Star Dust (A Paladin Adventure)

Getting back to normal

A few weeks later, Steve was herding Tony and me over the newly restored obstacle course (it had been fun to be excused from it while it lasted) and Tony had an idea for our wedding.

"Go next door," was his suggestion. I fell off the climbing wall when my concentration slipped.

"Where next door?" I said, in a rather bad mood, brushing myself off. "Our house?"

"Next door state," Tony specified. "Come on, Harrington, get your ass in gear. I'm getting old waiting for you." I flipped him off and made another attempt. This wall was higher than the previous one. "Idaho. You can get married the same day you get your license, so you can go from the licensing bureau to your venue, no chance for the media to gather. And you might not have to blow your cover, either, Emma. You're still on the books as an employee of Avengers Tech as a metallurgist." I grunted at him as I clung to the top of the wall before descending to the other side. I was meanly pleased to see that Tony was having trouble with the new wall too.

"Get Maria Hill to rent the venue, we all come over on quinjets, we come back home after the party, you guys go on your honeymoon," he gasped.

"That sounds pretty good, actually," I said, looking at Steve, who was beginning to smile.

"I suppose you have an idea about the officiant," he said to Tony, who waved his hand at us. I must have looked a little nervous, because Steve specified that it would have to be a clean and modest ceremony.

"You don't think I can do it?" Tony said in mock affront as we started off.

"Frankly, no," I said, and he grinned.

"I take that as a challenge," he said, which made me afraid. Very afraid.

We had to put the brakes on everybody, who wanted to charge ahead. It wasn't that we didn't want to get married, but Steve and I were enjoying being engaged, getting used to living together, getting back into life on Earth doing romantic things like picnics. With the dogs,  not so very romantic, but still fun. The one thing we did do was decide on the venue, Fourth Street Gardens in a town called Emmett, ID. They had a lovely pergola for an outdoor wedding, and since you arranged for your own catering and bar, we didn't even have to worry about that. We could order the booze here, and catering  was excited to deal with our wedding. As long as the media wasn't alerted, we could have an amazing ceremony and reception, then run for our honeymoon. Since everybody knew I couldn't get married without a dress, not going shopping for one was the signal that we were taking our time. The only thing I had to worry about was not wearing Steve's ring when I went out as Paladin. I didn't want to forget and risk having it damaged, since I suspected the vintage ring wouldn't be easy to repair. And I didn't want to risk Paladin wearing my ring in public.

Steve did design me new field uniforms, and he cleverly designed details to  make my body look different in order to help bolster my secret identity. Sexy as hell. I appreciated the attempt to separate me from my alter ego, and Promotions certainly did as well. They started to go after the guys' uniforms, pushing them to highlight their assets too. In some cases, this didn't go over too well, as with Bucky, when he found that his new pants were cut to emphasize his packet. I happened to be passing by when he was yelling at them and couldn't repress a grin.  Pietro had a similar problem; his Quicksilver suit was skin tight and there was nowhere for anything to hide. The guys got no sympathy from the women, though. Only Tony and Jim were safe, since they wore metal suits. (It so frustrated Promotions.) The new uniforms were the same types of fabrics as my old ones, though, although the black and gray fabrics were sometimes highlighted with a blaze of bright blue here and there. I thought about the Grandmaster's arena every time I pulled one on.

One day, Thor and Sif showed up. Odin was back on the throne of Asgard, reasserting his reign, and Thor had become unneeded, at least for awhile. There was also another reason for his return, of course.

"The Allfather requests the continuation of Loki's incarceration here on Earth, for a period of time not to exceed ten of your years," he said, a touch nervously. I just looked at him. "Loki's actions during Hela's usurption have been taken into consideration. However, he did escape, despite his promise not to. This is a light sentence for him."

This time, nobody was as excited to provide a favor for Asgard. Wanda and Natasha joined me in voting no, along with Bucky and Pietro. Steve, the ultimate law-and-order guy, felt that Loki's jailbreak did warrant punishment, and the others who felt that it was still a good idea to do a favor for a powerful being voted for continuing to provide Loki's jail cell. Thor looked confused by our lack of enthusiasm, but wisely didn't press the issue. Arrangements, much more straightforward than last time, were made. I went down to tell security to hold off the clearing-away efforts and we decided to have housekeeping in to give it a really good clean, although it wasn't dirty.

I wasn't happy about Loki's continuing incarceration, but I had to admit that I was looking forward to seeing him again. I thought that maybe, if he continued to behave, I'd float the idea of letting him out now and then, seeing the outdoors under supervision, of course. To the surprise of everyone, Odin accompanied Loki and the security detail. There was some standing around as Odin and Nick conversed. I sidled up to Loki and smiled at him.

"It is good to see you looking so well," he said.

"You too. You seem to have recovered well from death." He grinned.

"Imp," he said.

"No height jokes," I warned.

"And what is....news with you? I believe that is the phrase."

"The big one is that Steve and I will be getting married," I said, and his eyes widened. He smiled as I showed him the ring.

"Is there a reason he's marked you with a big blue shield?" he asked mockingly, and I sniffed in mock outrage.

"It's a sapphire, not a shield," I said primly.

"It is a lovely ring for a lovely woman," he said approvingly.

"Don't hit on my girl," Steve said warningly, coming up and putting his arm around me. I smiled. Boys.

The chatting was cut short as our security team stepped up to escort Loki back to his cell, and I thought that all the Asgardians would go away--Thor's buddies had been located and had come with the party as well--but Odin asked to speak with me.  Dang.