DeRanged: Welp! This is the last chapter and I commend you for sticking through my cheeseball story all the way through! Hope it was worth the read. Also I reiterate that the Avengers are not mine yada yada disclaimer blah blah blah! :D Enjoy!
Chapter Four: What Do You Call This Wonderful Beverage?
Ronnie fought off a groan as sunlight shined directly into her eyes, why hadn't she drawn the curtains? Mumbling to herself, she tried to turn only to be stopped by two strong arms around her waist causing her to freeze in shock. Slowly, the memories from the night before began coming back. She remembered curling up on the couch with Steve and the others to watch Christmas movies, covering Luna and Tony in blankets, and then curling up with Steve once more. The last thing she remembered was the little drummer boy approaching the baby Jesus before she knew only dreams.
That still didn't explain the arms around her waist, with no other choice Ronnie peeled her eyes open and turned her head. What she saw next took her breath away: Steve was fast asleep with a soft smile on his lips and sunlight casting a glow over his tanned skin and making his blond hair look like a halo. She felt her heartbeat speed up as she slowly managed to turn herself in the man's arms without waking him, lifting a hand to gently push the man's bangs back. She felt like she was in a trance, she felt safe and warm and protected; unknowingly she began to lean into the man slowly, dazedly.
Inches from his lips the man began to stir and Ronnie froze, shaking her head to clear it and berating herself silently as she extracted herself from Steve's grip and retreating quickly into the kitchen. Steve opened an eye to watch the woman's retreat, having an inner debate with himself as he watched her disappear. He had been awake the first moment she had tried to move, but had continued to pretend sleep to make things less awkward. And then he felt her turn and her breath on his face; he couldn't help but move.
Coming to a decision, Steve stood up and made his way silently to the kitchen to insure he didn't wake the other four still with them in the lounge room. He paused in the entry-way and watched as Ronnie busied herself in beginning Christmas breakfast and making coffee. With a smile he padded over to the woman as she began preparing things for cinnamon rolls, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind. He was taking a leap of faith, no more pussy-footing as Bucky would tell him.
Ronnie felt the arms wrap around her and a muscled chest press into her back, the familiar, comforting woodsy scent telling her exactly who held her. Steve.
"Ste-," she was cut off in her protest by the blond man turning her around in his arms and rubbing his lips gently, electrically along her own.
"Ronnie," Steve pulled away a fraction of an inch so their lips still brushed but Ronnie could still hear his whispers, "I need you to listen and don't interrupt, can you do that for me?"
The woman could only nod, breathless and stunned by the small peck she had received. Steve continued, encouraged by the woman not pushing him away or trying to beat him, "I have loved you for sometime now," Ronnie felt whatever breath she had regained leave her in a whoosh, "I hope you feel the same and would be willing for me to court you?"
Her heart was fluttering a mile-a-minute and Ronnie was sure in that moment she was levitating, "I-," she cleared her throat, "I love you, too," she managed out in a choked up voice, "And I would like that very much!" she knew she was grinning like a loon, but it didn't really matter because Steve was really kissing her now.
Warmth spread through her and she wrapped her arms around the man's broad shoulders, joyous and filled with a sense of success that the man she had come to love returned the feelings.
They both pulled away reluctantly, but mutually, resting their foreheads together for a moment and smiling with a sappy smile into each other's eyes. Finally, Ronnie managed to extract herself from the embrace (truthfully the last thing she wanted to do, but breakfast had to be made) and smiled lovingly at Steve.
"Want to help me out, darlin'?" she drawled out, still grinning.
Steve smiled and gave her one more kiss before nodding, "What can I do?" he asked, walking over to wash his hands in the sink.
They worked together in peaceful silence, Ronnie felt like dancing and requested JARVIS put on some Christmas music low so as not to wake the still sleeping family members in the lounge. When the music played, Ronnie began to hum along and sway happily. Steve watched out of the corner of his eye, possessive pride filling his chest knowing that this woman was his.
When things were stable enough that they didn't have to stand over it diligently, Steve grabbed up Ronnie and began to sway with the woman, singing lowly for her ears only making her stare up at him adoringly.
Slowly, they met in the middle for another spine-tingling kiss only to be interrupted by wolf-whistles and squeals via Tony and Luna. When the two pulled apart to look they found Thor and Tony grinning manically, Loki offering a small, warm, encouraging smile, and Luna rushing toward them and pulling them into a hug.
"I can call you big brother, now!" she said happily, kissing Steve on the cheek and beaming at her sister.
Ronnie smiled fondly, extracting an arm from Steve's waist to wrap it around the girl that held a large part in her heart next to Steve's. Steve did the same, unable to feel even slightly put-out, the day was too perfect.
Things calmed as Bruce, Natasha, and Clint filtered in at the delicious smell of the breakfast Ronnie had started. They all were soon working about the kitchen to offer help or make their own dishes to add to the day's meals. That's when Ronnie set out the egg nog.
Everyone drank it, Tony sneaked a bit more into his and Luna's at the woman's insistence but Ronnie pretended not to notice. Too happy to reprimand. The chatter was interrupted when Loki turned to Ronnie with a curious and openly happy look on his features, "What do you call this wonderful beverage?" he asked, holding up a steaming cup of wassail that she had made while Steve had watched the rolls.
Ronnie beamed, wrapping an arm around his waist in a show of affection, Loki surprisingly reciprocating, "It's called wassail. It's something Pops always made around this time of year. When he died, I dug around to find the recipe so we could still have it," she said, smiling warmly and fondly as she remembered times past.
Luna beamed and bounced around, "You made wassail!" she exclaimed happily, before she was suddenly in front of her sister with an empty cup and puppy dog eyes.
Laughing freely, Ronnie took the cup and ladled some into the mug before handing it back to Luna who carefully, but no less delightedly, skipped back to her seat at the table beside Tony. Ronnie noticed the look in Tony's eyes and fought the urge to squeal like Luna, the man was finally going to make a move!
Breakfast went by quickly due to the unmentioned excitement in the air to see what everyone got for Christmas and just who got who for the Secret Santa. When the last person was finished, unsurprisingly it was Clint just trying to drag things out for his amusement until Luna and Tony threatened him non-verbally with their forks, everyone turned equally pleading eyes to Ronnie and Steve.
Ronnie raised an amused brow and turned to smirk at Steve, "Congratulations Steve, it looks like we are the parents of five boys and two girls," she drawled sarcastically, getting a deep laugh from the man from where he sat next to her, arm wrapped around her shoulders.
Everyone else just remained silent and continued staring. Steve finally calmed enough to speak, "Go ahead," he chuckled waving a hand, "We can do the dishes later."
With a loud "WHOOP" the kitchen was cleared but for Ronnie, Steve, and Natasha. Even Bruce joined into the childish mood and ran out like a child, Natasha just couldn't let herself be seen like that even though she practically tugged the new couple into the lounge room and shoved them onto the couch.
Ronnie, with an amused and fond laugh, settled without complaint into Steve's side and the man wrapped an arm around her instantly.
Luna was bouncing by the tree, the seat beside Tony open for her when she calmed down, "Whose first? Whose first? Whose first?!" she questioned over and over again, giving no one time to answer.
Ronnie buried her face into Steve's neck to hide her laughter, the others were not so polite. Finally, once the woman composed herself, she spoke, "Let's let JARVIS decide."
Instantly Luna was looking up at the ceiling with a mock-innocent grin, "You know I'm your favorite, right Mr. Jay?" she teased.
Tony began playing along instantly, "You're his favorite?! I made him, I'm obviously his favorite," the man said mock-smugly, busting his fingers on his T-shirt.
Clint was instantly a part of the two's childish games despite Natasha burying her head in her hands and glaring at the man through her fingers, "Please! J-man obviously likes me and Natasha more than you two posers!"
The AI's dry voice cut into the argument skillfully, "Actually, I find Captain Rogers far more pleasing," which was his language for Steve being his favorite.
Steve froze in shock, eyes wide while Tony and Clint pretended to fall into tears while Luna gasped dramatically and fell back with a hand on her forehead. Ronnie was breathless with laughter as she patted the still speechless Steve on the shoulder, "Well big man, looks like you get to go first," she managed out through her laughter.
Luna got over her dramatics and sat down beside Tony, silently ringing her hands as Dummy rolled over with Steve's gift. Not understanding the woman's sudden change in attitude, Tony calmed and pulled the girl comfortingly into his side..he hoped.
Steve unwrapped the red, white, and blue wrapping, smiling fondly at it and setting it neatly aside. What he found was a cloth covered book with no markings upon it though there was a space for a picture to be placed behind the clear plastic. Curious, he opened it only to freeze as he found letters from the men that had been on his team addressed to him and drawn pictures of them together. Flipping through he found a letter from each man, even Bucky!, with a picture to go along with it and at the end was a group photo drawn in perfect detail.
Caressing the pages, Steve fought the tears in his eyes and looked up trying to discern who it was that gave him the gift. His eyes almost instantly landed on Luna's hunched form, her eyes down not willing to meet his own.
"Luna?" he asked quietly, voice low and cautious. The woman flinched slightly and looked up to meet his blue eyes, so many emotions hidden behind her own blue gaze.
He gave her a radiant smile, stood, and picked her up in a large, warm hug and swung her about with a joyful laugh. Luna was held there limp and speechless for a moment before she seemed to understand the situation and beamed, wrapping her arms around Steve's neck and nuzzling in. He really liked her gift! She squealed and giggled happily, not willing to release her hold on Steve just yet. She once had an older brother that she lost in the foster system, Steve brought back that feeling.
Ronnie smiled softly, knowing exactly what was going through her sister's mind and remaining quiet as Luna clung to Ronnie's super soldier. Her super soldier. She liked the sound of that.
"Thank you," Steve whispered into the woman's hair, squeezing her tightly once more before letting her go and Luna reluctantly did too.
"No problem, big brother!" she sniffled, trying desperately to wipe away the tears as she stood up on tip toe to kiss Steve on the cheek.
Everyone remained silent as both of them returned to their seats, Luna to cuddle into Tony and Steve to cuddle with Ronnie as he stroked the scrapbook.
Clint finally spoke up, "So, I guess that means it's Luna's turn," he said, pretending to pout to clear the air.
Luna was bouncing now as Dummy approached her seat with a small box wrapped in purple with a gaudy bow that had Luna giggling and beaming. When she got it in her lap, she made sure to pat Dummy thankfully on the arm and plant a kiss on the happily whirring bot making the robot twirl to show it's joy.
Tony watched all of this with a goofy grin, as Luna leaned back to open her gift. She pulled out a pocket knife from Lord knows where to open the lid of the box only to freeze at what was inside.
Nestled on a velvet cushion was the old version of Tony's arc-reactor with a small sticky note stuck to it. In the genius's messy scrawl was the simple sentence, "My heart is yours, do you accept?." Her heart sped up and she felt her mouth dry; did he mean what she thought he did? Lifting shocked and hopeful eyes to meet warm brown staring into her own deeply, Luna felt any breath she may have regained leave her instantly.
"Well?" Tony asked, leaning in and wrapping his arms around the woman's waist and pulling her closer all the while ignoring the stares and cat calls of the others still there.
"I-, well I mean I-," Luna stuttered before giving up on her attempts at speech and just diving forward, capturing the man's lips in hers greedily.
Tony promptly responded until they were both out of breath and they pulled apart reluctantly, foreheads together as they panted, "I'll take that as a yes," Tony teased between heavy breaths.
Luna snorted, "Sorry, did I not make it clear enough for you?" she quipped sarcastically, grinning to show she was kidding, giving him another peck on the lips, "And just so you know," she whispered, "You have mine if you accept it, as well."
She was blushing but Tony grinned from ear to ear and kissed her deeply, making Luna tingle all over.
"I'll take that as a yes," she teased, using Tony's words against her getting a chuckle from the man.
"Yeah, yeah, lovey dovey shit," Clint snarked, waving his hand as if batting away a fly, "Can we get back to presents now?" he asked, making grabby hands only to get smacked upside the head by Natasha and Ronnie, who leaned over to reach the man just to smack him.
Tony snorted, but pulled Luna into his lap while he waited for Dummy to approach him with his gift. Luna went happily, humming to herself as she waited for the gift giving to continue.
Tony's gift was square and wrapped perfectly with red and gold wrapping paper, little Iron Man's flying around on it much to Tony's childish delight. Ripping it open happily, he opened the box easily as it had nothing keeping it shut but a bit of tap. Inside was a photo album and a disk that was marked, "Tony's Childhood Moments and Letter From Mom" in his mother's perfect cursive. He hadn't seen his mother's hand writing in years.
With shaky hands he opened the album only to have tears filling his eyes to see the image of his mother cuddling him in her arms when he was only a couple of months old, he wore a pair of footie pajamas that were red and gold and in the form of a lion. He had thought this picture had been lost with the others when his father burned them all with his mother's belongings.
"Who?" he managed to choke out, burying his face into Luna's neck as the girl held him close. She had watched over his shoulder, she knew how much losing his mother had done to Tony.
Natasha stood up and walked over, crouching down to speak to Tony, "I did it, I thought with the constant reminder of your dad we could use some of your mother around the Tower."
Tony stared at Natasha in shock before he offered her a weak, watery grin and nodded, thanking her silently with his eyes. Natasha smiled and squeezed his leg gently before standing, offering a thankful smile to Ronnie on her way back to her seat. Things stayed silent as Dummy cautiously approached Natasha with her gift, used to the woman abusing him any chance he came near.
When the woman got her gift she found it messily wrapped in paper covered in trees with multiple bows stuck all over. Fighting a chuckle at the sight of it, she began unwrapping it only to gasp at what she found within the small box. There were beautiful pins, golden and decorated with a depiction of a black widow on one edge while the tip was dangerously pointed. Pulling them out gingerly she ran her fingers over the smooth metal with an odd smile.
Before she could say anything, Thor's deep voice broke the silence, "I do hope you like them. Women on Asgard find them quite handy during peace banquets where they are not allowed a weapon. Hair pins, as my mother would say, are dangerously stylish fashion statements, not truly a weapon," the blond man flushed slightly at having to repeat his mother's words.
Loki was nodding along, finally seeing the hair pins in Natasha's hands, "Indeed, our mother saved Odin plenty a time with hers. We had many an enemy pretend a peace conference only to try and kill Odin to have our mother stick her hair pin in their hands," the trickster chuckled, winking at Natasha.
Natasha gave Thor a radiant smile that sent a chill down everyone but Luna and Ronnie's spines as she leaned forward and gave him a familial kiss on the cheek, "Thank you Thor," she said softly before slipping the pins into her hair with short, precise wrist movements.
Clint groaned, as Dummy approached Thor with the demigod's gift, "Great, thanks Thor for giving her something to hurt me with," the man grumbled, crossing his arms and pouting.
Thor snorted and shrugged dismissively as he grabbed his own gift from the robot he had been endeared to as the others had, "Thank you valiant Dummy," he said enthusiastically, patting the small robot a bit roughly before ripping into his gift, much to the robot's relief.
He found a book titled "U.S. History: First Settlement to Obama Care" in large bold letters getting a hum of interest from the demigod. Thor began to thumb through, gaze intense and surprisingly silent as he began to read becoming oblivious to the others around him.
Loki spoke up this time, "I had forgotten how much Thor had a passion for history considering his habit for blustering and gesturing."
To the shock of all the team but for Ronnie and Clint, Thor remained silent and ignored Loki's insult, continuing to read. Barely putting effort into it, the blond demigod lifted an arm and punched Loki in the arm...hard. The trickster gave a grunt and rubbed his arm while he pouted, "I also forgot how much more strength he puts behind his punches when he controls his strength while reading," at the curious looks from others he shrugged, "The library on Asgard had the most frightful woman who would get terrifying at the slightest noise. Thor had to learn to control his strength, yet have the same power over it, while remaining silent. He couldn't master it in battle but whenever he's reading a very interesting book..," he let this fade off as everyone had gotten the idea by this point.
Thor suddenly looked up, eyes wiser and made the others realize just how smart Thor was beyond his blustering and gesturing, "Thank you Man with the Eye of a Hawk, 'tis a wonderful gift and I shall read it diligently," the man spoke seriously only to return to reading immediately.
Clint nodded absently, waving his hand dismissively, "Dude, us history buffs gotta stick together," he said, grabbing the gift from the simple robot with a short pat to the happily whirring robot. That was the most Dummy had been appreciated in years, he really liked these Avengers.
Clint observed the wrapping paper first, showing a surprising restraint for his usually childish and impatient actions. It was a dark, royal purple wrapping with a flourished bow on top; it seemed his restrain only went so far because within a few seconds of the others showing shock he was tearing into it like a child.
The moment his gift was revealed to him he froze, shocked delight filling his eyes, "Is this-?" he left his question hanging as he found a beautifully crafted quiver with elegant arrows resting within.
"They are enchanted as well, you will never run out of arrows because they will reappear, clean and forever sharp, within your quiver," Loki's voice was quiet and almost shy as he spoke across the way to Clint whose eyes were still riveted on his gift.
Thor, sensing his brother's discontent even wrapped up as he was in his new book, wrapped a large arm around his brother's slimmer shoulders in comfort and Loki seemed to gain confidence from it and sit up straighter. Finally, when Clint was able to remove his eyes from his new toy he met Loki's darker gaze.
"Thank you, Loki," Clint said, voice deep and filled with suppressed emotions although his eyes did most of the talking for him.
Loki seemed shocked, deflating as if he had been building himself up to defend himself, Clint wasn't finished it seemed, "Ronnie's right, you know. You are a part of this family, Loki, and I can say I am proud to call you a brother with Thor," he finished with a cocky smile and wink toward the trickster before going back to stroking and cooing at his new quiver.
Natasha snorted, giving Clint a fond, exasperated glare, "He says something deep and amazing and then proves me wrong by going back to be a childish-," here she said something in Russian which made Clint pout and Ronnie and Luna burst into laughter.
Steve and Tony looked at their respective other, trying to get an explanation but only received grins and shakes of their heads. Ronnie leaned up and pecked Steve on the cheek and snuggled back in whereas Luna pulled an exuberant Tony into a long make-out session with a backtrack of jeers and wolf whistles.
Things were brought back into perspective by the sound of Dummy's impatient whirs as he held out a gift toward Loki with an expectant air. Loki hesitantly leaned forward to take the gift, brushing kind fingers along Dummy's arm in his own thanks. Dummy whirred and bumped Loki's leg in an affectionate gesture of his own before rolling silently over to the Christmas tree to wait for the next person to receive a gift.
Loki slowly unwrapped the gift, green wrapping paper with a golden bow, to reveal a leather bound book with elegant, golden calligraphy across the cover and spine. Loki stroked the cover and the words as he gently opened it to the first page, "Poetry," he whispered reverently.
Everyone stayed quiet as Loki almost became as absorbed in his book as Thor had been in his before Ronnie had reached over and smacked him to make him pay far more attention. Ronnie almost did the same to Loki except the demigod pulled himself away and looked around at them all.
When his eyes met Bruce's warm brown he stopped and stared at the skittish man with wide, shocked orbs, "Doctor?" he asked.
Bruce gave a weak, sheepish smile, "I noticed you liked to borrow my poetry books a lot," he said in a low tone, "so I figured I'd get you a copy with all of them in one for you to keep and read whenever."
Loki sat there speechless for a moment but quickly gathered himself and bowed his head in thanks, "Thank you Dr. Banner," he whispered out, emotions coating his words to thoroughly to be dissected.
Bruce gave a wobbly grin and nodded, a light pink brushed over his cheeks and the bridge of his nose and his eyes moved about, never meeting any of the others. Dummy thankfully drew away the attention from him when he gave a particularly loud whirring noise and his arm bobbed up and down in irritation as he searched for Bruce's gift. Everyone laughed as Luna knelt down and rubbed a soothing hand down the robot's arm as she located Bruce's gift and handed it to Dummy with a smile.
"I think you deserve a gift for being such a good bot, Dummy," Luna cooed, meeting Ronnie's eyes with a mischievous glint in her blue gaze.
Catching on quickly, Ronnie chuckled and extracted herself from Steve's hold long enough to kneel down on the other side of the obviously confused robot. In synch, the two women leaned forward and kissed the bot on the arm before they pulled back and went to their new lovers.
Dummy sat frozen for a bit that many thought he had been turned off because he made no noise but suddenly he came to life and spun and rolled erratically before calming down and going over to Bruce with a happy whir.
Bruce chuckled and took the small gift from the robot and unwrapped the simple paper only to pause at the familiar, curving script on the CD.
"Ronnie?" the scientist asked, curious and looking up to meet the gentle, miss-matched gaze and a small, fond smile.
"I know that sometimes Hulk gets restless, and he seems to like my singing," Ronnie explained, shy smile spread across her features, "so I made a CD full of the lullabies I sang him in Peru. It might help you too," she explained.
Bruce was speechless, but finally gathered himself to stand up and pull Ronnie into a hug, "Thank you so much," he whispered in her ear, "No one has ever tried to help when it came to the Big-Hulk and only been trying to help us rather than benefit themselves. Steve," here he paused before continuing, "We are lucky, you love us all so much," he finished before pulling back and giving Ronnie a brotherly kiss on the forehead, "Thank you."
Ronnie had tears in her eyes and grinned, going back into Steve's arms and feeling as if she could float. Luna was grinning as well, pulling Bruce back towards her when he passed. She maneuvered herself into Tony's lap and made him sit beside them, wrapping an arm around his shoulders.
Leaning in she spoke low, "You have become one of the three of my favorite men," she claimed, almost out of nowhere, leaning her head on the bemused, but accepting, scientist's shoulder. Tony merely chuckled and kissed Luna on the neck lovingly, he had come to love the oddness that was Luna.
Ronnie had finally cleared away any signs of her tears, cuddled happily with a grinning Steve as Dummy came over and rested his arm in Ronnie's lap with her gift in his grip. Ronnie rubbed a hand along the bot's arm much like one rubbing a cat as she gently removed her gift.
She unwrapped it slowly and calmly, though her eyes were lit up with a childish glee as her gift became unveiled. There was a small jewelry box and curious she opened it only to gasp: dog-tags. Not only that but Pops and Steve's dog-tags.
Turning wide eyes onto Steve, she was left searching desperately for a response before she finally managed out in a choked whisper, "Will you help me put it on?"
Steve beamed as he gently removed it from Ronnie's slack fingers as she turned, lifting her hair out of the way. Steve brushed loving fingers along Ronnie's bared nape as he fastened the necklace. He left warm hands on her neck after it was fastened and leaned forward to whisper in her ear, "Will you be mine, Miss. DeRanged?"
Ronnie felt her heart soar, and Luna gave a loud squeal as the woman turned around and lunged at the super soldier, kissing him. Before Steve could actually gather himself to kiss Ronnie back, the woman pulled back with a grin and spoke breathlessly, "Yes!"
"Oi! I thought I said no more gushy stuff!" Clint called out, over-dramatically covering his eyes while the others burst into laughter, including Ronnie and Steve.
"Alright, alright," Luna said excitedly, "Time for food!" she said happily, dragging Tony and Bruce from their seats towards the kitchen.
Ronnie seemed to come back to herself at this,"Luna, just because you rush breakfast does not mean I will let you go play any sooner," she said in a firm, but no less fond tone.
A loud, petulant groan came from the kitchen and the whine of, "But Ronnie~," making everyone laugh as Steve and Ronnie dragged Loki and Thor away from their books and Natasha dragged Clint away from his new quiver.
Luna glanced over the happy group before her, leaning into the man she thought would never return her love because of her childish nature that seemed to off-put everyone but Ronnie and Harry. She was happy. She felt safe. She felt loved in every way she could.
Pops had been right; family was always there around the corner. She had just needed to pay attention.
DeRanged: I dearly appreciate that all of you finished this story! Please review and give me your opinions whatever they may be. This, however, does not mean you can flame me over my creative writing merely because you didn't like how I set shit up but I will take critiques willingly and try to incorporate the changes you suggest. Now these will determine if this fic stays up because the person this fic was made for adores it, so in the long run your reviews go towards you being able to read this again...if you actually read it and I have followers like I think I do O.o