Make You Feel My Love
~Book III~

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

~Chapter 10~
Marry Me

"No, I want the pool table to be over there," said Tony's voice as Maria walked down the stairs into the living room.

She furrowed her brow, wondering what Tony was doing up so early and why he needed a pool table. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she noticed Tony standing in the middle of the now, close to, empty living room. Most of the furniture had been moved away or had been stacked close to each other in heaps. Tony himself was standing on the other side of the room, a PAD in his hands while Thor and Clint were both moving a large package to wherever Tony had pointed. Clint himself looked annoyed, his face red from the struggle of lifting the heavy package while Thor smiled happily, barely struggling at all. As he saw Maria, Thor let go of the package, bowing slightly to her which made her smile. However, she frowned slightly as Clint grunted and fell to the floor, all the weight from the package having been put on him by Thor's gesture.

"Morning, guys," said Maria, earning the attention from Tony too as Thor apologetically looked down at Clint, the archer glaring at the Asgardian.

"Ah, morning Dalton," said Tony before looking back over at the large package. "Barton, you can take a break after you've moved my pool table."

With a deadly glare sent towards Tony and a scoff at the helping hand Thor had offered him, Clint stood up and brushed off his clothes before stalking away.

"Hey, where are you going?" asked Tony innocently, Maria smirking at the scene before her.

"Training!" yelled Clint as the elevator doors closed behind him.

"Why are none of the Avengers morning people?" asked Tony, completely oblivious to the actual reason behind Clint's anger. "Thor?"

"I can move your table of pool on my own," said Thor, continuing the work with ease even without Clint's help. "For I am mighty…"

Thor muttered the last part to himself, though Maria and Tony both heard it and looked at each other with amused eyes.

"Have you seen Steve?" asked Maria.

"Yeah, he's in the kitchen," said Tony quickly before grabbing Maria's arm and dragging her over to the middle of the living room. "What do you think; couches in the middle for hanging out, dance floor to the right, bar to the left and other activities in the back."

"Planning the party already?" asked Maria with an amused smile. "It's tomorrow, you know, and I thought you and Banner were busy running tests on the spire?"

"We are. But Jarvis is running some of them now and I had nothing else to do. Besides, a good host has everything ready a day before since a good host knows that things always go wrong," replied Tony. "So, what do you think?"

"Well, I like the idea that there is a part where you can socialize and sort of, take a break," said Maria. "But I'm guessing there's going to be a lot of people. So, maybe you shouldn't just have one place where people can sit. But several little islands?"

Tony snapped his fingers, his eyes lightening up with excitement before he suddenly kissed Maria's cheek; "Love it! I'm taking your idea."

"Okay," said Maria with a big smile, watching Tony walk away from her and towards Thor again.

"Thor! We're going to have to move the pool table again!"

Maria shook her head amused, walking towards the kitchen instead as her stomach began to growl at her for not feeding it. She had awoken that morning alone, Steve already gone. It wasn't something strange, considering that she had slept until eleven o'clock and Steve never slept for that long. Though she had missed the nice and cute morning they had the day before when they awoke together. It had felt perfect and she had wished for that again.

"Morning," said Maria as she entered the kitchen, seeing Natasha, Bruce and Steve seated around the kitchen table.

"Morning," said Bruce and Steve.

"You call this morning?" asked Natasha, pointing towards her wrist where an imaginary clock was supposed to be.

"Oh, as if you haven't just woken up," said Maria, seeing the freshly made sandwich placed before her, indicating she hadn't been seated there for as long as Bruce and Steve who'd already finished their breakfasts.

"Touché," replied Natasha with a smirk.

Maria stopped by Steve who smiled widely as she wrapped her arms around his torso from behind, leaning forwards slightly and resting her chin on his shoulder. Although he tensed slightly, Maria knowing Steve didn't fully feel comfortable showing affection in public, Maria still stayed like that for a while.

"Didn't want to wake you this morning," replied Steve quietly, placing a hand on one of hers.

"It's fine," said Maria back in the same quiet voice, both Natasha and Bruce avoiding to look over at them, small smirks appearing on their lips. "But I missed you."

Steve chuckled quietly, smiling even wider as Maria pressed a soft kiss to his shoulder before standing back up, one hand brushing through his hair as she walked towards the fridge.

"I was thinking of joining Clint downstairs in training," said Maria, taking out the milk and pouring some of it into a small bowl.

"Clint's training?" asked Natasha. "I thought he was helping Tony with the preparations for the party tomorrow?"

"Yeah, he was," chuckled Maria. "Anyway, anyone care to join?"

"I have some things I need to take care of," said Steve. "But I'll come down later."

"I don't really train," said Bruce awkwardly. "Besides, I have some packages I need to get from the post office. The new Erlenmeyer flasks I ordered have arrived. Tony broke the ones we had."

"All of them?" asked Steve with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah…" said Bruce quietly.

"I'll come with you," said Natasha, earning a glance from Maria who sat down next to Steve with her bowl of cereal and fruit.

"Oh, o-okay," replied Bruce, Natasha simply continuing to eat her sandwich, not paying attention to the awkward look Bruce gave her and the smirks Steve and Maria gave.

With a booming laughter echoing through the hallways, Thor stood up on his feet, smiling widely at Maria who bent over slightly to catch her breath.

"Why, you beat me again, my lady," said Thor, earning a glare from Maria.

As Thor approached her, she quickly placed her hands on his chest and pushed him as hard as she could, earning little to no reaction from Thor; proving to Maria what she had been suspecting.

"You're holding back on me! Letting mew in," exclaimed Maria, Steve and Clint both glancing back at her after her outburst before continuing with their individual training. "That's not fair."

"Why, if I do not, we could go on all day," said Thor innocently, shrugging his shoulders slightly.

"What do you mean?" asked Maria, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You are a strong lady, Maria, and you obviously can handle my attacks well if I do not hold back," he said. "We would be equally as strong and as the sun goes down, neither of us would have won yet."

Maria rolled her eyes slightly, smiling slightly at his comment even though she didn't believe it. "Oh no, you're going to have to do a lot better than that to apologize for holding back on me like I'm some weak girl."

Thor smiled; "Say, if I extend my visit one extra day and spend it with you, training you in all the Asgardian combat I know you can take, would you forgive me then?"

With excited eyes, Maria squeeled in delight; "I'd love that!"

"Well… I must go. I need to make a call to ask if Jane Foster will be joining our revel."

Maria smiled as Thor walked away from her. She had never met his girlfriend and it would be interesting to see what kind of women an Asgardian would be interested in. Seeing as he was a god and could probably find more godlike women on Asgard than on Earth. Well, at least he was alien. The god part was still something Maria had some troubles with.

She looked over at Steve who she only now noticed had stopped training and was intensely talking to Clint who had joined him in standing by the punching bags. For a while, Maria simply watched them talk, noticing the small look of despair on Steve's face. When Clint noticed Maria watching them, she started walking towards them, not wanting to seem creepy. It was then that Clint nodded his head at Steve, giving him a pat on the shoulder before walking off, grabbing his bow and arrow and leaving the training room too. She wondered what that was all about as she reached Steve who was preparing to leave as well.

"Oh, nothing," said Steve, shrugging simply as he unwrapped his hands from the protecting cloth he used while training. "I gave him some advice on – uh – a training schedule, that's all."

Unimpressed with his lie, Maria crossed her arms over her chest, which Steve noticed, making him sigh slightly. "You're giving the SHIELD trained agent advice on a training schedule. Yes, of course you are."

Steve glanced at her again and upon seeing the slightly distressed look on his face, Maria decided to drop it; "It's alright. You don't have to tell me."

"No," said Steve quickly as Maria looked away from him. "It's nothing, really. We were just talking about some things… Mostly, though, about how beautiful of a night it's going to be tonight."

Maria raised an eyebrow, watching him as he walked over to her, placing his now free from cloth hands on her upper arms.

"You were talking about the weather?" asked Maria amused.

"Uhuh. And I was thinking that maybe we could go on a little date tonight seeing as the weather will be so good," said Steve, his cheeks going red though he kept up the confident façade.

"Smooth," giggled Maria, moving her arms so they were wrapped around his neck.

"See, I'm not just awkward."

Much to Maria's dismay, the place Steve took her to was a beach. It was only a ten-minute car drive away from the Avenger's Tower and seeing as it was an ordinary weekday and it was rather late at night, the beach was basically empty of people.

There was nothing wrong with beaches in Maria's world. The feeling of warm sand between her toes along with the nice, warm sun on her skin was something she enjoyed dearly. However, there were two things the sand and the sun had in common; they were dry. Albeit Maria enjoyed long, warm baths or showers, the ocean was something Maria feared greatly. Not knowing what was out there scared Maria and the thought of having to swim in it caused her great distress. As long as she didn't have to go near the water, she would be fine though.

Steve grabbed her hand and walked her straight towards the water. She didn't have time to react, luckily, before Steve placed a blanket on the sand right before the ocean. If Maria stayed calm and focused on anything but the nearby ocean, she would be fine and not ruin the romantic evening Steve had planned.

He sat down, patting the spot next to him as he looked up at her, clearly not noticing the plain distress on her face. Why, you ask? Well, he was feeling the exact same distress inside. Though his distress wasn't directed to the ocean. His was directed to the velvet box in his pocket.

Clint had come over to him during the training session and told him that he still didn't see a ring on Maria's finger. Reluctantly, Steve had been forced to tell the archer about the flopped proposal the night before to which Clint had pouted and replied; "You gotta try again. Look, there's a beach not far away from here. Not a lot of people go there during the weekdays and seeing as the weather forecast says that it'll be a beautiful evening, you gotta take a shot at it tonight. It'll be perfect, romantic scenery with the dark ocean making calming noises in the background, the still present full moon shining down on you two lovebirds and only you there to hug her when the night gets a little chilly."

He hadn't been wrong. All the things were there; The romantic scenery, the full moon shining down over the ocean and making the ocean shimmer at them, and Maria had already started to show signs of being cold. Not that it was something Steve wanted Maria to be, but he knew Maria adored wearing his clothing and seeing as he was the only one who brought a jacket, that was going to happen soon.

He let out a breath, looking over at the ocean as he leaned back on the blanket, propping his body up on his elbows while Maria stayed seated upright, her legs curled underneath of her.

"You look, uh, beautiful tonight," stuttered Steve, making Maria look over at him, a smile spreading over her face.

"Thank you," said Maria before she let out a sigh, looking back over at the ocean.

With a frown on his face, he asked; "Something wrong?" to which she only shook her head.

"Thor and I trained a lot today," lied Maria easily, seeing as it wasn't a complete lie. "I'm just tired, that's all."

"We don't have to stay long-"

"No, I – I like it here," said Maria, nodding her head as to try and convince herself. "Besides, it's finally just the two of us. No Tony, no Thor; just us."

The velvet black box in Steve's pocket started to burn again, the nervous state it sent him into causing the tips of Steve's ears to turn pink. Flustered, Steve shifted to sit closer to Maria who automatically leaned into Steve's side as he placed his arm around her. The feeling was amazing, having such a close bond with someone he loved that it was something natural to be physically close to that person. He never truly did experience that before he became a Super Soldier. He remembered Bucky having quite a lot of girlfriends, meaning he at least got to experience it. However, none of them looked at Bucky the way Maria looked at Steve. There was a different sort of admiration in Maria's eyes directed towards him than Bucky's girls had had towards Steve's friend. Their love hadn't originated from a mutual physical attraction either, not entirely anyway. Their love had come from helping each other through tough times, even though Maria had done most of the job there seeing as Maria was hard to crack at times.

He placed his free hand on Maria's arm, feeling the soft skin underneath of his fingers and smiling as she shivered slightly under his touch.

"Should've brought a jacket," mumbled Maria, letting out a sigh, leaning her head against Steve's shoulder.

"Here," said Steve quietly, moving ever so gently while he removed his leather jacket and wrapped it around Maria before the pair returned to their former position.

Maria suddenly chuckled, making Steve look down at her; "What?" he asked amused.

"I just remembered our first date," said Maria.

"And it made you laugh?"

"Well, it was rather funny. I mean, we never really did say it was a date but by the end of it, we were holding hands and already speaking of our next date like we'd never been just friends," she said. "I still remember how you blushed whenever I would come close to you."

"You are a beautiful woman," said Steve, earning a blush this time from Maria. "Any man with common sense would get nervous being around you."

"Then you're the only man out there who has common sense," chuckled Maria.

"Maybe," replied Steve. "Or they just don't understand what beauty is. After all, it's not just looks. It's the way you are too. What makes you the most beautiful and astonishing woman on Earth isn't just your soft hair or kissable lips. ("Hello, Shakespeare," Maria jokingly said before Steve continued.) It's also your personality. The quirky little things you sometimes do or the wise things you say. The way your eyes light up whenever they see someone you love or feel comfortable around, even if your sad or scared. Everything combined, all of you, is what makes you beautiful."

"Oh, Steve," replied Maria, straightening up slightly before she shifted so that she was facing him. "What did I do to get you?"

"You listened," said Steve, grabbing her hands before placing them against his heart. "The first person in this new, scary world, who listened to me, cared for me and helped me. That's what you did. Now, the actual question should be, what did I do to get you?"

"Everything, Steve," said Maria, leaning forwards, propping herself up on her knees and leaning her forehead against his. "You did everything. You showed to me what someone close to you is supposed to give you. You showed to me that love can be a wonderful thing if shared with the right person. You showed me love. Actual, pure, love. That's what you did to get me."

"No," replied Steve quietly, placing his hands on Maria's upper arms, breathing in her perfume once before smiling. "Well, maybe I did. But I can tell you, that compared to everything you've done for me. It hasn't been enough. So, I want to give you more. More than I can currently give you."

"How?" asked Maria, furrowing her brow slightly as Steve moved away slightly from her.

"By devoting every single minute of my day to you," said Steve. "By becoming your second half."

"Steve-"

The black velvet box was taken out from Steve's pocket, resting neatly in his trembling hands. It looked so delicate, so scary and so peaceful as it lay there, waiting to be opened; waiting to become the start of a new, giant leap in their relationship.

"Oh my God…" said Maria, placing her hands over her mouth as she stared at the little box.

"I would be the luckiest man in the world if you would become my second half. My wife," said Steve, opening the velvet box and smiling nervously at the tears that appeared in Maria's eyes. "So that I can make you the happiest person in the world, just like you've made me. Maria, will you marry me?"

.

.

.

"Yes!"

Jeez... had to re-write this like a thousand times seeing as Steve kept being out of character. I think he still is... But at least not as bad as at first :P

Yay! They're engaged! How do you think their wedding is going to go? What will it be like? Let me know! I have a good idea for it which I think will be quite amazing and a little different from every other fanfic out there (hopefully). Won't happen for a while though, but it WILL happen!