teeth ➻ marvel x supernatural

03.

then

If there was a God, Adeline would be thanking them for the rest of her mundane life. She held James' letters to her chest in an embrace, hating the day they had suddenly stopped coming but ultimately so overwhelmed with relief and happiness that he was coming home that she barely remembered the pain of feeling as if she lost him.

Steve had left her in the care of Peggy Carter, promising that he would bring her great love home soon. She hadn't slept and had barely eaten in the days Steve, a new man born with the same soul, had been gone. She was too excited, rereading his old letters from the beginning and trying to tell herself that it was going to be okay.

Adeline heard the beginning of a chorus of voices rising from the ashes outside her tent, the slow hum of applause and the whoops of soldiers welcoming the missing. She stood on shaking legs, dropping the letters to her stretcher as she listened to the commotion outside.

"Some of these men need medical attention..." She recognised Steve's voice immediately, her bottom lip trembling with anticipation. She heard several more words exchanged, listened to Peggy's voice with eyes clenched shut, when she heard him.

"Hey!" She was already crying. "Let's hear it for Captain America!" On legs she still wasn't sure would keep her upright, she rushed to the flap on the tent and pushed through it until she stood in the open, surrounded by hundreds of soldiers and searching for the only face that mattered. She saw him standing beside Steve, face dirty but eyes a bright steel blue that she could make out even from a distance. She could barely breathe, the relief pulsing through her in waves at seeing him again, knowing for sure he was alive and breathing. Steve saw her hovering on the edge of the throng of soldiers, hand pressed against her mouth and sobbing. He nudged James, who stood beside him.

"Buck," Steve said. "The men can wait." James watched him for a second, his brow furrowed in confusion, before he turned towards her as Steve pointed. His face flashed in disbelief as he saw her and then he was grinning, wider then she had ever seen him smile before, and she was smiling back with hands slack at her sides. He pushed through men, never taking eyes off her.

His body slammed into hers with such a force that if she had been breathing before, it would have knocked the wind from her. His arms were around her waist and she was lifted into the air as he spun her around before she could even comprehend what was happening. He pressed his lips all over her face and hair, hovering around her mouth because he knew once he started kissing her like that he wouldn't be able to stop.

"My wife!" He called, the glee from his shout attracting the attention of the nearby soldiers, which Adeline might have felt self-conscious about if she had been paying attention and not completely wrapped up in the feel of his skin against hers. "My Adeline!" He kissed her face again, still spinning in a way that Adeline couldn't suppress the giggle lodged in her throat. Especially when she pressed her face against his neck and knew without doubt that he was still her husband. The love of her life. The scent of sea breeze assaulting her nostrils in the way his clothes had long since forgotten.

"You're really here!" She was crying again, not even worried if it were the ugly kind of tears most women tried to suppress. "Oh, James!" She cried. He set her down finally, never losing his grip on her body, and pressed his forehead against hers.

"I'm so sorry I have been gone for so long," He said, quiet enough that she knew they were just words for her and not the surrounding soldiers listening to their reunion. She took a shaky breath.

"I don't care about that as long as you come home with me now," She told him. He ran a hand over her long hair, taking in every detail of her face. She wondered how much she had changed in the year he had been gone, how he remembered her. If possible, he had only grown more handsome.

"Nothing could keep me from your side for forever, Adeline." He pressed his hands against her face. She closed her eyes momentarily to bring herself back to reality, reminding herself again this wasn't one of the recurring dreams she'd had over the last year.

"I love you more than words can say, James," She whispered. His breath seemed to catch and she knew he was close to tears but didn't want our audience to watch.

"There is not a day that went by where I didn't miss you, Adeline. Not a day where I didn't imagine all the things we might do together once I was home." He had tilted his head so his lips were dangerously close to hers and she wanted nothing more than to fall into him and kiss him until she had forgotten her own name.

"Please take me home," She said, the vulnerability in her tone palpable. He sighed, touched her face again.

"Okay," He said, the raw emotion in his tone so loud Adeline wanted to drown herself in it. He loved her. He'd missed her. He was still alive and he wanted her. "But there is one thing I want to do before we go." He pressed one thumb against her bottom lip, staring at her so intently she'd forgotten how to breathe once more.

"Whatever you want, it's yours."

When he kissed her, it felt like the world had finally righted itself and she might not need to be so terrified anymore. He was her home. Her love. Her life.