Chapter 23

Nat's POV

  Being engaged to Bruce is the best part to come out of this nightmare. Him and I are finally on the way to being together for the rest of our lives without any excuses getting in the way. We're going to wait a little while to get married because the world is in chaos and helping rebuild the world is our top priority right now. Being engaged though is indeed a step in the right direction and certainly makes things feel more real, not that they already didn't before. 

    As I continue to help with the recovery process, I can't help but admire my engagement ring. It's so beautiful. It's elegant but not other the top. The gem on it is ruby red, which is perfect for me. The band is gold with small spirals in it. Bruce is the most amazing man and truly knows me better than I thought he did. I need to stop doubting myself and our relationship so much. We both love each other more than life itself and are engaged to be married, we're going to be together for the rest of our lives. 

   When I think about my ideal wedding, I don't think of anything fancy. I'd love a simple wedding in a park, surrounded by our closest friends and teammates. Central Park would be a nice place to do it, though it needs cleaning up like most areas in the city and beyond do. "Bruce, I have a question for you." He raises an eyebrow. "What's up Nat?" I bite my lip and blush slightly. "What's your ideal wedding?" He smiles softly. "That's a good question. My ideal wedding would be simple, outdoors. I'd want just our closest friends and teammates there, no media or anyone else that doesn't belong there." 

    I smile to myself before looking up at him. "That's basically my ideal wedding too. For outdoors, I was thinking a park. I like the beach, but something about the simple beauty of a park entices me." He wraps an arm around me and kisses me on the forehead. "A park sounds perfect, whether it's Central Park or a park near a desert. As long as we're together surrounded by the people who matter most to us, that's all that truly matters to me." I nod in agreement and pull his face towards mine, crashing my lips against his. 

    We kiss for a couple of minutes before pulling apart and going back to business for a few hours more before calling it a night with the rest of our help mission team. We all head to the secure location in the area that Fury assigned to us. It's nothing like HQ, but at least it's a place to bathe/shower, eat, go the bathroom, and rest. That's really all we need it for anyways. 

   For supper, we have bagels with butter or cream cheese. For drinks, we have apple juice or orange juice. Options are a bit limited right now and will be for awhile. It's either we what we get or don't get at all. We eat our supper rather quickly because all of the hard work we've done has made us hungry. We also guzzle down our drinks, pee like waterfalls, and go off to do whatever it is we feel like doing before bed. Nat and I decide to shower together in order to both cleanse ourselves of germs and to relax a bit. The shower does help us with both of those factors. 

    We then change into pajamas, brush our teeth, and go to bed for the night. I sleep with Bruce of course, Wanda sleeps with Vision, and everyone else sleeps by themselves. We manage to fall asleep quickly because we're too tired to stay awake and dwell about anything. I sleep soundly in Bruce's arms for the next twelve hours. By the time we wake up the next day, it's already noon and everyone else is gone. I wake up slowly and check to see if there's a note, which there is. I scan it and see it's from Tony, saying that the group left to help for the day and for us to join them at our own leisure. 

    I hand the note to Bruce so he can read it quickly as we get ready for yet another day of recovery missions. Our day is pretty much the same as yesterday minus the amazing proposal from Bruce. This is how our days are going to be for awhile so we need to get used to it.

Hoped that you guys liked this chapter! :) -Mary