Revamped!


Chapter 39: With this Ring

SHIELD Recovery Room - 9:29 AM

All is silent in a white hospital room. The subtle noises breaking the peace are the few beeps of the heart rate monitors, the soft breeze coming in from an open window, the tapping of a pen against a clipboard, and the soft breathing of Emily Stark. The first thought that pops in her mind is to about the one pillow she has being too flat - though she's too tired to do anything about that. Moving on from her pillow, she nestles in the white bed sheets before opening her eyes. She looks around her, not knowing exactly where she is. She wets her parched and chapped lips with her tongue and cranes her neck to look around only too see medical equipment, surgical toys, IVs, needles - Emily realizes that she's attached to one of the machines and immediately tenses, causing the machine to beep erratically.

Her eyes turn to a young man with his back facing her. He turns around, hearing her distress, and drops the clipboard in his hands to rush to her. He puts his hands on her shoulders, muttering softly at her to calm down.

Emily freezes but then forces her muscles to relax. The machine dims down once she does. Her fear turns into a weak smile at the sudden joy she's receiving from the man holding her. She tries to sit up but feels the pain stab her so she stops moving. Emily looks up and has never been happier to see Daniel Banner in her life.

"You were so exhausted and dehydrated that your body just shut down," Daniel tells her softly.

"Could've been useful so AIM would've thought I was dead."

"Emily."

"I haven't slept since Prague because Xavier called me about starting, I was jet-lagged, and then Technovore came out of nowhere," Emily responds, raising a stressed hand to her forehead. "I've been living off of espresso shots and now I feel like I've been run over by a bus and run over by a stampede of elephants. On another note, the sheets are cold without you in them with me."

Daniel grins. "I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you too but I didn't want you to see me like this," Emily jokes, pulling the bed sheets up to her nose to cover all but her eyes. "I bet I look dead."

Daniel snickers, taking a seat on the edge of her bed. He takes a breath before looking at her again. Emily lowers the bed sheets, sensing something wrong with him no matter how much she doesn't want to. She reaches for his hand and grasps it tightly. He immediately places both his hands on her, bringing them up to his chest.

"Are you okay?" Daniel asks.

Emily is surprised that he's asking her that question. Then, she realizes this all makes sense. He looks distressed because he can sense that she is.

"Yeah…" Emily replies. Daniel keeps his eyes on her and she sighs. "Not really. The people we became are unsettling and I've only seen a glimpse of it."

"How so?"

Emily hasn't started her answer yet she already has tears in her eyes.

"No, no," Daniel says softly, cupping her face in his hands. "Don't cry, Emily, you're too beautiful to ruin your makeup - although you're not wearing any which is a look I love."

Emily can't help but grin at that, though it's only a bittersweet grimace.

"Everyone in this kind of life grows up fast," Emily starts. "A couple of years ago, we had so much free time and our only problem was what to do on the weekend. Now, we're entrusted with high levels of tech, we have enemies who will actually kill us, and others not only put their trust in our hands but their lives. If we screw up, the penalty is a lot more serious than getting caught breaking curfew. Sure, there's too much training and protocols and everyone can't finish a sentence without cursing; but in that way, we're forced to learn the most valuable lesson in life which is something our parents never directly mentioned to us when they were The Avengers – how to live up to our responsibilities and not be a failure."

Daniel would be lying if he said that he disagreed with what she said. Their lives have changed a lot since high school and nothing will be the same for them again. He and Emily have degrees, Ph.D.'s and they still have no idea what they're doing. Although Emily didn't attend SHIELD Academy with him and the others, she has still been affected by it all. Emily looks at him with the tears now falling down her cheeks.

"It's no hyperbole when people say that lives are at stake," Daniel responds slowly. "One wrong decision, even by the slimmest detail, and all your loved ones will die. But that's the reason why we're fighting. All in all when you lose all your hope, you remember that you're not doing this for yourself, but for each other. You fight for your people, your friends, your family to keep them all alive, and they fight for you so that you can return home with them. Even without our pasts and the legacy we're supposed to live up to, we still have that feeling. Everything from SHIELD to The Avengers Initiative to Project: New Generation and even to whoever takes over in the future was and will be built on that simple promise."

Emily doesn't reply with words but with a hug that takes him by surprise. With his arms wrapped around her and her head resting on his shoulders, there is suddenly no pain in her body. They hold each other tightly. It's the first hug they've shared in such a long time but it felt as if no time has passed at all.

"We didn't ask for this life and, although it's fucking terrifying, I'm glad we have it," Emily says.

"So do I," Daniel responds.

"I'm not cut out for it, though."

"You know I didn't do my field-test."

"How have you made it this far?"

"I've wondered the same about you."

"Sleeping pills I haven't been taking, as you noticed."

He parts from her. "I need to ask you something important." She looks at him, waiting for his question. "Do you still want to get married?"

Emily looks at him with no recognizable expression on her face as she fully parts from him. She looks down at the engagement ring on her finger and doesn't hesitate to slide it off. Emily holds the ring in front of her face and squints one eye so she can see his face through the small piece of jewelry. Emily sees his face break apart with his mind racing about the possibility of breaking off the engagement – but she loves him with all her heart so why would she do such a thing?

"I needed this ring," Emily tells him honestly, keeping the ring where it was and still looking through it as though it were a monocle. "I needed it with Technovore more than ever. Whenever I was worried or scared for my life, I would look down and see this beautiful ring on my finger. It was a symbol telling me that I will be okay. It helped me to be brave during Technavore and now that I will be staying with you and the others, we're all going to need this."

Emily slips the ring back on her finger and looks at Daniel. The corner of his mouth lifts a little from relief and Emily grins.

"I will be your wife, Daniel," Emily reassures. "I already told you yes all those years ago."

"I remember, future Dr. Stark-Banner."

Emily gasps. "You remember I wanted a hyphenated name!"

He laughs a little as he pulls her into a kiss.


[All the Emily and Daniel shippers can rejoice!] [2020: *is writing chapters way later in the story, still rejoices*]