter exclaimed. "Mary Alice, you look gorgeous." I saw her blush.
"Thank you," she mumbled. Peter laced their fingers together before leading her towards the Gazarra and Stankovic boys.
"Attention!" Ranger barked. "Welcome to Rangeman. Thank you to everyone who made our move a success."
Lester added, "Ram, buddy, can you bring your beautiful soulmate to the front?"
Valerie and Ram went to the front of the room. They looked confused until Tony announced, "Everyone, gather around for the wedding of Valerie Sutton to Jacob Ramsey."
I took my place beside Valerie and placed a beautiful bouquet into her hands. Natasha, Pepper, Darcy and I held a smaller version of her spray of flowers.
Steve attached a boutonnière to Ram's jacket. Lester, Cal, Vince and Steve were wearing matching boutonnières. Each man looked handsome. I couldn't stop staring at my husband, and he couldn't stop staring at me.
Tony officiated the ceremony. He kept adding side remarks as he asked them to repeat his words. "I'm not repeating that," Valerie protested.
"Did Tony ask Valerie to promise Jacob blowjobs?" Darcy whispered.
"Yes," Peppers said with irritation.
"What's a blowjob?" Angie asked.
"Don't tell her, Liam," Eddie jumped in, stopping Liam from telling her. Our Rangeman friends were wearing shit-eating grins.
Ram whispered, "I'll promise to lick your slit whenever we have sex." Steve, Bucky, and I stifled our laughter. When Valerie blushed, I couldn't contain my laughter.
"You heard that?" Ram asked.
Steve, Bucky and I replied, "Yes."
"Crap." Ram must have forgotten about the super hearing that goes along with the super-serum enhancements.
"Daddy said crap," Mary Alice whispered to Angie.
"Mom's going to flip," Angie added.
I could hear Valerie thinking, 'Could this day get any worse?'
"It can, and don't say it out loud," I whispered.
"Stark?" Steve asked to get us back on track.
"Right," Tony replied. "Valerie, do you want to marry Jacob?"
"I do," she replied.
"Jake, do you want to marry Valerie?" he asked as though it was a waste of time.
"I do," he answered.
"Ya da, ya da, ya da. You may kiss the bride," Tony finished.
"Now Jacob can adopt us," Angie stated after Val and Ram kissed.
"What do you mean?" Mary Alice asked.
Angie patiently explained, "In most states, you can't adopt your partner's children unless two things happen. One, your partner's ex-spouse must relinquish parental rights or be proven to be an inadequate parental figure. Two, you must be married to your partner before your application gets considered."
"Man, you sound like Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter books," Liam teased.
"Hmph. I was only explaining the state's adoption law," Angie snapped.
"You did a wonderful job, Angie. Now I understand. Thank you," Mary Alice said to diffuse her sister's rant.
"Angie, Mary Alice, you're coming home with us tonight," Darcy stated. "Your parents are staying at the hotel. Uncle Bucky and I volunteered to babysit for the night."
"We get to stay for the party, right?" Mary Alice asked.
"For a few hours," Darcy confirmed.
The girls ran off to hang around the boys. Mary Alice and Peter kept holding hands. Angie looked a little sad whenever she noticed. "Hey, Angie, what's wrong?" I asked as I approached her.
"I'm older, so I should've met my romantic soulmate first," she complained.
"Honey, that's not how it works. You'll meet your soulmates soon," I tried to comfort her.
"I guess," she said while shrugging. "It just isn't fair."
"Sweetie, sometimes life isn't fair. You may meet your soulmates next week or in high school. Maybe you'll be like me and meet most of them within a few months," I explained.
"I already met one of my platonic soulmates," she admitted.
"Really? Who?" I asked.
"Aunt Stephie, it's Liam Gazarra, my cousin," she sarcastically replied.
"I knew that. Matthew Stankovic is one of Mary Alice's platonic soulmates," I recalled.
"Do you think my romantic soulmate will be Liam's platonic soulmate?" she asked excitedly.
"It's a possibility. Never say never," I replied. "Are you feeling better?"
"Much better. Thank you," Angie answered. She rejoined the group of children.
Steve wrapped his arms around me. "You'll make a wonderful mother," he whispered.
"Thank you, Steve. I'm not ready for children yet," I confessed.
"Sweetheart, we use condoms, and you're on birth control. Nobody knows if our birth control is stronger than the serum," he explained. "If you find yourself pregnant, would you be happy or sad?"
"Definitely happy. I prefer to be married for a few more years before we have children," I replied. "Did you know I never wanted to have children?"
"No kids?" he asked, sounding disappointed.
"Darling, since the day I lost our baby, I started wanting to have children with you," I explained. "I want time to know more about you and learn how to control the super serum changes. There's still a lot for me to learn about my new abilities. Heck, I don't even know my full potential yet."
"Will you let me help find your full potential?" Steve asked.
"There's nothing I would love more," I confessed. My stomach grumbled loud enough for Tony to hear it from across the room.
"Feed the beast before it consumes us all!" Tony shouted.
Several people laughed before grabbing plates of food. "What are you doing?" Hunter Gazarra asked.
"Getting food before Beautiful grabs a plate," Lester joked.
"Ha ha ha," I said as I bumped him with my hip. Tank caught him before he could fall over. "Sorry, Les. I don't know my own strength yet."
"No problem, Beautiful. I didn't spill anything."
I grabbed a plate and filled it with my usual serving size. Bucky added more food when I wasn't paying attention. "Wow, that's a lot of food, Aunt Stephie," Mark Gazarra stated.
With a shrug, I replied, "True, but I'll burn it all off soon." It was an innocent response until Lester changed the tone of my meaning.
"I bet you and Cap will burn off the calories tonight," Lester said as he waggled his eyebrows.
"Les, there are children here," I reminded him. Luckily Mark didn't understand Lester's innuendo.
At midnight we wrapped up the party. The children left a few hours earlier since they started falling asleep. "Congrats, Ram, Valerie. I love you. Stay safe," I joked. "Use protection, or you'll get pregnant tonight," I whispered into her ear.
"Thank you for everything, Steph. If it weren't for your generosity and kindness, we never would have met. You're the best sister ever," Valerie gushed.
As Valerie and Ram exited the conference room, everyone grabbed their nerf guns to shoot nerf balls at the happily married couple.