Worlds Apart | Leo Fitz Book Five

Chapter Thirty

Alright guys. Here it is. I hope you enjoy.

xx

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The elevator ride down to level 27 felt like it was taking years. Asia stood nervously, trying to stop herself from fidgeting with her dress, with her hair, and just focus on what was about to happen. She had been waiting for this moment for years, after all. Everything had come to this. And while she felt slightly nervous, there was still a relative sense of calm about her. She had spent what seemed the better part of the last five years imagining her future with Leopold James Fitz. This had always been a part of it. Was it her dream wedding? Certainly not. In her dreams, she had Nat and Clint there, too. But this was still going to be the best moment of her recollection.

"Are you ready?" Daisy asked, taking her friend's hand and giving it a squeeze. Each of them held bouquets of flowers in their other hands, and Jemma one in hers as well. They were small, made of ferns and baby's breath and other flowers that Mack had found out on level 27 with its open fields and forests. And they were perfect. The wild flowers matched the same ones that Jemma had weaved into her hair and they smelled deliciously.

"Yes," Asia said with a smile and a nod. "Never been more ready in my life, I think." She looked back and forth between her two friends and nodded. Jemma grinned and reached forward, pressing the button to open the large, sliding elevator doors to reveal the place where their wedding would take place.

In front of her, sunlight fell through woven tree branches. Asia reached her hand out and let the sunlight touch her palm, as warm as the real thing. It was hard to believe it wasn't. The sky that she could see between leaves was as blue as she remembered sky. Like a perfect pool of water, like she could reach up and drip her fingers through it. There was a small clearing ahead, ringed with trees, where she knew she would be standing, waiting, for Leo to come. She smiled at herself when she saw it. Even if this dress, the attendants, weren't exactly as she wished, that area, the area where she would marry the man of her dreams, that was perfect.

She stepped forward, turning a small circle around the alcove, grinning up at the green leaves and filtered light above her. "I love it," she breathed, turning to look at the two girls, her counsel in all of this. "Is he going to be here soon? I don't want to wait another minute. I want to do this now."

"He should be on the way," Jemma said with a smile, nodding to Mike as he passed them and tipped a pretend hat towards Asia. "Hunter was giving him an unnecessary pep talk last I checked. He and Coulson and Deke should be leading him up now." Gingerly, she reached up and corrected one of the flowers woven into Asia's braids. "Is there anything else you need before we get things started?"

Asia shook her head, still unable to stop smiling. "No, everything is perfect Jemma. I still can't believe Deke managed to pull this all off. I can't believe he was able to find a wedding dress that wasn't made for someone's prom." She looked down at her dress again and grabbed the skirt, fluffing it out, fighting the urge to spin in a circle. "Not that I know what a prom dress is like. Never had a prom. Did either of you?"

"Foster parents wouldn't pay for a prom," Daisy scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"Was too busy getting an early college degree," Jemma said with a shrug. "So no prom for me either."

Asia shook her head, "Should have had Deke get you two dresses too. So we could all have one day of dress up. It would have been fun." She sighed, shaking her head and looking down at the flowers in her hands. She wasn't sure why that was the topic she had drifted to, remembering that time in Ops School all those ages ago, but she had. Perhaps it was because her mind had needed somewhere to settle. She had never been very patient. Or particularly on time, though it seemed she had broken that streak of luck today. That's when they all heard the elevator door slide open once again. "That's him, isn't it?" Asia asked, though she couldn't see with Jemma and Daisy blocking her line of sight.