One | Steve Rogers

36

Steve tries to make his way towards the lifeboat... but he's not fast enough. A robot must have turned the dial of the core, because the next thing that happens is the city drops.

Lauren screams out at the top of her lungs as she watches his fall down. Out of instinct, she jumps off the boat. She flies down to save her and flies as fast as she can until she finds him. She grabs his arms, and her heart stops at his words.

" Marry me".

And all of a sudden, everything stops. Time is stopped. Her mind goes blank as she tries to comprehend what he just said.

Marry me.

Soon enough, she enters back into reality with a smile.

" Yes."

She teleports them back onto the boat, and gently sits him down onto the floor. Lauren gets on top of him, puts her hands on either side of his head and brings her lips down onto his. Steve's hands go onto her hips as they share their first kiss in engagement.

As Lauren pulls away, Steve pulls out a diamond ring from his pocket. She smiles as he slips it onto her finger. She sits in between his legs with her back pressed against his chest. Steve kisses the top of her head as he wraps his arms around her.

The Avenger is quick to wake up from her slumber, upon realizing it was only a dream, feels the sadness return to her body. The tears quickly come as her heart rate increases. She feels a pounding in her head. She looks up at the walls and sees the paint slowly peeling downwards and the ceiling fading to a dark charcoal black.

Her eyes flicker back and forth in a panicked motion as the contents of the fridge fly out and splatter against the peeling walls. The wooden floorboards beneath her begin to grow hot to the touch as a fire ignites.

Lauren tightly shuts her eyes and tries to calm herself down. She centers her mind and slows down her breathing in order to control her powers.

Her eyes flutter open to reveal the exact same room looking completely normal. No peeling walls, no black ceiling. She looks at Bucky who sleeps soundly beside her, the events of the previous night flooding her brain like a hurricane. She looks away and sighs.

Without hesitation, Lauren teleports herself back home, leaving the one-armed man all alone.

Bucky slowly awakens and instinctively reaches out for Lauren, but feels nothing but a semi-warm floor. He feels his heart clench, but he shakes it off by laying back down and returning to his peaceful slumber.

Now in her own apartment, Lauren feels able to breath once more. She feels able to forget about her mistake and move on.

She goes into the kitchen to make herself a cup of coffee. Her phone rings,, she ignores it.

She adds the water and ground coffee into the Turkish coffee pot. Her phone rings again, she ignores it.

She pours the coffee through a strainer and into a mug. Her phone rings, she sighs.

Lauren sets down the mug and effortlessly teleports to the source of the call. She ends up at the Barton's farm house and expects to find her best friend, but only finds his youngest son.

" What's up, Nathaniel?" She asks.

" I wanna fly," He says with a grin.

" Where are your parents?"

" Fixing something."

" Let's go flying."

The aunt and the nephew soar through the sky together for what seems like hours for Nathaniel but in reality was only about 10 minutes. Lauren lands down on the ground with a thud, the little boy sitting safely in her arms.

" Again, again, again!" He exclaims

" Again what?" Laura asks as she steps onto the front porch of the house.

" Nothing," The aunt and nephew say at the same time.

Laura eyes them both skeptically, but then ushers her son inside and she walks towards the Avenger.

" Everything alright?" She asks.

" Yeah, yeah, everything's fine," Lauren says.

Laura raises an eyebrow.

" Is that why you took my son for a flight?"

" No, that's just because I'm a good aunt."

Laura lets out a slight chuckle, but then takes a step forward and gently puts her hand on Lauren's arm.

" You know you don't have to keep secrets from me," Laura says, " We've been through too much."

Lauren returns the favor and puts a hand on Laura's arm.

" I know, " She says with a smile, " Tell your husband I say hi."

Lauren disappears from the farm and returns to her apartment, but something tells her that she's not alone. She instantly turns around and forces the assailant against the wall with her powers and creates a fireball in the other. Upon realizing who it is, she releases them.

" What the hell, Strange?" She asks.

" Great security system you've got," The sorcerer says sarcastically.

" What are you doing here?" Lauren asks as she crosses her arms.

" I picked up on the same energy from your false reality," Stephen says, " I needed to be sure that--"

" That what?" She interupts, " That I wasn't joining the dark side?"

He sighs.

" You know it's not like that."

" Then what is it? I've been fine on my own for months, and now the first time I see you since then is when you think I've created another pocket dimension?"

Stephen has no response. No rebuttable, because she's exactly correct.

" I'm sorry," He says," Are you okay?"

" Yes, Stephen, I'm okay," Lauren says, " Is that all?"

A part of him longs to say no. A part of him longs to ask her. A part of him longs to tell her his visit was about more than just business. But he doesn't. He keeps it all to himself.

Or so he thinks.

" Yes, that's all," He says, then turns to walk out of the apartment, completely unknowing to the fact that his thoughts have been ringing through her head all this time.

Once he leaves, Lauren chuckles to herself, but thinks nothing of it. A crush is just a crush. It's fairly normal, especially when you are arguably the most powerful being in the universe.

She goes into her kitchen where her once hot coffee is now cold. She picks up the mug and warms the coffee back to a hot temperature with her hands. She sits down on her couch and is finally able to sip on the delicious coffee. However, before the beverage can enter her throat, someone begins to fall off the side of the building. With a deep sigh, she lifts her pointer finger to catch the person with her powers before they hit the ground. She looks out the window to find a teenager in a red spandex suit and tilts her head. The boy looks through the window, his suit eyes widening as he sees her. He then waves with excitement.

" Hi, Mage!" He exclaims.

Pointer finger still raised, she walks towards her balcony and opens the door to come face to face with the boy.

" Peter," Lauren says, " Looks like you're in a sticky situation, or rather, lack there of."

Peter can't help but laugh at the joke.

" Yeah, that's funny. Um... h-hey Mage... why am I flying?" He asks.

Lauren lifts her finger up and down, causing Peter to, in turn, go up and down in the air.

" Okay, okay, okay I get it! I got it," He nervously exclaims, " Thank you."

" Don't worry about it," She says, " You got it from here?"

" Well--"

" Goodbye, Peter."