Rebecca was quickly taken back to the palace and she went quickly to her guest quarters, wanting nothing more than to sleep. She found Steve waiting for her, their stuff on the bed. He was sitting in a chair, reading. She smiled at his choice, another check off his list of reading. When he saw her, he put the book down, his attention on her.
"How did your talk go?" He asked.
"Went well… but he asked to be left alone until he is ready to see us," she said as she came into the room, sitting on the couch, across from him.
"I wish I could tell him that I don't blame him…"
"He knows." She told him. Steve nodded before clearing his throat.
"I have some things I would like to discuss. I was talking to Natasha while you were gone… Have you been talking to Tony since Siberia?" Steve asked her. She sighed, leaning back on the couch.
"Corresponding.. yes," She admitted. She knew this day would come.
"E-mailing?" He asked. She could hear the accusing tone.
"Yes, but I was careful, you know, making sure my signal was scrambled or hitting some wifi on the way out. I never said or did anything that could compromise us or give our position away." She explained to him.
"What did you talk about?" He asked. She sat back up, looking at him a little confused. This wasn't about safety like she thought.
"Ahhh, just information… tips… things like that," She explained.
"What kind of tips?" He asked.
"The Chatari deal… About 3 months back. He gave me the info," She told him. Steve sighed.
"He's your informant…" He breathed out. Rebecca nodded. "Show me…" Steve asked.
"The e-mails?" She asked. He nodded to her. She got up to get her tablet.
"I want to see all of them," He told her. She looked at him for a second, seeing something new inside Steve. He wasn't mad she was emailing, he was mad because it was Tony.
"If this is because of what happened in Siberia. I know he lost control…" She said as she came back to the couch, tablet in hand. She thought he had forgiven Tony. Knowing that Tony's actions were in the heat of the moment. A bad call after learning about his parents' murder. Maybe she was wrong.
"This has nothing to do with Siberia," Steve snapped. She looked at him. Really looked. Could that really be… Jealousy?
"Green is not a good color on you…" She told him before he sent her a glare. She knew this was not the time to mess with him.
She was thankful for the holographic projectors. She worked to pull up every email she had gotten since she escaped the raft from Tony. She wasn't going to hide anything from Steve. When she was done she moved to display them all over the room. There were a couple dozen. She watched as Steve slowly stood, moving around the room, reading through the emails. There were tips given, the pleasantries exchanged, and the information shared. They updated each other on their lives and talked about what happened in Siberia. There were some emails were Tony bounced new tech ideas off her. Nothing was out of the ordinary, just two friends talking.
Rebecca was curious about what he was trying to find in them. Did he not trust her?
Steve came across the earliest one, dated the day after he broke her out of The Raft. He read the first line, curiously. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said what I said, and I'm sorry for what I did…"
"Yeah… we had a few heated exchanges… over the accords," She told him.
"Did you write to him before this?" He asked. She nodded.
"That is everything, since Siberia. It is what you asked for..." she explained.
"I said I wanted to read all the emails, Rebecca. I meant everything… every email with Tony," He said, a little anger in his tone.
"What are you looking for Steve? Whatever it is I will tell you…." She told him.
"I want to see them…" he demanded.
"Ahhh… You sure?" She asked him, not sure what to make of him right now. She was afraid seeing them might set him off given his current mood.
"Something you need to hide?" He accused. She felt her eyes flash anger, as she typed into her tablet for a moment before she brought up hundreds of emails, so much that it was hard to see them all on the display. Steve's eyes got wide with that.
He started to go through them, see an invention Tony was trying to make for her, a dampening field that would work against her body, so she could touch people without using her powers on them. It was still failing but he was hopeful it would work.
He read where they were bouncing ideas off each other about upgrades on her suit.
There was several were they talked about life, about Steve, about being an Avenger. About how happy she was and how much she was learning, growing as a person. It was personal but still just friendly.
He moved to another where she had an idea for a new power based weapon for Natasha… The widow's sting. Rebecca had invented it.
Steve knew she was smart, her use of technology was amazing, but this… this was showing him how incredibly brilliant she was. It was also showing him how she never showed it to him. This was a part of herself that she kept only for Tony.
He read another message about how Tony thought she could do better than the old captain. She responded, with humor, before telling him to lay off. It made Steve worry.
Then the correspondence changed again and it took him a moment to recognize that they were in another language.
"French?" He asked. She let out a laugh.
"I mentioned that I wished I was more fluent in French... he refused to write or talk to me in English after that… I can translate them into English for you."
"You learned French?" He asked her. She nodded.
"How did I not know that…" he wasn't shocked that she learned another language. His own mastery of languages was enhanced since the serum and she's lived with it all her life. He was surprised she had never told him about it.
"It never came up…" she said with a shrug.
"How did I not know about THIS," he said pointing to all the emails.
"Look, Steve, I am a quick learner. You know that. I mastered combat training, weapons, several techniques, and form. I wanted to learn more about technology so, like the rest of it, I went to learn from the best you had to offer," She told him pointing to the emails. "That was Tony."
"But you kept it from me…" he told her, feeling the jealousy wash over him. She sighed, closing out the emails, before tossing the tablet aside to focus on Steve.
"Not on purpose. If you asked about it I would have told you…" She explained. "Whenever you asked I just told you I was emailing someone. You never asked who."
"But that's keeping it from me. That's a lie of omission." He told her as he began to pace the room.
"I was just emailing a friend…"
"You were emailing TONY!" He snapped.
"A friend, God! What is it with you two?! I know he has daddy issues with you knowing his father, but you? What is your problem with him?" She asked, getting up to pace the room as well.
"He's egotistical… pompous... " He said, in anger.
"He is a genius… sometimes that comes with the territory. I spent most of my life with worse assholes than Tony Stark…" She admitted to him. He looked at her.
"You're a genius yet your not like him." He argued.
"I am no genius…" she said. He was taken aback by that, pointing to the tablet.
"Those emails beg to differ!" He said. "I always saw you messing with things… I had no clue you were inventing."
"If you had asked I would have explained. I just figured you did not care…"
"I didn't understand…" He said with a sigh. "Why are you even with me? "
"Excuse me?" She said, completely floored at the comment.
"You're smarter than me, that is obvious. Why not fall for someone more in your league… like Tony?" Steve said, sitting down on the bed.
"Ummm… because Pepper would have something to say about that…"
"That's not the point… why not someone smarter than me?" He asked her. She smiled, sitting next to him.
"You are smart Steve… maybe not in the same way I am. We complement each other, " She told him. She knew they were finally getting to the heart of the matter.
"I feel like, sometimes, you're stuck with me. I'm not questioning your love for me. This connection has shown me you do, but the fact I'm the only person you can currently touch without hurting too much. The fact you're on the run with me… I sometimes feel like your with me because you have no other options. No one else around. " He told her. He felt her hit him upside his head. He looked at her shocked.
"Steven Grant Rogers," She told him, anger in her body. She wanted to yell at him for being so stupid but instead, she just took her gloves off, putting her hands on his cheeks.
She could feel his confusion, his jealousy, his self-doubt, his fear. Fear that what he was telling her was true. Fearing that he wasn't good enough for her. Fearing that he might lose her one day to someone else. She smiled sadly at him, leaning in to give him a kiss.
He could feel her anger, for questioning them, questioning her, but under that anger was her love for him.
'Here let me show you….' she told him before she thought of Tony. He felt her love for Tony, but it was different from the way she felt about Steve. It was affection, something that Steve felt for Wanda, or Natasha, but definitely not the way he felt about Rebecca. She admired Tony, for his genius, his banter, and his kindness. She shared a memory of Tony.
She was sitting at her desk, tinkering with something, Tony on the computer screen, talking her through it for a moment.
"Heard you might have a lead on Rumlow?" Tony asked her.
"Something like that," She said as she focused on her device.
"How do you feel facing him again?" Tony asked.
"That it is time for some payback," She told him with a smile. Tony chuckled.
"That's my girl…" Tony said. "So how's Cap been treating you?" He asked. She rolled her eyes. Here he goes again.
"None of your business," She told him, with a smile.
"Can't an old man worry about you, kid?" He told her. She stopped working on it, looking at the computer screen.
"And what is there to worry about?"
"That you're falling for a man not good enough for you?" Tony said. She smiled at him.
"Too late for that," She admitted. "He is not that bad Tony… I mean, you two are friends, you should know."
"I do know him… that's why I think you deserve better... " He admitted to her. She rolled her eyes, shaking her head, going back to her tinkering.
"Someone in your position should not be giving relationship advice. How is Pepper?" She asked.
"Ouch… point taken…" He told her. She shook her head. At that, she heard a knock on the door.
"Oh speaking of Cap…I got to go," She told him.
"Oooh Hot date! Don't do anything I would do," He joked to her.
"Then I would not be having any fun, now would I?" She joked back before hearing him laugh. She closed the laptop. "Come in!" She called out. The affection she was feeling for her friend completely changed as she saw Steve enter her room. He could feel how much her heart swelled at just the sight of him.
'Do not ever question my feelings, Steve…' She told him, before taking her hands off his cheeks. "Ever again…" He nodded to her. "And I think I have one more nail in that coffin…" She told him. She got up, to pick up her tablet, before sitting back down next to him. She pulled up one last email, before handing it to him, letting him read it. As he read it, his eyes got wider.
"Tony… got you amnesty," He gaped at the tablet.
"He did. I am not here because I have to be. I can leave whenever I want. I am here because I want to. I want to be here with you Steve. You are my home… not some building in New York," She told him. Steve leaned in, kissing her softly. He pulled back, looking into her eyes, smiling at her.
"I'm sorry, I doubted you," He told her.
"You were scared… scared people do stupid things…" She told him and he smiled at her.
"I guess they do. I have one last thing I would like to ask you then," Steve said.
"Ok..." She said, not sure how much more she could take tonight.
"Knowing how close you two are… it really did scare me. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have doubted. I see that now. I'm just a scared old man when it comes to you sometimes." He said taking a deep breath.
"I should not have kept it from you… I see that now…" She told him. He held up his hand, wanting her to stop talking.
"Let me finish...We don't know what the future is going to bring us, but right now I can't imagine my life without you in it. I don't want to lose you. I can't promise you much more than what I have to give. My heart… my love… and my vow that no matter what happens from now on, I want it to happen with you by my side." he said before taking a breath. "Will you do me the honor, of becoming my wife, Becca?" Steve asked her. She looked at him, for a moment almost like she was unsure of what he asked her.
"You want to get married?" She said softly. He nodded looking a little nervous.
"Does this have to do with you being scared of losing me? I am not leaving..." She asked, not wanting that to be the reason he asked. He shook his head.
"No… I want to marry you because I love you and can't see my life without you in it," He told her. "This is not some whim either," He admitted, reaching over to his bag, pulling a small pouch out. "I've been thinking about it for a few months now…." He said handing her the pouch. "It seemed like the right time…"
She opened the pouch, dumping the small, simple engagement ring into her hand. She looked at it for a moment, before handing it to Steve, noticing the disappointment in his eyes.
"Ask me again…" She told him. He smiled at her, slipping off the bed, kneeling before her.
"Rebecca Jones… Rebecca Barnes," He corrected himself. "Will you marry me?" He asked.
"Yes." She told him. "I will marry you." He slipped the ring onto her finger before he pulled her to him, kissing her. She broke the kiss, smiling at him.
"When would you like to get married?" She asked.
"Whenever you want," Steve told her.
"Soon… as soon as we can," She said with a smile. "I mean, why wait? I love you Steve Rogers, and you are right, we don't know what our future is going to bring us… let us do it," she said before pulling him in and giving him a long, hard kiss. His hands slipped into her hair, deepening the kiss. She broke it after that.
"Not a chance, Mr. Rogers. I see where your mind is heading… we got plans to make,"
"Now?" He said, shocked.
"I do not want to waste a single moment… and weddings do not plan themselves," She told him. He sighed dramatically before they started to make plans.
