Bed of Roses [N. Romanoff]

Chapter 2.20

 
"It doesn't make sense."

Natasha looked over to Sam, watching him complain as he waltzed around the quinjet in frustration.

"Why would Tony do this?" he asked, throwing an envelope down onto the table top. His hands slammed down after, and Natasha could feel her own fiddling in anxiousness.

"He's mourning as much as we are," Steve replied, picking up the envelope and opening it to read the words for himself.

"He's invited us to a 'secret' funeral," Natasha side eyed the soldier, arms crossed over chest and fingers tapping her arms.

"What else were we going to do for her?" the question shut Nat up completely, and she was left sulking to herself, "We'll be meeting the Wade's there, all we have to do now is pray that this isn't a trap."

"Cause that's definitely unlike Tony..."

"And I don't want another quip out of you two," Steve turned around and pointed a stern finger in Sam's direction and then Natasha's.

"Alright," Sam raised his arms in surrender, "but I can't wait to tell you I told you so, Defrosted Chicken..."

"You've got it, Bird Man."

Steve's blue eyes trailed over the invitation in his hands, his fingertips grazing the printed words. Tony Stark had found a loophole in the system, and it didn't make sense as to why he would. To anyone outside the conflicting circle, it was obvious that the Stark had done it because he still cared for the team, Steve couldn't help but smell a catch.

Tony was holding the smallest of funerals for Bailey Baxter, with only close friends and family invited. The list was small, but the love was huge.

Natasha had been offered to speak for her Fiancé. A Eulogy of sorts, a couple of words to describe their adventure and Bax's heroics; she got the chance to say goodbye to the best thing to happen to her life. Being a wanted criminal meant they couldn't be seen anywhere, and how else would the group of wanted vigilantes be able to gather in a public area without drawing attention to themselves?

"Landing schedule?" Steve walked closer to Natasha, breaking her concentration on her own thoughts.

"Autopilot should land us in an hour or two..." she mumbled, fiddling with a crumbled paper in her hands.

"That gives us time," the soldier nodded to himself, "You got a dress?" he teased.

"Where do we find a dress and tie around here?"

"Maybe Emma can bring you a little something... as sketchy as this sounds, it's still something. If he really does have her... body," Steve swallowed the word down, "then let's make this as big of a deal as she would've wanted."

"Ever the narcissistic woman calling for attention... she finally caught ours, hey?" Nat joked, happy that speaking about Bailey was becoming easier as the days moved on without her at the Red Heads side.