Heartlines | Steve Rogers

XXXI

THIRTY ONE
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"Meredith, the flowers are here!" Natasha called. Meredith finished adjusting the seating plan and got up from her seat. She followed Natasha outside of the wedding venue and began to help carry the boxes of fresh flowers inside. The wedding was just a couple of days away, and they needed to finish decorating. They already had all the tables set up, along with plates, silverware, name cards, and centerpieces. They had to get the flowers cut and put into buckets of water to keep them fresh until they'd put them out the day of the ceremony. Once they were done and the delivery man drove away, they got started. One thing Meredith realized about this whole thing was that weddings are stressful. Meredith, Natasha, and Martina were out decorating everyday. It was going to be a beautiful wedding and Meredith was excited, but she wouldn't be complaining at all when it was over. This wasn't exactly how she wanted to spend her time, cutting flowers for hours. "You see the reports? The Earth hasn't been this clean in thousands of years."

"Yeah, I have. It's crazy." Meredith replied. She didn't want to say much, she didn't want to hurt Natasha. Everyone else was moving on, but she wasn't. Natasha still lived at the compound, spending every second of every day trying to find a solution, but there wasn't one. All of them knew that, but some people didn't want to admit it. That was Natasha. None of them could blame her, though. For so long, she had nothing. She was just the assassin they made her to be, with no emotions and no love for anyone. Now, the Avengers had become her family and she felt like she was more than the things she'd done in her past.

"It's almost like it's a good thing. What happened." Natasha continued, and Meredith frowned at her. Natasha would check in with Okoye, Rocket, Nebula, Carol, and Rhodey everyday to see if they had anything new for her. She prayed they would, but they never did. Not what she was looking for, at least.

"Don't say that." Meredith glanced over at her melancholy expression. None of them were the same after what happened, but without the Stones, there was nothing they could do. All of them knew that and they were forced to come to terms with it. "Have you heard anything about Clint?"

"Rhodey can't catch him. Every time we get a tip, Clint's cleared the scene— and what a scene that is— before any of us can get there." She shook her head. Meredith sighed.

"I'm sorry, Nat." She offered. Natasha just nodded in reply, and continued to cut the flowers silently. Meredith knew she was going through a lot, and she just wished she could take the pain away. Natasha was her best friend and she cared about her a lot. They went pretty far back, and Natasha taught her how to be the woman she is today. Someone who doesn't let anyone walk all over them or boss them around. Someone who is strong and independent and can fight with or without a suit of iron.

After a while of trimming the flowers, Pepper showed up with Morgan. "Wow, it looks great in here!"

"Thanks, we've been working pretty hard." Meredith chuckled. She walked over and took Morgan from her arms. That was one good thing to come out of all of this. "How's Aunt Mer's little girl?"

Pepper smiled as she watched Morgan babble back to her, as if to be having a conversation. She was always like that towards Meredith, talkative. "She's not eating her food."

"Well, I bet she'd eat her food for Aunt Mer. Want me to try?" She looked over at her. Pepper nodded and gave her the food. Meredith sat down and began feeding her. Sure enough, with the airplane method, Morgan began eating.

"I don't know how you do it." Pepper chuckled as she shook her head. It was good to have Meredith around the house all the time for that reason. But, that only made all of them question why she wasn't spending her time with Chris, considering she'd moved in with him months ago. Sure, Tony and Meredith were practically inseparable, and she was terrified of losing him after what happened a year prior, but that just didn't seem to be the reason as to why she wasn't focused on Chris at all.