The wedding
We flew to the site in two quinjets, arriving so that it was late afternoon by the time we went to pick up the wedding license. It went off without a hitch; the clerk's eyes were huge when he recognized Steve, but he was discreet--at least while we were there. On the way to the site, I asked him one last time. "Are you ready for this? Because this is for the rest of our lives." He took his eyes off the road just long enough to smile at me.
"I feel like I've been waiting for this my whole life. I've never been more ready for anything."
At the site, we separated to different parts of the house to get ready. Clint swooped in to do my make up, and a very artful job he did. Then he retreated as I got dressed and Natasha did my hair. I put in my earrings, got approval from Clint and my bridal party, then Clint hopped out the window, slid down the shingles to the edge of the roof, dropped to the ground, and strolled off to take his seat with his family. I laughed as Natasha efficiently put the screen back in the window, Con blotted my face, and I picked up my bouquet, a simple thing with white and watercolor blue flowers. We went downstairs, Wanda holding the slight train for me, then they arranged everything before leaving me to walk down the aisle. I followed them and had the very distinct pleasure of seeing Steve waiting for me at the end, looking handsome and nervous in a dark gray suit with blue silk tie. His face lit up when he saw me, and Bucky muttered something to him that made him grin. When I got to the end of the aisle, he put out his hand. I took it and handed Natasha my flowers.
Tony smirked at us. I ran through my checklist. I'd seen the paperwork that allowed him to officiate, so there wouldn't be a question about the legality of it all. He'd promised to keep it pretty clean; Clint and Laura's kids were here in addition to Peter. What else? Well, there was nothing I could do about it now. Sigurd and Torburn, off to the side at the front and wearing new collars for the occasion, woofed.
"I'd like to welcome everybody to Emma and Steve's wedding," he began, like he was the ringmaster and this his personal circus. Well, maybe. "You're their nearest and dearest, and the day wouldn't be complete without you here to celebrate with us.
"I've known Rogers since he was thawed, Emma more recently. But I can honestly say that my life has not been the same since Cap came out of the ice. I've suffered through an alien invasion, an encounter with a homicidal AI that I might have been responsible for, a period of estrangement over principles, and ultimately we got the band back together again. That's all pretty much public record. Since I've met Emma, she has turned my life upside down just as thoroughly, although in a more private and irritating way. Since many of those incidents ended up in shouting or me with inappropriate facial hair, I'm going to just gloss over that and state that she is always challenging me and encouraging me. Both of them have pushed me to be a better person, which is occasionally an enormous pain in the ass, but overall, I'm grateful that they care enough to try.
"When Steve met Emma, he was apparently caught in a booby trap and dangling from a tree. Although I wasn't there to see it, it's an image that I treasure. He was kind of responsible for getting her kicked out of two different countries, so you have to kind of wonder why she kept coming back for more, but I think we're all grateful for her possible brain damage. In ways both large and small, she's become indispensable to all of us, not just Steve. She's the heart of our group and she's made it her mission to bring out the best in all of us as well as providing us with us with the metal goods literally of our dreams. Cap is our moral compass. There are a lot of reasons why he's a legend, but his unfailing dedication to doing the right thing and helping others sets a powerful example that you can't help but want to live up to.
"You might think that the two of them together would be rather unbearably sanctimonious, but together, they're even more powerful than they are separate. She tells it like she sees it, but her heart is kind and she always gives a spoonful of sugar with the medicine. She will give you everything she has to those in need. Forget the shirt off her back, she'd give you years of life. She makes him laugh and gives him something to look forward to and a home. He doesn't talk as much, but his dedication and devotion are as much a part of him as his shield, which is not just a defensive weapon but a life philosophy. He gives her understanding, an unbreakable shelter, and a life companion as steadfast as she is. It's been...awe-inspiring to see their love grow.
"His first proposal was incredibly poorly timed and about as unromantic as you could possibly imagine, but we're all glad he upped his game the second time around. A marriage is a solemn business. It's the building of a life together, a significant achievement. The twining together of two lives to make one that is mutually supportive and nurturing, a thing of beauty.
"This is what I saw in Rogers when he started to fall in love with Emma.
"Looking For Your Face", by Rumi
"From the beginning of my life I have been looking for your face, but today I have seen it. Today I have seen the charm, the beauty, the unfathomable grace of the face that I was looking for. Today I have found you, and those who laughed and scorned me yesterday are sorry that they were not looking as I did. I am bewildered by the magnificence of your beauty, and wish to see you with a hundred eyes. My heart has burned with passion and has searched forever for this wondrous beauty that I now behold. I am ashamed to call this love human, and afraid of God to call it divine. Your fragrant breath, like the morning breeze, has come to the stillness of the garden. You have breathed new life into me. I have become your sunshine, and also your shadow. My soul is screaming in ecstasy. Every fiber of my being is in love with you. Your effulgence has lit a fire in my heart, and you have made radiant for me the earth and sky. My arrow of love has arrived at the target. I am in the house of mercy, and my heart is a place of prayer."
"And love has softened our Emma. Someone has seen not just her ferocious intellect but the shyer compassion and faith and bravery and heart.
"I Love You", by Roy Croft
"I love you, not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you, not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me. I love you, for the part of me that you bring out. I love you, for putting your hand into my heaped-up heart, and passing over all the foolish, weak things that you can't help dimly seeing there, and for drawing out, into the light, all the beautiful belongings that no one else had looked quite far enough to find. I love you, because you are helping me to make of the lumber of my life, not a tavern, but a temple. Out of the works of my every day, not a reproach, but a song. I love you, because you have done more than any creed could have done to make me good, and more than any fate could have done to make me happy. You have done it without a touch, without a word, without a sign. You have done it by being yourself. Perhaps that is what being a friend means, after all."
Tony cleared his throat. "Rings, please," he demanded imperiously. Natasha and Bucky handed them over, and he looked at them and smiled. "All right, Rogers, you're up." He handed him a ring.
"I, Steven Grant Rogers, take you, Emma Grace Harrington, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death does us part." He slid the ring onto my finger and I let out a little breath. He squeezed my hand and smiled.
"Emma," Tony directed. I smiled at him and repeated the same vows, and took Steve's hand, sliding the ring onto his finger. I didn't realize I was trembling until I stopped.
"By the power vested in me by the State of Idaho, I now pronounce you husband and wife," Tony said grandly. Then he sighed. "I understand it's customary for there to be kissing at this point...go ahead," he grumbled. I smiled as Steve bent his head for a light kiss. At that moment, confetti cannons went off. I flinched, but Steve pushed me down, standing over me, turning and assessing potential threats.
Steve's face burned red when white confetti drifted down around us and he helped me to my feet. Tony rolled his eyes and looked skyward, and I stood on tiptoe to bring Steve's face down where I could get at his lips for our kiss. Our guests cheered and laughed, and I put my hand on his arm as we walked together up the aisle, Bucky and Natasha, Wanda and Sam, Con and Phil following. Sif would have been there too, but she and Thor were on Asgard and had been for some time.
The wedding photographer/videographer worked for Avenger Tech in imaging and did wedding photography as a sideline. He seemed pretty unflappable as he led the wedding party away for some pictures. He was taking some pictures of the attendants to start with, and Steve crouched down and brushed at the grass stains on my skirt.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart," he apologized.
"It's fine," I said. "You can barely tell that they're there because the fabric is so lightweight." In an effort to change the subject, I pulled off the plain shiny ring and looked for the inscription that I was sure was there. 'My love, always' it read. I blinked rapidly and smiled up at him. "Look at yours," I urged, and he did.
He read the inscription and touched my face gently. "What's that little spot there?" he asked, and I smiled.
"Well, after I bought the ring, I started to wonder if I shouldn't have made it instead--" he made a negating motion and I caught his hand. "So before Thor went back to Asgard, I asked a favor and he let me try. That's a tiny piece of Mjolnir." He looked aghast. "Everybody's heard about that competition you guys had after the party when Ultron made his big entrance, how the guys all gave it a go and you made it wiggle. I bet that you could have picked it up, but you didn't. Looks like I was right."
"You usually are," he said wryly. "Stark had made a big deal about what it could mean if somebody other than Thor could lift the hammer, so I decided not to do it. How'd you get the piece of metal?"
I beamed at him. "I showed it an image of me setting it on the inside of your wedding band, and a little sliver sort of moved, so I removed it carefully and put it in. It doesn't have the worthiness enchantment; that apparently stays with the hammer, but it still has that almost-awareness that the hammer does."
'You amaze me." He lifted my hand and kissed it, just above his ring. Then it was time for our pictures with the others and then pictures of just us.
When we rejoined our guests, Tony poked Peter to his feet, and Peter said, nervously but loudly, "I present Captain and Mrs Steve Rogers to the company for the first time!" I stopped long enough to kiss his cheek and Steve shook his hand. Steve seated me at the head table and dinner was served. There were some toasts afterward, then we cut the cake: a rich vanilla with lemon curd in one tier and peach and ginger preserves in the other. Delicious. Then there was the bouquet toss--Con caught it--and the thing with the garter, which Bucky ended up with. The first dance was with Steve, of course, the second with Peter, and the third with Tony, where I made sure he knew how appreciative I was of his efforts with the ceremony.
"I'm sorry about the cannon," he said sheepishly, and I smiled.
"He is a combat veteran," I said gently. "He wasn't expecting his wedding ceremony to go boom." I laughed. "Although maybe he should have; with you, the motto should always be 'expect the unexpected.'"
The dancing was just getting good when Tony came up and murmured that the media was closing in. I went to change and our guests threw rose petals as we left. We made it to the quinjet without encountering anybody, and Steve took us up.
"Where are we going?" I asked once the flight had leveled out. He put it on autopilot and came back.
"Thailand first, then Angkor Wat." My eyes got big. "Is that ok? I just remembered how, when we were leaving after you made my shield, that you said you wanted to go to Asia. And after you'd joined up, you and Tony talked about Angkor Wat one time, what it was like; you said you wanted to see it someday."
"It's perfect," I said, and kissed him. I shook my head. "It's one of the few places that makes me not want to stay in the hotel room for all of the honeymoon." He looked smug, and we passed the time until he had to take the controls for landing outside of Bangkok.
Jetlagged, we did spend the first couple of days in bed, but after that, we went to the Grand Palace and toured the canals, Hua Hin and the 11-tier Pa La-u Waterfall, and stopped at Kanchanaburi, where the Death Railway made infamous in "The Bridge Over the River Kwai" is located. From there we went to Khao Yai National Park where we were able to take an extended tour and see the wild elephants during the day and the tigers, after darkness fell. Then we crossed into Cambodia and drove to Siem Reap. We went to Angkor Wat early the next morning and saw the sun rise over the exquisite complex. The moat was full from the rains. There were few tourists, no doubt due to the suffocating heat and humidity, but the site was so entrancing that I barely noticed until we were on our way back after a day of exploration. The next day we went back to Bankok, and came home the day after.
Somewhat to my bemusement, everybody actually wanted to see the photos we'd taken, so we had a little party, Peter flew out, and Sif and Thor were back. To my amazement and pleasure, Loki was allowed to attend the party for the slideshow and cake part, and it was gratifying to see that our visitors were as entranced by the scenery and buildings as we were. We'd gotten our friends little souvenirs and passed those out too. I'd gotten Peter a colorful tropical wood carving of an elephant, trunk up for luck.
The video of the ceremony was ready when we got home as were sheets of proofs. "Tony did a really fine job. Much more restrained, overall, than I kind of expected," I said, snuggling up to Steve, and he agreed. Watching the recording, I was struck by the panic on Steve's face when the confetti cannons went off. Looked like he still had some work to do on his PTSD. "What did Bucky say to you?" I asked as the camera followed me down the aisle. I liked the back of my dress.
"That I was marrying up," he said with a laugh. "He was sure right about that." I snorted.
"I'm the lucky one," I said, and fed him a piece of apple. It was a little irritating how he preferred healthy snacks; I always felt a little guilty if I wanted candy instead. The things I do for love.
The grass stains were barely visible on the dress in the pictures, which I was glad to see; you had to look for them and I didn't want Steve to be embarrassed again. The photographer had done a beautiful job and captured some wonderful moments, including one of Natasha and Bucky; his metal arm was around her back in a light embrace and he was touching her face gently with his fingers. Her expression, unguarded for once, was radiant. In addition to the images we chose for our wedding album, I also ordered photographs of everybody else that were special so I could send them out with the thank you cards; we hadn't needed presents, so people had made donations to charities. The USO, Puppies Behind Bars, the DAV Charitable Service Trust, and the Fisher House Foundation had been specified. When we got the photos, I put them in frames and and hand-delivered them with the thank you notes where possible.
Bucky looked surprised at the present and unwrapped it carefully. He looked at the photograph in amazement and touched the glass lightly. "I knew Natasha before all this," he said so softly I could barely hear him. "In Russia. When I was out for a mission once, they didn't put me back in cryo right away. They sent me to the Red Room to train the women. She was my best pupil. She seduced me; it was part of her training, and I was under orders to do what I had to to help her training. The seduction tactic depends a lot on confidence, and she didn't have much back then. I remember teaching her how to kill during the day and fucking her at night." He shook his head. "Then...nothing. They put me back in the tube. She said that they put me back when they found out that there was more than blood and sex between us. I don't remember that. They wanted her to marry a hotshot pilot for the PR. He was a complete ass. When she asked where I was, they showed her and she freaked out. She didn't know about the cryo or that I was just defrosted from time to time." He sighed. "It bothers her a little that I can't remember that if I can remember other stuff about that time."
"I have no idea what to say about that," I said after a moment. I just felt so bad for them both. I sat beside him in silence, my hand over his metal one, until he had to leave for a mission briefing.