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 31~
Return of Maria Dalton

"Unbelievable."

"I knew it. Didn't I say I did? Well, I did."

"Lady Maria! I never doubted your strength but this… well, I suppose what they say is true, strong warriors always come back from the battle, one way or another."

Maria forced a smile onto her lips as Thor harshly, though not on purpose, clasped his hand onto her shoulder painfully hard, with a broad and bright smile on his face. The smile could brighten anyone's day as it filled his eyes with happiness that was almost infectious. Though it did not brighten Maria's day. Instead, she walked over to the open fire the Avengers had all been gathered around when she and Steve arrived, sitting down in front of it and wrapping the blanket Steve had wrapped around her, more tightly.

"How…?" asked Clint speechlessly.

Steve walked over to Maria, crouching down next to her and putting a second blanket over her to which she smiled gently.

"I don't know," replied Maria, her heart warming up slightly at the feeling of Steve rubbing her arms and shoulders gently to warm her up more effectively. "I mean… one minute I was in the water and the other I was on the floor in Steve's arms," she lied.

"Remarkable," said Vision.

"I suppose this is what I'll have to get used to now? People coming back from the dead?" asked Sam, crossing his arms over his chest with a broad smile on his face. "Good to have you back, M."

Maria nodded her head, forcing another smile onto her lips.

"Perhaps a little bit of a space for our undead teammate, hm?" ordered Natasha as her eyes lingered a little longer than usually on Maria's, seeing something in them that made her shuffle the Avengers out of the room, leaving Thor, Steve and Tony with Maria.

Steve sat down in a near-by sofa while Tony and Thor stayed put where they were, all three looking at Maria who turned her head to stare into the fire. After a while, Maria shifted slightly so she could bring her hands towards the fire, warming her cold fingers up.

"I did not lie earlier," said Thor, breaking the silence which caused Steve and Tony to look over at him. "In my time I have seen many brave warriors go to battle in which they were believed to have perished only for them to then return to Asgard weeks or years later."

"I'm no brave warrior…" mumbled Maria, shakenly moving her fingers as they finally began to warm up again. Steve had forbidden Maria to warm up quickly after she had woken up, having said something about her dying again if she warmed up too fast and so her fingers were stiff to move as was her entire body.

"'Course you are," corrected Steve, Maria still not looking away from the fire. "The New Avengers look up to you."

"What, even Wanda?" spat Maria, her eyes narrowing slightly.

Though the angry demeanor soon vanished as she realized how she was acting and what she was feeling, causing her to let her hands fall down to her lap, her shoulders sagging.

"Sorry…" she mumbled. "It's just weird."

"Obviously," stated Tony. "You died. I scanned your body, Dalton, your heart had stopped."

"I know…" mumbled Maria. "I know it all."

"What do you mean?" asked Steve.

"I felt it all," said Maria. "It was so… weird. Like I was pushed out of my body… I watched as Thor put me down on that beach and I tried to heal, I truly did, but my body wouldn't let me. And then I saw everyone come to the beach, grieving me while I was actually not gone…" She shivered, pulling the blankets around her a bit more closely. "It wasn't until the agents, or whatever we should call them now, came to carry me away that I saw why I wasn't healing. When they lifted me, water dribbled out of my mouth, clearing away from my lungs. Not until then did I feel those weird tingles I usually feel when I'm healing."

"You mean the water in your lungs kept you from healing?" asked Tony, cocking his head to the side as he stroked his goatee, seemingly deep in thought.

Maria turned around then, still sitting down and beginning to warm her back.

"I think my cells can't do what they do when things are in the way of the process," pondered Maria.

"Sounds reasonable," agreed Tony, nodding his head.

"I've had some time to think about it," said Maria.

"You were outside of your body when they put your body on ice?" asked Steve.

"Yes…" breathed Maria, looking down at the floor. "I could feel that my body was close to being done with healing but the coldness, it slowed everything down, making it almost come to a stop at one point. And I felt it, the biting cold, the rough hands taking care of everything… I thought I was never going to get back together again, that I would have to be alone for the rest of my life, living outside of my body next to a gravestone, waiting for someone to come visit me…"

"It's okay," said Steve, shifting so he was seated on the edge of the sofa, close to Maria. "You're here now."

"Yes… Now," she said quietly.

"Either way, it's good to have you back, Dalton," said Tony. "Steve needs some help with the new recruits."

A lump formed in Maria's throat, making her only response to be a nod of the head and a forced smile. During her time as 'dead', Maria had gone through some emotions she thought she would never be able to go through. Dark emotions that made her wish for the sweet everlasting death that she knew existed out there for those who were normal. Her mind visited dark places she thought had not existed and therefore, she did not feel ready to return. In fact, she doubted whether she even wanted to continue being an Avenger at all. She could 'die' again if she continued on being an Avenger and she was afraid of this. Not to mention that the dark places her mind had gone through had not left her unscarred. She felt empty and not prepared at all to continue working.

Tony left the room, leaving Thor and Steve staring at Maria.

"That is," said Steve after a little while. "If you're ready to return. I know what it feels like to be put on ice… I know what it feels like to return from something like that."

"But you returned 70 years after the incident," said Maria, looking over at Steve. "I can't even imagine what it must've been like…"

"You helped me though," responded Steve warmheartedly. "A lot."

"Aye, and the Avengers will be here to help you adjust again," added Thor.

"You're staying?" asked Maria hopefully.

Thor's smile faded slightly, his eyes flickering down to the floor.

"I'm afraid not," he admitted solemnly. "I am needed in Asgard. The infinity stones… I need to gather more information about them."

"Ah, right," said Maria. "It's okay. We'll have our training session when you return then."

"I had not forgotten about that," boomed Thor, pointing a finger at Maria. "And I promise you we will train when I return to Midgard again."

"I'll hold you to your promise," beamed Maria.

"When are you leaving?" asked Steve.

"Heimdall knows I wanted to leave after the funeral," said Thor, Maria looking away at the word. "And I will still leave tomorrow at midday."

"It's weird that it's all over… It is all over, right?" asked Maria, looking between Thor and Steve who both chuckled at her panicky look.

"Of course. Ultron is gone. Vision made sure that every bit of him was destroyed before we left Sokovia," said Steve with a nod of his head.

Letting out a breath of air, Maria relaxed slightly. At least she did not have to worry about that anymore. Ultron was gone and the world was safe from him. The only thing that was still bothering Maria was the inkling feeling of fear in the back of her mind.

"If you'll excuse me," said Thor, nodding his head at Steve and Maria before walking towards the door leading out of the living room. Before he left, however, he turned around one more time. "I am truly glad you are back, lady Maria."

A silence was left hanging after Thor had left the room. The prickling feeling of fear dwelling in the back of her mind was starting to annoy her. She had never feared death before, then again, she had never had to experience being dead. On the other hand, she never truly was dead. Perhaps for a few minutes, but once the water had managed to leave her lungs, she had started to heal and feel again. The only thing that still bothered her was the out of body experience that she had had. Would death always be like that? Would she never be able to rest after she had been killed or was this just temporarily because her body somehow knew that it could still heal?

With the questions flooding through her mind, she barely noticed as Steve shifted to come and sit beside her on the floor, his back also turned towards the fire. He watched her for a while in silence, quietly reading the emotions that were coming off of Maria's face.

"During the battle…" started Steve, causing Maria's eyes to snap over to his face.

Something changed inside of her as she looked at Steve. It had happened ever since the moment the two of them had left Matt's apartment to go back to the new Avenger's HQ. It was a strange feeling that made her entire mind turn around; away from the fear she felt and towards the emptiness inside of her she knew he had left behind.

It was a nostalgic feeling she felt when she looked at him because being that close to him; being in a room alone with him, was something that had not happened since the awful fight the two of them had had. And she had missed being close to him, being able to take in his handsome features and beautiful eyes. She had missed it so much, especially during the time she had spent outside of her body, waiting for company down there in the cooling room.

"You said something that… inclined that you were unsure of whether you still 'have me'," continued Steve, his voice low and silent, rumbling through the loud room with only the silent crackling of the fire being heard in the background. "I never got to tell you that you do. You never lost me. I was and still am just scared that I can't make you happy."

"Steve…" sputtered Maria, her heart beginning to beat quicker.

"I never got to tell you the actual truth," continued Steve, looking down at his hands. "I never got to tell you, before you left us, that I don't want that anymore. I want to try. I know I might not make you happy, but I know that I will live every day only to fight for your happiness. Maria, these past days… I don't know if I could've continued on without you."

"Of course you could've," confided Maria. "You're Captain freaking America. You are as strong as this nation's people are together. I never doubted that you couldn't do this on your own. Now, that wasn't why I died, of course… But I know that that was something I was thinking when I was… there, outside of my body. It calmed me down knowing that you were okay-"

"But I wasn't," stated Steve, turning towards Maria so that one part of his face was illuminated by the orange light of the fire, while the other one was left in shadows. For a brief moment, Maria's mind could only focus on her favorite movie 'the Dark Knight' and the villain Two-Face that Steve reminded her off when the light was cast on him like that. But she soon managed to push that thought aside at the sparkle she saw in his eyes. The sparkle she so often had seen before when they had been together. "I wasn't okay. I was far from okay. Ask anyone here and they'll tell you that. I don't think I can live without you."

"Don't say that," mumbled Maria quietly, turning to face him as well as angst began to sip into her heart. "Please don't. This team needs you and… After everything I've been through… I might decide to throw in the towel."

At the look of devastation that was on Steve's face, Maria quickly stuttered; "But not forever," even though she did not quite mean it. In her current state, she was afraid of having to go through that experience again. She had never been more alone, more isolated, than she had been during the past week and it scared her that saving the world might force her into that position again. Leaving the Avengers was the way to go when it came to making sure that fear would go away. Besides, the team could survive without her. She was not needed in the same way as Tony, Bruce, Steve or Nat, for example. She was just sort of there, always adding more villains to the story due to her past and adding heartbreak and disappointment to the one she loved the most. In her mind, she was no real hero like Steve and she could not even be a real future wife as she could not have children. What was the point of her staying then?

"Don't-"

"Steve, please," pledged Maria. "The solitude I've been through and the fear… I just don't want to go through that again."

"I understand, you're scared you're gonna die," began Steve, though Maria interrupted him, suddenly becoming slightly upset for some reason.

"Yeah, I am. Because that's not what death is supposed to be," she said, furrowing her brow together. "Death's supposed to be peaceful and an ending to it all. I saw my granny before I died. I was gonna leave with her. But instead I ended up watching myself, not being able to leave my body's side and staying in a cold room for a week without anyone to talk to, anyone to ask for help. So, yeah, I'm scared. Because I don't want that to happen again."

"Maria, if it ever happens again, none of us is going to allow you to be carried away again," stressed Steve. "This happened because you've never died before, obviously. You healed and somehow your mind played you a trick to show to you an out of the body experience."

"You don't believe my story, do you?" asked Maria quietly.

"I… It sounds rather improbable," he began before looking down at his hands. "But… Something odd happened while you were away."

"What?" asked Maria, calming down slightly as curiosity took over instead.

"I dreamed that you came back to life. But before you did, someone… someone I had never met before was talking to me and it all felt so real and so… strange," said Steve.

"You dreamed about me coming back? You knew I was gonna come back that day?"

"I didn't know," confessed Steve, shaking his head. "But the dream gave me hope. And now you're here, just like my dream said."

"Who spoke to you before I woke up in your dream? Please, Steve, it's important to me."

"Um… A man in a wheelchair. I think he called himself a professor," began Steve.

"Professor Xavier?" stressed Maria.

"Um, yeah. Do you know him?"

"Yeah… And he visited me two days ago."

Sorry about the lack of frequent updates, I've been working on NaNoWrMo and it's just taken up a lot of my time.