The Rise of Darkness

Chapter 37

A few months have passed now and with Brooke the Avengers never got bored. "Daaaaaaad. Can I go get Tacos with uncle Thor and aunt Natasha?", Brooke yelled through the compound. Grace started laughing, kissed Steve's cheek and said: "Your daughter is calling." He took her hand and pulled her back in close to him. "Yeah, go ahead sweetie.", he said to Brooke. "Now to you." Steve looked at Grace. "I wanted to ask you something." She looked at him confused. "What is it honey?" "That's going to be a surprise, but I wanted to ask if you would want to get away for a weekend. Just the two of us." "I would love to, but-" "Brooke will be fine with Thor and the others." He kissed her passionately. "Pleaseeeee..." he looked at her with puppy eyes. "How could I resist." He spun her around and kissed her. "Yes!", he said. Grace giggled and as Steve let her down they kissed again. "Get a room!", Bucky said sarcastically with a smile on his face. "You'll find someone too, don't worry Buck.", Steve said. Bucky nodded, grabbed a glass and whiskey and walked out. "Yeah, maybe some day." Steve led out a deep breath. Grace placed her hands on his shoulders. "Don't worry about him, you never let him down before."  "Well-" "Mommy, daddy, look I found a flower!", Brooke yelled as she ran in the living room to Grace and Steve. "Hey, Munchkin!" Grace picked her up. "What a beautiful flower! Lets put them into a vase." She grabbed a vase, put the flower inside and said to Brooke: "Now close your eyes and wish that the flower will get bigger and brighter." Brooke nodded strongly and closed her eyes. Grace winked at Steve, waved with her hand over the flower and it started to grow. "Oh my, look sweetie!" Brooke opened her eyes and they widened. "I did it mommy! Look that what I did! Uncle Thor, look!" She ran over to Thor and clinged on his foot. Steve looked at Grace with surprise. "I thought you lost your powers." "I'm still a goddess in a way and apparently I've got a thing for flowers. They laughed and went to the others.
The evening went by and Steve decided to pack their stuff for their journey together when Bucky came into the room. "Packing for the big day?", he asked. "Well Grace agreed to go on a vacation. Since she has her hands full with talking to Brooke about the trip I thought I could pack some things." Bucky nodded. "Steve, I wanted to talk to you about something." Steve turned around and pointed to the bed. They both sat down. "What is it Buck?" "I have to do some things for myself, to heal you know? This whole being a hero... It's not me... I'm still the winter soldier in some way and I... I need to get rid of that..." Bucky looked down and nervously played with his hands. Steve placed his hand on Bucky's shoulder. "If you feel the need to get out of your cage, I will not be the one stoping you. I want you to live your life and if that means going away, so be it. I will always support you Buck." Bucky looked at him, then hugged him tightly. "Thank you, Steve." "Always." Suddenly Brooke and Grace came in. "Oh, sorry, we didn't mean to disturb you, we'll leave again." "No, don't go. We were done here anyway. Have fun at your trip." Bucky said smiling and left the room. "Are you ready?", Steve asked grinning. Grace nodded and started giggling.
A few hours later everyone was standing outside saying goodbye to Steve and Grace. "It won't be for long sweetheart, mom and dad will be back in 2 days. Uncle Thor will give you lots of cuddles okay?", Grace said and hugged Brooke tightly. "I love you sweetie." "I love you too mommy." Steve crouched down and took Brookes hands. "Stay out of trouble princess, okay?" Brooke giggled and hugged him. "I love you dad." Steve looked shocked but then he smiled. "I love you too my little Munchkin." He kissed her on her forehead, then opened the door for Grace, who has already said goodbye to the rest and then walked over to Thor. "Keep her Safe okay?" Thor nodded and they hugged. "Thank you for everything, Thor." "My pleasure." Then Steve turned to Bucky. "Don't do anything stupid till I get back?" "How could I? You're taking all the stupid with you." They laughed and hugged too. "Stay safe buddy.", Steve said. "You too. And good luck.", he whispered. They drove of into the night and after hours they arrived at their final destination: Tony's house in the woods. "Well that certainly brings back some memory's.", Grace said. "I know, but I thought we could add some new beautiful moments here and forget about the bad ones." Grace smiled at him. "That's a great idea." They walked inside. "Hey, why don't you unpack and get yourself all dressed up a little and then come downstairs for dinner.", Steve suggested. "Yeah, sure honey." She kissed him and walked upstairs. As everything was unpacked she yelled downstairs: "Steve, how dressed up?" "I left a dress for you in a bag, you can use that one." She looked for a bag and looked inside. It was a burgundy coloured red short dress with a v-neckline. "This man is killing me." She said as she adored it. "Oh and there is also another thing in the bag, honey!", Steve yelled from downstairs. Grace looked again and saw a small box. As she opened it there where earrings and a necklace in it. She put on the necklace and earrings and yelled downstairs: "Steve, is dinner ready?" No response. "Steve?" She walked downstairs and the house was empty. She started panicking and walked outside as she saw a track of candles. She followed the candles and reached the shore of the sea. On the footbridge Steve was standing in a suit, surrounded by candles. "Oh my god..." Grace said. Steve smiled. "Come here." She walked over to him. "Steve, this looked amazing." Under the tree is a small table with candles and food. "You did all this?" Steve nodded. "Just the best for my Love." He took her hands. "Grace... I don't know where to start. Meeting you was a journey itself and I knew from the first moment that you where someone special. As time flew by, you've gotten more and more important to me- I had fallen in love with you. The first time we came here we said our first 'I love you's, you told me that we where expecting a baby, our Brooke. We've been through so much together and in this time I've realised... without you I would be swept out to sea, without you there is just black and white, without you life has no meaning. You are a rock in my life, my best friend, my lover, my soulmate, my home.... So I'm asking you, Grace Lewis...." Steve kneeled down and opened a box he had put out of his pocket. "Will you marry me?"