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Chapter 11
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"And the only solution was to stand and fight
And my body was bruised and I was set alight
But she came over me like some holy rite
And although I was burning, you're the only light
Only if for a night
And the grass was so green against my new clothes
And I did cartwheels in your honour
Dancing on tiptoes
My own secret ceremonials
Before the service began
In the graveyard doing handstands..."
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It's over almost before she can register that there's no one left standing. Darcy blinks, taking in the room, the destroyed machine, the blood on the floor...the blood all over Logan. Superheroes are dropping down into the room, agents appearing from the halls, and the big bloody mutant wraps her up in a hug. "...You've kinda got people parts all over you, man."
"Oh, sorry," He clears his throat, stepping aside to make room for Cap, who sweeps in and crushes her in a tight embrace. Logan gives her a shit-eating grin and a wink, but Darcy is too busy to give him a smart-ass response, clutching her boyfriend close, fists gathering in his uniform.
"Nina made it through?" She gasps, and Steve nods, running a hand over her hair.
"Safe and being babysat by an ancient gate keeper," He assures her, pulling back and looking around, at the cracked panels, Betty Ross placing both hands in the Hulk's massive ones, calming him down, and the slew of bodies on the floor, "...You built a wormhole generator." He states, somewhat dazed and blinking. Darcy grins.
"With a lot of help. And it only worked for one trip..." She turns back to Logan, frowning, "...How the hell did you get out of your cell?"
"Acting," He's found a cigar and lighter on Lydia Gray, who's alive, cuffed, and coming back to her senses with the Shifter dead. Noting the wolf's head on the Zippo, Darcy would bet good money that the lighter was his to begin with, "Past few days I've been acting like the drugs they were using on me were working for longer and longer," He grins again, "And so they gave me smaller and smaller doses, didn't wanna risk accidentally killing me. I've got a third of a dose in my system right now."
"I am impressed," Darcy smiles, leaning against the star-spangled man with a plan, who seems perfectly content just to clutch at her, letting SHIELD and the others clean out the bunker, until he's completely sure that she's really there. Logan, however, narrows his eyes.
"...Don't think I didn't see your little bit of theater either," He notes, turning to walk away, cloud of rich-smelling smoke following, "Your girl was about to die for us all, Cap." Steve pales, looking down, and Darcy winces. Thanks Logan, -excellent- timing with that bit of information, when she's right there with the guy who tried to get her sent away so that she wouldn't have her life threatened.
"...Yeah so, there's that."
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It's the first time, out of the few times Darcy's been on the helicarrier, that it actually feels downright homey. The first thing that happens is she's taken to Fury for a debriefing. ("Where's Phil?" "Different plane. He and his family will be living in Monaco with Bruce Wayne after this." "Everyone makes that joke.") Then she and Betty are fed, and while they certainly weren't starved in captivity, the fact that it's not the rye bread and tomato soup they've been eating for two weeks? Has them both scarfing down steak, cake, beer, and salads both Caesar and potato, as if they haven't seen food in years. It actually makes Thor laugh for the first time in a month, watching them gorge like Asgardians.
And then, sated and stuffed, Darcy eventually finds herself alone with Steve at the table, clouds and blue sky passing by the windows around them. She bites her lip, looking down at her lap, and Steve looks as if he's physically in pain for a few moments, until he's the first one to speak, deflating, sighing.
"...Darce, I'm so sorry," He murmurs, and then she's around the table in an instant, crawling into his lap, pressing her face against his neck.
"I know, you were just scared that I'd..."
"Yeah, but I was being controlling, and stubborn too," He blurts out, "I knew you could take care of yourself, I just..."
"...Didn't want me in the thick of it, period," She whispers, nuzzling him a little, "I get it, was a jerk move, but I get it." The tension in his frame eases under her, his arms wrapping around her waist, head dropping down to her shoulder.
"I don't ever want to lose you, but...I really did think, maybe, some quiet would make you remember how calm your life could be..." He tells her, softly, and Darcy rolls her eyes, shaking her head.
"Mkay, first?" She murmurs, playing with his hair, drinking him all in, "That wasn't a calm, normal life experience up in Canada...that was slow torture by boredom. Gitmo prisoners have been through more stimulating days." She grins, and he lets out a sheepish chuckle. Darcy takes this as a good sign, kissing his nose, "Second, I did kinda remember what life, pre-Avengers was like," Her grin widens, "Back to cheap liquor, uncomfortable digs, wondering what the hell to do with my life, and getting hit on by guys who'd have been horrible for me." Steve snorts.
"Point taken," He sighs, leaning back, clutching her close. "Still say you deserve better. You almost died saving the world."
"Nothing's better than you, handsome. And there are a lot worse things that can end up on a girls' tombstone." Darcy shuts her eyes, more than willing to spend the rest of the flight home in Captain America's lap. He seems pretty all right with this arrangement as well. And then his eyes snap open again.
"...Wait, did Logan hit on you?"
"...Wolverine kissed me, hun," Darcy murmurs, sleepily, "Don't worry though, already punched him in the face."
"...Of course you did." His chuckling helps lull her to sleep, which she does for the rest of the trip home to New York.
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Stark Tower still seems empty without Jane, for Darcy. They moved here together, before meeting anyone else, setting up the labs, a united brunette front against intimidating super-people. She misses her blustering around, misplacing her notebooks, arguing with Tony about her duct-taped-and-patched-together equipment. Being somewhere brand new and exciting had made them bond more than ever, more like two girlfriends than a brilliant physicist and her novice of an intern. Darcy has Steve now, yes, but being home makes her miss her best friend afresh, sharp and painful.
However, there's still Erik, wrapping her up in a tight hug when she goes back to the lab the very next day. Darcy knows it's because he's seeing Jane in her presence, and in her dark hair perhaps, but it fills her heart to bursting, too, to have him. Then he's asking her to tell him all about her and Betty's daring heroics, and she's actually talking science with Erik Selvigg and Bruce Banner, and Darcy Lewis finds herself thanking Jane Foster, once again, for giving a somewhat directionless poli-sci major a chance.
"Missed you," Pepper tells her when she catches Darcy in the halls, wrapping her up in Darcy's millionth hug of the day. All Stella McCartney and Louboutins, Pepper Potts is perhaps the last sort of classy, high-powered lady Darcy thought she'd count as a friend. But the woman is warm, grinning and genuine, looking so very happy to have the women back in the Tower, "It's SO good to have you and Betty back. Let's all have a girls' sushi night soon...and if you need -anything-..."
"I know exactly who to ask," Darcy gulps, her smile wobbling.
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And as always, there's Steve, who's almost as clingy now as he was when she left the hospital last year. They fall into bed that night, and while they've gotten up to plenty over the course of their relationship, superhero makeup sex is brand new and pretty amazing. So is yay-you're-still-alive sex. And the two together is another thing entirely, all clutching each other, whispering promises into each other's skin, his hands everywhere, her limbs wrapping around him like a vice.
After, Darcy devotes herself to committing every inch of him to memory, tracing his face and collarbones with soft fingers as they lie in bed, sated and warm. He stares back at her, as if reminding himself that she's real, lips against her skin.
"Let's get married," She hears herself whisper. Captain America starts, and then just stares at her for a long moment, at Darcy Lewis, the girl terrified of marriage before she was 25, looking adorably perplexed in his less-than-clothed state.
"...Now?" He blinks, and Darcy giggles, burrowing further into the blankets, into the big arms already wrapped tight around her.
"Of course not, you big doof," She hums, pressing a kiss to his chest, hearing his heart rate going up again. She shuts her eyes, grinning against his flesh. "...How about this weekend? You, me, a city clerk..."
"Okay!" He says immediately, making her giggle again. But then, of course, Steve shakes his head, backpedaling, "Wait, are you sure?" He whispers, looking down at her, her dark mane of hair resting against him, "I though you wanted to wait a few years..."
"I did...but," She murmurs, quietly, "...That was when waiting until I was a certain age made sense with where I was in life, with what my plans were," Her fingers ghost along his jawline, up into his hair, and his eyes slide shut. He's missed her. She's missed him. The little smile on her face widens, "It doesn't make sense though, waiting now," Darcy's voice drops to a whisper, as his eyes open again, meeting hers steadily, "I don't want us to be like Betty and Bruce, leaving to keep each other safe and then coming back, again and again, when they could have just been -together- for the last ten years. And..." She swallows, "...I don't want to be like Jane and Thor. I don't want one of us to leave the other without...without doing what we planned. I want to get married."
"...Okay," Steve says again, this time slowly, a fresh grin spreading over his face, "This weekend...you don't want a big Jewish wedding? I mean...with the canopy, and your family, and all?" Darcy shakes her head.
"I mean, maybe later, we can have a ceremony whenever. Maybe this summer. But I want to be -married- now. I want you to be my husband, now."
"Well alright then, Miss. Lewis," He murmurs, tugging her up for a good and proper kiss.
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"No." Is Tony's reaction, when Darcy hands him an invite in the lab, for post-courthouse drinks up in their apartment, Friday afternoon. "No! No. You and Captain America are not getting hitched at a town hall. And on a Friday? Darcy, baby, no."
"Better ideas?" Darcy rolls her eyes, as Betty chuckles behind her. Tony just gives her a dazzling grin.
"I'm marrying you. Here. Just get a license and it's happening. You'll be safe from the press, you'll actually have people you know watching, and the trip to the booze and the bedroom will be much shorter." Darcy stares. "...What, you're -surprised- that I'm ordained?"
"...A little, yeah."
"Eh, I was bored one Tuesday in '08."
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And that's how it happens, that Darcy Lewis marries Steve Rogers in Stark Tower, with Iron Man officiating in his own penthouse. Pepper is able to talk him out of performing the ceremony in his suit, while Steve is downright Hollywood-style dashing in his uniform, his best friend standing next to him, clapping his shoulder with a bionic arm. Darcy sways into the room in the long-sleeved, white lace number she'd bought on impulse with Jane, tottering in lace-covered heels. The way Steve's face lights up at the sight of her has her blushing, as if it were when they'd first met, all awkward and sweet.
Their vows are short. Really, they've said so much to each other by now, the promises that leave their lips are straightforward, simple, and all the more meaningful in the context of their lives. When Cap promises 'til death do us part, it's without knowing how long he can actually live. When Darcy promises in sickness and in health, it's knowing that either of them can be struck by any manner of evil, at any time. Simple words, spoken by two people whose lives aren't simple in the slightest.
Tony is actually an excellent officiant, glancing back and forth between the two of them, smiling, behaving himself. Up until the very end, anyway, when they've finished their vows and slipped their simple gold bands on each other's fingers. "By the power dubiously vested in me by the state of Nevada," He smirks, "Yes, I originally got ordained that I might marry people as Elvis...I now pronounce you husband and long-suffering wife. Darcy Rogers, you may now kiss your super-husband."
Laughing, Darcy reaches up and drags Steve in for a good and proper kiss, the agents and friends watching be damned. Bucky lets out a loud catcall, and then everyone's clapping, and looking up at her husband, Darcy's pretty sure Captain America's never looked so happy in his life. And she probably looks pretty damn radiant herself.
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That night finds them all together still, diving into the spread that Pepper had catered ("My wedding present."), drinks flowing and, for the first time since the attack on the Tower, everyone is enjoying themselves. Thor and Bruce are drinking and laughing together, the latter with Betty Ross leaning happily on his arm, the former raising toasts to Jane's memory, but in a manner that says he's come to terms with her loss, even if it might be years before he moves past it. Tony and Pepper are slow dancing by the jukebox, Natasha watching as the bartender teaches her how to mix a proper long island iced tea. Clint is grinning like a cat at the bar, ordering drink after complicated drink, as the Russian ex-spy learns how to make them.
Darcy flops onto a lounge, barefoot now, her borrowed Louboutins left somewhere by the chocolate fountain. She lies across Steve's lap, grinning up at him. "Why hello there, Captain Rogers," She greets him, lofting her appletini. Steve grins right back, James chuckling nearby.
"Hello, Mrs. Rogers," He reaches down, winding a long, wavy lock of her hair around his fingers, "And how does this fine evening find you?"
"-Great-," Darcy sighs, reaching up, running her thumb over his bottom lip, "We're married. Me and you. Married."
"We are."
"S'like something out of a movie." Her grin widens, "Want to stay together forever?" The soldier out of time matches her smile, nodding once, leaning down to kiss her softly.
"Absolutely," He murmurs, his voice gone serious now, his eyes gone searching, "I'll never ask you to leave again, Darcy."
"Good," She whispers back, "Cause I've kind of become a bad-ass now. And I can kind of put up a good effort, beating some sense into you, if I have to." She smiles wide, and Steve laughs.
"Yes 'mam."
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~ End
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(for now)
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