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 30~
Surprise?
Steve's heart beat fast as he stood outside of the funeral home of Hell's Kitchen, the same chilly breeze he had felt in his dream softly slapping against Steve's face. He was waiting for Matt anxiously. Not understanding why everything was so alike his dream.
As in his dream, Maria's phone was tucked inside of his pocket, resting neatly next to the ring. Though he wasn't touching the ring that lay peacefully next to the phone. He didn't dare come close to it after the dream. He had experienced strange supernatural things before during the War though there was something bone-chilling about the realness of the dream. Something about it made him restless, restless to get inside to Maria as if something, or someone, was pulling him inside; crying for him to help them.
A black cab stopped in front of Steve, making him tense up slightly as once again, the cab looked and stopped just like it had in his dream. Though the real Matt looked different than he had in Steve's dream. He wore similar clothes and similar red, dark glasses to cover his eyes. However, Matt didn't stumble out of the cab as he had done in Steve's dream. Instead, he exited the cab with confidence, the walking stick he had in his hands resting in his hand though not being used.
The cab drove off the moment Matt had closed the door and he turned his head to look behind the cab, seeming to raise an eyebrow at the cab which peeked Steve's interest slightly.
"Cab drivers can be quite rude," said Matt as he walked over to Steve, the stick in his hands barely being used.
"Mr Murdock?" asked Steve.
"Yes," said Matt, shaking Steve's hand with ease, again causing Steve to raise an eyebrow. He didn't act like any blind man Steve had ever met before.
"Nice weather we have today, huh?" asked Matt, looking up at the sky. Steve said nothing, unsure of what was happening for a moment before Matt looked back over at Steve. "I'm kidding. I can't see the difference anymore. But it's cold."
A short silence dawned over the two, only the sound of the cars passing them by being heard along with the swooshing of the wind.
"Uh, yeah," replied Steve simply before clearing his throat. "About your plan-"
"It's gonna work," said Matt confidently, beginning to walk over to the front door of the funeral bureau, knocking on the locked door right underneath the sign telling them both that it was closed.
"I have no doubt about it," thought Steve to himself, watching Matt walk over to the front door of the funeral home. "You sound very sure of yourself?" asked Steve, following Matt.
"I've done this sorta thing before. With Maria actually," said Matt, the sound of her name coming from his lips creating pain in Steve's chest again.
"Why does that not surprise me?" asked Steve lightly, earning a smirk from Matt.
The door opened, revealing Mr. Slipper again. As usual, the white mustache on his face made such a contrast that Steve, as always, at first glance thought it was simply the leftovers from a very creamy pastry he had eaten just seconds before opening the door and the deja-vu of it all simply made it all even weirder.
"What do ya want?" asked the red-faced man, glaring at Matt before his eyes looked over at Steve. "Oh, not you lo' again. Look, I said it before and I say it again! This ain't a place for mourning!"
"No, of course not Mr. Slipper," said Matt, as sarcastically as he had done in Steve's dream. "But unfortunately, there seems to be a mistake in the official documents of the government and apparently, they missed noting that someone's identified the body."
"What do you mean? They've been runnin' back and forth 'ere all week! Had to throw 'em out so I could work on preparin' the body!" exclaimed the man, obviously irritated. "Besides, we're closed."
"I know," continued Matt before the man could close the door. "And I'm sorry to intrude, but the government has specifically asked me to accompany the one man who can identify Miss Dalton once and for all so that I can note that it's happened."
"And who are ya supposed to be? A lawyer?" asked the man sarcastically, obviously not keen on letting them inside.
"That's exactly what he is," said Steve before Matt could respond, remembering what Matt had responded with in Steve's dream and reciting it with the same light yet firm tone Matt had used. "And unless you move aside, he will, on behalf of the government, sue you on a lot of money."
"Sue me?" exclaimed the man. "A lot of money?"
"Yes, Mr. Slipper, now what will it be? A debt to the government which would probably mean you lose your astounded business here, or you take a step aside and let us in?"
The man looked between Steve and Matt a couple of minutes, seeming to try and determine why neither of them were faltering and telling him it was all a bad joke. Though as no one did so, and neither of their serious faces changed, the man's eyes soon filled with panic.
"Alright, alright," breathed the man, stepping aside and opening the door further to allow them entrance. "Don't got enough money to stand me ground… Pitiful really."
As it happened in his dream, Mr. Slipper allowed Steve and Matt to go inside. Walking a little way behind the man, Matt suddenly, which didn't happen in the dream, leaned over to Steve.
"Told you the plan would work," he said quietly.
Steve looked over at him, simply nodding his head as he was not sure of what to respond with. Surely he could have told Matt that he had been confident in the plan, though it would start the conversation of why he had changed his mind about the plan, which in turn would raise the topic of Steve's dream. And Steve was sure that, even though Matt was a little bit of a hero himself, he was not accustomed to dreams such as the one Steve had about Maria. Besides, what was he supposed to say anyway? That he had dreamt about it and it was all so real that Steve somehow knew that it would work?
The man led the two of them down the stairs and into the cooling room just like in the dream and just like all the former visits. Slowly, Mr. Slipper walked all the way to the second last row before opening one of the metal hatches and slowly, carefully, pulling out the metal cot Maria's lifeless body was laying on.
Steve noticed Matt's breath hitch slightly as Maria's body was revealed to him. Though he didn't see why seeing as Matt was still blind. Then again, he was barely using his stick and underneath of those glasses, Steve highly doubted he was truly blind the way Matt sometimes turned his head in the exact right position to look at certain things no blind man would want to turn their heads for.
"Thank you, Mr Slipper," said Matt. "You can leave us now."
"Leave?"
"Yes, leave. We have some things to take care of here. It'll take no longer then ten minutes," said Matt curtly.
"Yeah, right," muttered Slipper as he turned and walked away from them towards the door. "That's what they all said…"
"Rude man," commented Matt as the door closed behind Slipper.
"I agree," said Steve before their attention was turned to Maria.
She looked exactly the same as in the dream. Her face was just as pale as it had been at the beach, the same dark rings around her eyes and the same purple color on her lips. Nothing had changed either from what he remembered of his previous visits. Her cheeks had not sunken in, her face didn't look less beautiful…
Matt gently placed a hand on Maria's hair, softly brushing his fingers through it. There was something about the way he looked down at her, the gentle way he talked, that boiled Steve's inside with anger. Of course, Steve understood that this was Maria's body and Matt probably wanted to show some respect. But one did not act like such around a body, not according to Steve.
Matt leaned down to her ear and whispered something. Only because of Steve's advanced hearing given to him by the super serum was he able to hear what he was saying. Matt's words made him look away from Maria and Matt shortly, turning around.
"I should've told you earlier about my feelings…"
Realization dawned on Steve then, making his anger dissipate slightly, that things were not going as in his dreams anymore. The Professor was not appearing and as Steve turned around, Matt was still there albeit he had straightened up and was simply looking down at Maria by now.
A strange emptiness entered Steve's heart. A part of him had probably actually hoped that a miracle would happen and that Maria would sit up again with that beautiful smile of hers that he missed so dearly. Though she did not.
"Alright," said Matt, nodding his head and looking over at Steve. "The funeral's tomorrow, right? We should let Mr. Slipper do his job then."
As Matt passed Steve by, the emptiness inside of Steve turned into a strange panicky state. The same one that you get whenever you realize that you have forgotten something at home; maybe not turned the stove off or forgot to lock the front door. However, Steve knew that his panic did not come from him forgetting something. In fact, Steve hardly could forget anything. Though what it was that was causing him to feel like that was something Steve could not figure out. A part of his unconscious mind knew it though and it was trying to tell Steve the answer.
"Wait," said Steve without meaning to, causing Matt's footsteps to stop.
"What?" asked Matt, his voice softly echoing in the room.
The sound of the ventilation in the room was softly drumming in Steve's eardrums. Though there was something else. Another sound.
"Mr. Rogers?" asked Matt, confused.
Steve stared over at Maria. The noise sounded like something breathing very, very deeply or with a lot of struggle. As though a thick fluid was making it hard for whoever was trying to breathe.
"Do you hear that?" asked Steve quietly, walking over to Maria's lifeless body.
"Hear what?" asked Matt.
Suddenly, Steve saw it. The thing his unconscious mind had noticed, the thing his eyes had noticed though he himself had not consciously thought about.
Maria's chest was slowly moving up and down.
Letting out some sort of noise of surprise, which probably surprised Matt slightly, Steve ran up to Maria's body, grabbed her underneath of her shoulders and lifted her up and away from the cold metal cot she was laying on. Matt stood there, speechless, as Steve gently lay Maria down on the floor, wrapping her up in his own jacket and holding her upper body in his arms.
"She's breathing…" he exclaimed, looking over at Matt who, without questioning what Steve had just said, ran over to them and placed a finger against Maria's neck, checking her pulse.
"Holy…" breathed Matt as he removed his fingers, looking up at Steve who stared at Matt with wide eyes, still cradling Maria's body in his arms.
A light cough was heard suddenly and then the weak voice of Maria resonated in the cooling room.
"Steve?"