The Seventh Avenger - (Marvel x OC)

CH 2.27 The Knight

It had been two weeks since Carol made her return trip to California. She'd met with Maria and after a reunion filled with hugs, stories, and tears, their friendship was back to what it was six months ago. Her relationship with Andrew felt better than ever. They had always loved eachother of course, but this time around they were more in tune with their partner's feelings and emotions. Everything was on the table, no secrets, no lies, no worrying about the reaction of the other. It took Monica a little time to welcome Carol back, changes in her routine or life threw her off...not unlike her mother. Carol had met with her other friends as well, Ophelia teased that she didn't even know she'd left, Erica ruffled her hair and hugged her, and Samantha happily embraced her gently. She'd moved out of her apartment and into Andrew's house. It was amazing...ninety-nine percent of the time. They'd already 'fought' three times, first, because Andrew thought that Carol's way of loading the dishwasher was ridiculous, second, after Carol didn't replace the toilet paper after using the last of the roll which led into a counter from Danvers about Andrew leaving the toilet seat up, and third, Andrew refused to let Carol be the big spoon because "you have to be little spoon for a month because you left." But things were good, really good.

Carol walked up to the front door of the house with groceries in her right arm. She'd spend the evening at Maria's and picked up a few things at the store. She reached into her pocket for her keys and smiled as she rubbed the engraving on her key to the house. Carol's brow furrowed at strange markings on the front step of the house but dismissed it, assuming the squirrels had been causing trouble. She turned the key and unlocked the door to the house. The door slowly opened, but Carol was surprised to find all the lights off and the room extremely dark. Carol walked over and flipped the light switch before turning around...

"Holy shit!" She involuntarily screamed after a sharp yelp. Carol rushed to and crouched over the unmoving body surrounded by a massive puddle of blood in the middle of the living room floor. "Pleasedon'tbedeadpleasedon'tbedead" she panicked quickly. Carol's hands were immediately covered in scarlet blood upon grazing the body. "ohmygod, you're not breathing" she realized and grabbed the body to roll it over. "Why are you in my house?" Carol whispered with short breaths as she pulled the armored body of Peacekeeper onto its back. All of the Peacekeeper armor was almost destroyed and the protective mesh beneath it was torn in several places. His vibranium helmet rolled off his head as she moved him.

Carol hurriedly scooched away from the body in shock and fear. "No, no it can't be. No!"

--Twenty-four hours earlier--

"Did you know that I love you?" Andrew asked Carol sweetly, hugging her from behind as she fixed a late-night meal for herself.

"Do you now? I suppose I can't blame you, I am pretty amazing" Carol smiled.

Andrew grinned and nuzzled his head against her neck. "Remind me why you're making breakfast past ten o'clock at night."

"Because you refused to make it for me" Carol teased and rested her spare hand on Andrew's arms wrapped around her waist. "Why are you shirtless?"

"...laundry day?" Andrew replied unconvincingly.

"Mm-hm" Carol smirked.

"Fine I'll wear this one" Andrew smiled and pulled up on Carol's shirt.

"Hey now!" Carol exclaimed and yanked her shirt back down. They both laughed loudly, Carol turned around to melt into a hug. She closed her eyes as she rested her head against his chest and curled her arms around his torso. "Did you know that I love you?" Carol whispered.

"I love you too..."

"Can we talk?" Andrew asked nervously from the couch.