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#anything that just boils down to 'fight a bunch of trainers one after another in a boring slog of combat' tends to be completely ignored
paperhatcollection · 2 years
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You know, one of the fun things about looking into the subway twins in the aftermath of PLA (and as someone who tends to skip the battle subway in B&W) has been realizing just what fun characters they are. The two share one brain cell whenever they’re in a room together. Literally, speaking the same lines and doing the same actions in sync. Even when apart, they tend to gravitate to the same ideas and wants (granted, in their own ways), the same kinds of Pokemon, and fixate on the same objects. Which- yeah. They’re identical twins. That tracks.
It’s when they’re apart that the differences start to accumulate.
On one hand, you’ve got Ingo: the one with a perpetual frown on his face, wears darker clothing, and whose primary partner Pokemon is presented as the floating goth ghost chandelier: Chandelure. (Fun fact they’ve both got one- in fact the majority of their Pokemon overlap, but most media (and fanwork) depicts Chandelure as being one of Ingo’s).
At a glance, you’d expect him to be serious and formal at best- until you walk into his train at the end of the single battles and he starts cheerfully introducing himself and excitedly starts the battle, or when you beat him and he applauds your victory and cheers you on. Or in Pokemon Masters, where he’s actively distraught by the fact people have trouble reading his facial expressions and so will loudly explain how excited he is and how much he loves battling whenever he enters a room.
Even in PLA, where he’s rediscovering who he is along with everyone else, he still clearly enjoys the same hobbies- not only fights himself, but seeing other people have great battles. He’ll just straight up have a heart to heart about his personal feelings and predicament with a stranger he just met an hour ago, can’t resist a smile from a good battle, and despite the fact he’s clearly lost the light behind his eyes, is still such a friendly, helpful soul who genuinely wants to see the best in everyone. (it would be so funny to see the reactions of the PLA crew seeing normal-Ingo and what an aggressively friendly ball of sunshine he actually is. It’s just something missing from most ‘Ingo is reunited with his brother and memories’ fics).
Then on the other hand, you’ve got Emmet. The Subway Boss who drifts through life with a smile on his face, wears lighter clothing, and whose primary Pokemon is a big poofy colorful dumb looking bird whose better at running then flying. And whose most famous line (I like winning more then anything’) is one of the longest sentences he says to the player in the original game.
In contrast to his brother, Emmet speaks in clipped, factual statements. While loving his Pokemon and battling, he views his team through a very strategic lens, wanting the best, perfect combination of moves and strategies. Even when you beat him, he announces how much fun he had fighting you in the same matter-of-fact way he has of speaking (he lost. You are verrrrry strong) and ends on a very simple note that you should ‘ride the trains more often!’. In Pokemon Masters, he’s much more detail orientated then his brother, questioning the Player for all sorts of details about the location and what they look for in a good battle. He’s still very clearly excited to fight the Player, and to bring the Battle Subway to a new location, but has a very ‘there is nothing in life more important then winning’ attitude that’s just barely friendly enough to stop him from having a threatening aura. It’s also worth noting that, despite the two of them both sharing the same title, Emmet talks about how much he looks up to his brother and respects him as both a trainer and in individual.
When you fight both of them in B&W, Ingo will have a whole conversation with the player about the nature of team battles and trusting in your partner as much as you trust yourself. Emmet has a serious of short quips that are no more then three words each. We get the feeling that, where his brother has trouble expressing himself with his facial expressions and falls back onto his words so that people’ll understand him, Emmet has trouble expressing himself with his words and has learned to use his facial expression to project how excited he is outwardly- large smile, over the top gestures despite his simple sentences, a sparkle in his eye so that people are actually willing to approach him and don’t get scared off by this ultra-stern rules abiding boss at the end of a train.
When you beat them together, Emmet comments on you having a good combination and being strong, and it being a fun battle. Ingo applauds the player but also reminds them that beating the two of them was only one milestone in their life, and actively encourages them to go on to do even greater things further down the line. Emmet seems like a very here-and-now kinda guy, focusing on the life that’s in front of him, while Ingo is focused on the line ahead and what he can do now to prevent regret in the past. (Which is ironic, isn't it?).
Also if you search up clips of the two from the B&W anime, one of the only straight clips you can find is a 30 second clip of them investigating someone (*coughteamrocketcough*) messing with the subway. In it, Ingo wants to get to solve the mystery to protect the city and the people who use the subway. Emmet focuses on holding the guilty party responsible. They also naturto run on the subway tracks, which is very important.
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captcas · 4 years
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Worth Fighting For (4/?)
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WORTH FIGHTING FOR by capthamm
Killian “Hook” Jones is a dominate up and comer in the UFC while Emma “The Savior” Swan’s career was cut short. When Hook’s manager moves up and the office brings in UFC’s youngest legend to keep him in check, will either of them be able to handle it?
read on ao3 // tumblr: ch 1/ ch 2 / ch 3
[CHAPTER 4/?]
Emma finishes up her work and heads to the subway. She’s doing her best to ignore her obvious frustration with her new client and hopes a quick stop at the gym might clear her mind a bit. She’s grateful that Henry is at Avery’s for some science fair project. She needs this after today. Emma’s got a lot of pent up— something— she needs to work out.  She gets to the gym, gives a tired smile at Belle and heads to the locker room. She changes quickly, grateful they let her keep her locker, and heads towards the treadmills. Emma’s trying to pull up the latest episode of her podcast so she doesn’t pay any mind to who’s using the machine next to her.
That is until he looks her way.
Fuck.
She’s run into Killian here a total of maybe three times before they started “working” together so it only makes total sense that she’d run into him now.  She gives him a forced smile before putting her earbuds in and starting up the treadmill. He seems to get the hint, smiling back and continuing his run.  She’d be lying if she said she didn’t steal a glance or two as she jogged.
Okay, more than a glance.
She can’t help it. Watching his chest breathe in and out in a rhythmic pattern that parallels that of his feet pounding against the treadmill. She can’t help but notice the way his jaw ticks every once in a while, surely pushing himself to the full limit, or the beads of sweat that drip from his forehead and disappear beneath the hem of his shirt.  She hasn’t admired another human being like this in a long time– probably ever.  She doesn’t let her mind wander further than that, knowing anywhere else it would travel would be way less than professional.
She runs.  Mentally and physically.
She can’t think about him this way and he can’t think about her in any way besides as his manager. So she’ll shut it down now, being professional and curt and not allowing either of them to cross the bright red line that she’s almost positive she’s not the only one close to crossing.
It’ll be easier this way.
Killian leaves the treadmill to presumably find a sparring partner and Emma feels like she can breathe freely again. She runs, longer than she ever has, and for a while forgets about anything but the beat of her feet hitting the belt of the treadmill.  When she finishes, Killian is nowhere to be found. She doesn’t allow herself to be disappointed despite the small pang in her gut that tells her she wanted him to wait for her.  She gets back to her locker, showers, and changes. As she walks out of the gym she unlocks her phone to a text from Killian.
I didn’t want to break you out of your runner’s high. See you Thursday, Swan.
She presses the phone to her chest, trying to slow the beat of her heart. The text is innocent, an explanation as to why more pleasantries between co-workers weren’t exchanged.  She won’t let herself think of it as anything else.
She knows it is.
Getting on the subway, Emma finds a seat, not answering the text message despite it burning white hot in her pocket the entire way home.
Henry gets home an hour or so after her. She makes up dinner, he quickly summarizes his day, and smirks as he tells her he did in fact finish the sixth book. She smiles at him and puts in the movie so they can watch as they eat.  It’s really hard to pay attention to a bunch of British kids when a certain British man is taking up the entirety of your mental real estate.  She’s seen the movie at least ten times, but Henry seems to enjoy himself. They both cry when Dumbledore dies and Henry seems newly invigorated to get through the seventh book for their next movie night. The movie finishes way past his bedtime so Emma tucks him in and returns to clean up the kitchen.
As she does the dishes she feels like she’s on auto pilot, her head spinning over the events of the day. When she finally lays down, she stares at the rotation of her bedroom eiling fan for what feels like hours.  Killian Jones has crept his way into her head and she hates it.
She finally falls asleep only to wake the next morning and find he’s also crept his way into her dreams.
She groans into her pillow. Despite her gut telling her this could be good , Emma forces herself to end this now. She’s been given an opportunity and she can’t throw it away for some blue-eyed fighter who can read her like a book.  She can’t and she won’t. Henry comes first, and no one is worth risking his future for.
Emma won’t acknowledge the fact that a lot of this has nothing to do with Henry.  She picks up her phone, and responds to his text:
Yes, Mr. Jones, Thursday, 9AM sharp. I will reserve the conference room. Thank you, E. Swan . . . Killian knew the text was risky, but he didn’t think it’d shut them down completely– like there's a "them" to shut down at all.
He’s going to have to play by her rules– not that he was ever under the illusion that he wouldn’t be– and he’s in this for the long haul.  He bides his time for Thursday, desperately hoping to run into her at the gym or on the T. It’s Wednesday night’s training session where Robin finally says something. “You look like shit.”
“Thanks, mate. You’re no beauty queen yourself.” He shoots his friend (and trainer) a sarcastic smirk but receives only a judgemental stare back. Killian sighs, running his taped hands over his face. “I’m fine, Rob. I promise. Just stressed with the manager switch is all.” “Is there something wrong with Emma? Is she stressing you out? Regina said you two seemed to hit it off but if that’s not the case then I can–”
Killian cuts him off, “No, no, no. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Emma.” He winces at the meaning behind his own words, hoping it’s lost on his friend. When he meets Robin’s eye, he knows it’s not.
“I see then. How about a few quick practice rounds in the ring?” Robin gives him a knowing look as he lifts the rope for Killian to slip under. He nods back at him in thanks, not just for lifting the rope, but for dropping the subject. He doesn’t want a fuss over something that is decidedly and absolutely nothing.
He adjusts the peeling tape on his battered knuckles and slips into training mode. The world blurs around him when he fights; it’s just him and his opponent. He feels the rush of instinct and adrenaline course through his veins as he rolls his shoulders back ready to go one versus one with his trainer.
He takes it easy on Robin.
Obviously.
He wipes the sweat from his brow as he all but chugs from the water bottle Robin threw him after the quick bout. Water pours down his throat like ice, quelling the adrenaline, and calming the innate rage that boils over mid-fight. With a clear mind, his first thought is of green eyes. He punches the padded wall behind him in protest of his own mutinous thoughts, and Robin shakes his head.
“You’ve got it bad, mate.” Robin gives Killian a tight smile and throws him a towel, “Shower up, you did good today.”
The pounding of the water on his shoulders brings further clarity. How he feels about Emma is, at this point, out of his control, but what they become is her decision. He’s known this all along, but would be lying if he said he hadn’t tried to push the hands of fate a little bit.
It was selfish, but Killian doesn’t mind being selfish when it comes to Emma.
He finishes up getting ready and walks out of the locker room while scrolling through ESPN’s predictions for this week’s fights when he quite literally runs into someone.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I–” He looks up. “Oh Belle, I’m sorry, lass. I wasn’t looking where I was going.”
Belle smiles brightly, “No problem, Mr. Jones. It happens.” “Killian please, lass.”
Belle nods shyly and smiles before walking towards the storage closet between the two locker rooms. Killian’s eyes subconsciously follow the sweet lass until they catch a flash of blonde leaving the locker room opposite his. Something in his gut tells him to ignore her, that sparking a conversation will only dig him in deeper; yelling out her name only torturing him more.
He stares at the space where her head was only seconds before a bit longer than he should and catches Belle’s knowing glance as he finally shakes himself out of whatever trance Emma put him under.
. . .
She knows going to the gym is risky but Emma needs to let the tension out somehow.  She’s obviously just stressed about her client meeting tomorrow.
It has nothing to do with said client.
And his damn blue eyes.
She walks in and notices Belle isn’t at the desk, but a quick sweep finds her putting towels away in the storage closest between the two locker rooms.
It also finds Killian Jones.
Emma looks down at her phone immediately hoping to avoid any in-person contact. He seems nice enough but she’d like to keep this strictly professional… she thinks.
She flinches before walking into the locker room, sure he’s noticed her by now and will say something that she has no choice to ignore. Emma expects to be pleasantly surprised when she gets into the locker room unscathed but her mind betrays her. Questions of why he didn’t stop her or even so much as cough to get her attention flood her mind for the rest of her work out. The silence and space is unlike the Killian Jones she’s become acquainted with over the past week and starkly different than the ones she’s kept in the peripheral of her mind for the last year.
Yes, a year; she’s not blind.
She audibly groans catching the attention of a man working out on the bench next to her. She recognizes him from somewhere but she can’t place him. Before she can figure it out, he’s walking over and introducing himself.
“Need a hand?” Emma can’t help but roll her eyes, of course he thinks she needs help.
“I got it, the groan had nothing to do with the workout. Thanks anyway, bud.”
“Graham Humbert.” Oh. Oh.
She dials the sass back a bit and throws on a friendly smile, “Emma Sw—“
“The Savior?! I thought that might’ve been you but I didn’t think you still came around. It’s been what 7 years?”
“Ten.” Emma mumbles, now fidgeting with the hair tie on her wrist. She changes the subject, “Rough fight the other weekend, huh?”
Graham seems stunned, but whether it’s at her bringing up his loss or the fact she continued the conversation, she’s not sure. “Yeah,” he laughs awkwardly, “Jones got the best of me. He’s fucking quick, I’ve heard people say that but you can’t prepare for it unless you’ve been in the ring with him.”
Emma mentally facepalms forgetting that this particular subject would divert her train of thought right back to where she didn’t want it to be. “Oh? Huh. You’ll get him next time.” She answers more than vaguely (and dishonestly— Graham winning wouldn’t be good for her now either) and Graham seems to sense the visible shift. She’s pretty sure a trash can could’ve sensed the awkward tension between them
“We’ll see I suppose. If there is a next time.” He pauses, probably waiting for her to answer but continues when she just nods in agreement. “Well it’s an honor to meet you, Emma.” He hesitates and she can practically feel what’s coming next. “If you ever need a spotter, uh, or dinner, let me know.” He slips her a business card with his cell number on it. “I’d be happy to help with either.”
She smiles softly, unable to help the inevitable blush that rises to her cheeks when someone (rather awkwardly) asks her out. “Will do, Graham. Thank you.”
He nods at her with a genuine smile and turns back to his bench. She does the same only to catch the eye of Killian. She’s not sure why she feels like she did anything wrong– for fucks sake they aren’t dating– but if the look on his face is any indication, he heard the entire exchange. Emma just saw him leave so she’s not even sure why he’s here.
Fuck it.
Emma walks towards him as he turns and heads to the door, she jogs a bit before calling out his name– what the fuck has gotten into her? “Jones!”
He turns around at her acknowledgement. “Yes, Swan?”
She realizes she’s not sure why she approached him, an explanation for her conversation with Graham suddenly seeming awfully presumptuous. “Oh, uh, I just wanted to confirm our meeting for tomorrow.” Smooth.
“Yes Swan, I recieved your text.” He mimics her, “9AM sharp. Did you reserve that conference room?”
She’s tempted to be mad at him but can sense the mirth hiding behind his eyes. “I did, but, uh, maybe the coffee shop is better. I think Tina has a meeting with Hatter’s entire team and it seems irresponsible to take up the conference room...” She’s not sure what the fuck she’s doing but the words just seem to be pouring from her mouth without her consent.
She doesn’t really mind– neither does he.
He nods at her and she’s either crazy or there’s a sense of bridled excitement in his next words, “As you wish, Swan.” He smiles softly and turns into the locker room.
Emma is left standing in the middle of the gym extremely confused? Excited? Hopeful? She’s not sure, but all she knows is that Killian Jones has come into her life like a hurricane and she’s pretty sure she's only in the eye of the storm.
. . .
Killian is out the door and halfway to the T when he realizes he forgot his headphones on the elliptical. He’d usually leave them... but tomorrow ishis off day and he needs them for subway rides so no one tries to talk to him.
Bloody hell.
He heads back into the gym, telling Belle he just has to grab something he forgot. Killian walks through the locker room to the machine he was using and stops dead in his tracks when he sees her.
Bloody. Hell.
He forgot she’d be here, which is ridiculous because his mind rarely lets him forget her existence, but he’s more so stopped by who she’s talking to. He’s close enough to hear her conversation with Humbert, and although he has no right to be, his blood boils with envy when he insinuates taking Emma on a date. He can’t help but notice she doesn’t say yes.
She also doesn’t say no.
It’s when that realization hits him that Emma spots him from across the gym. He’d like to say he masked his emotions well, but the way Emma jogs towards him tells him he failed.  He turns to walk away, not wanting to acknowledge the feelings that he’s finding hard to control in her presence, but when she calls his name he can’t help but respond.
Why does she look so worried? “Yes, Swan?” There’s an edge to his voice that he can’t control. One minute she’s short and professional, the next she’s chasing him down at the gym. He doesn’t mean to mock her by repeating the “9 am sharp” from her text, but  he feels as though he’s getting whiplash from this woman.
He doesn’t really mind.
Especially when she agrees to another coffee shop date– meeting– bloody hell.  Killian rides the high of Emma’s growing comfort all the way til their meeting the next morning.
And he is abruptly dropped on his proverbial ass.
Emma’s initial greeting is friendly and warm, as is their elevator ride, and when he offers to buy their drinks again, she flashes a bright smile but assures him she can charge it to the company. The moment they sit down at the table everything shifts. He supposes it’s his fault as he tries desperately to keep things professional. They get stuff done -Emma sees to that- but he finds himself stumbling over words where innuendos would flow easily, making for an entirely awkward conversation. Where the last meeting lasted three hours, this one lasted a mere 45 minutes before Emma assured him she had another meeting to run off to.
He knows she doesn’t. (So he checked her digital calendar, hoping for a second chance at a lunch date -sue him.) Not that he would’ve asked her to lunch, but he’d hoped his good luck in regards to Emma Swan may have continued. He can read her like a book and he knows she feels something but the last thing he wants to do is push– good thing he's a patient man.
This woman will be the death of him.
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Stark Spangled Banner Ch25: All Dressed Up, Nowhere To Go
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Summary: The team work hard to put the events of Sokovia behind them, and Steve and Katie set a date for their wedding. But as the Avengers get to grips with their new base upstate, with Tony retired from active service, Steve finds his time stretched perilously thin between his leadership responsibilities and his soon to be wife...and tempers boil over.
Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark 
Warnings: Bad language, HARD Smut! (NSFW, Under 18s) Bad Language words.
Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist 
 Open For Tags and Suggestions- Ping me an Ask
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July 2015
“You’re up early.” Steve said as he dropped onto the swinging chair besides his girl. It wasn’t even 6 am yet but she was sat outside on their patio “You ok?”
“Yeah.” she smiled at him, as he pecked her cheek, looking out over the dimly lit lawn area of the Newly Opened Avengers Facility which swept down to the banks of the Hudson. The Facility had been the product of one of Tony’s crazy brain farts not long after they had come back from Sokovia.
Look, Cap, we're like a trouble magnet," Tony explained animatedly, "Wherever the Avengers are, trouble follows."
"So - you're suggesting we build another building?" Steve rubbed his neck and looked up at the blueprints Tony had now blown up against the wall.
"I'm suggesting we relocate, completely, leave the Tower to Stark Industries and build our own facility and expand." Tony said, flipping through pictures with a sweep of his finger. "We have this this old warehouse upstate, good location, middle of nowhere.”
"Less chance of civilian damage." Steve’s hands fell to the buckle on his belt.
"Full medical wing, Living quarters, as well as a bunch of extra spare apartments, for all the strays we keep accumulating, training arena, kitchen, cafeteria- satellite links- you name it, you got it.”
"How long will it take?" Steve asked and Katie tried not to sigh at the fact that her dream of a quiet life in a nice house in Brooklyn had just blown up in front of her face.
Tony looked affronted. "I’m a billionaire cap, it’ll take however long we say."
Steve looked at Katie who simply shrugged at him, keeping her face passive.  
“Have you two eaten?” she asked, changing the subject.
Tony shook his head as did Steve.
“I’ll fix you both something.” she turned and started moving towards the kitchen area.
“Not for me…” Tony said. “I’ve got a dinner reservation with Pepper at 8…” “Yeah, you might wanna get a move on then, seeing as its 7:30.” she shot over her shoulder.
“What?” Tony glanced at his watch and frowned “Shit…fuck…”
“You kiss Pepper with that mouth?” Steve quipped back, winking at Katie as Tony collected up his laptop and the blue-prints disappeared off the wall.
“FRIDAY why didn’t you remind me?” my brother groaned. “You never asked Boss…” The Irish lilt came back.
“I miss JARVIS…” Tony grumbled, the door clicking shut as he left.
The Facility had been remodelled in record time and whilst some areas were still undergoing renovations, over 80% of it was complete. There had also been changes to their team too. Clint had headed home, the birth of his baby son- Nathaniel Pietro- prompting him to take indefinite paternity leave, all of them fully accepting this was his way of leaving everything behind for good. Thor had left earlier that morning, promising he would return for the Wedding, whenever they finally got round to setting a date. But they still hadn’t heard a thing from Banner and the jet was proving impossible to track. On the plus side, they invited Sam and Rhodey to join the team officially and both had gleefully accepted, along with Vision and Wanda. Lawson was now their chief Technician and Evans had joined the team too, which made Katie happy as she enjoyed their company.
It was starting to grow light, the first rays of sunlight were bouncing off the water to the West. He turned to look at his girl and watched her as she surveyed the river, feet tucked underneath her on the seat.
“No regrets?” he asked, and Katie could feel him studying her face.
“Are you ok, you know, about this move to a new facility?” he asked gently as the pair of them were stood in the kitchen, “I know it’s not exactly the home you had in mind.”
“We’ll be together. That’s all that matters.” Katie shrugged.
“I know but, I just worry sometimes. You deserve better, a quiet life.”
“Not sure we have a choice.” Katie said, concentrating on her task- chopping a pepper up for the couscous salad she was making.
“What was it you said to me all those years ago?” he said, smiling softly “There’s always a choice. You got out of SHIELD, you could get out of this…”
“You know for a moment in Sokovia… “Katie placed her knife down and turned to face him. “I thought… well I thought we weren’t getting out of it alive. And It frightened me, I’m not gonna lie…”
She looked up at him and met his eyes. He knew the whole thing with Ultron and the final show down in Sokovia had shaken her, more than any other mission she’d been involved in. It served as a reminder exactly what is achievable with technology, how fragile humans are, how easily life and peace could be shattered. For that split second, when on that floating city she hadn’t seen a way out, she had genuinely thought their time was up. And her life with Steve cut short before it had even started.
“We stood there, on that rock and in that split second when it seemed everything was lost you know what I felt?” she looked at him and he waited for her answer “Relief. Relief that if we both went down, we did it together and I didn’t have to spend a single day without you…”
“Sweetheart…” Steve began but she carried on.
“I can’t sit by and simply be that girlfriend, that wife even, that waves you off on a mission wondering to myself if it’s the last time I ever see you. I hated doing that when I left SHIELD and I can’t do it anymore…you fight, I fight.” “So what if I quit?” he said, “What if I gave you the life you deserve?” “You can’t quit, and I wouldn’t ask you to.” Katie shook her head “The world needs The Avengers, and the Avengers need their Captain...” “And their Captain needs his girl…” he said, his eyes flashing with something that looked to her a lot like worry. She sighed and crossed the space between them. 
“And she’s not going anywhere…” Katie said gently, standing on her toes to give him a peck
The Avengers depended on Steve as their leader even more so now that Tony had said he was hanging up his Iron Man suits for good, choosing to manage and see over the running of the practical side of things instead of active combat. Ultron had really hit her brother hard, but whilst his way of dealing with it was to call it quits, Steve was the opposite. He wasn’t ready to leave this behind for a quiet suburban life. And if being with him meant Katie had to stay too, then so be it.
So, regrets?
“No” she said, taking his hand in hers as she lay her head against his shoulder. “None at all.”
He smiled to himself as her hand began to play with his, the fingers of her left hand gently tracing across his knuckles, the only evidence of her brutal beating last year was the slightly bent pinkie that no matter how much physio she had, she couldn’t extend it fully.  He still got a cold shiver when he thought about how close he had come to losing her. She sighed softly, and he looked down to see she was looking at their intertwined hands and then it struck him just how much he couldn’t wait to tie himself to her for the rest of his life.
“Let’s get married.” He said gently into her ear.
“I thought we already were…” she said,
“No, I mean let’s do it. Let’s get a date set, the sooner the better. We were supposed to set one months ago and I don’t want to wait any longer.” “Is that what you want?” she looked up at him smiling.
He nodded “More than anything doll.”
“Alright…” she smiled “Let’s do it.” He grinned before his lips met hers, the kiss gentle and soft.
“Any ideas on where?” she asked. As a matter of fact Steve did, the idea had come to him a few days ago, but he wasn’t sure if she was going to go for it.
“Well…I errr…thought, maybe, perhaps we could look at the church my mom used to take me to when I was a kid.” He ran a hand through his hair “That is, if you wanted to.” “Steve that’s a lovely idea.” she smiled and he beamed down at her
“You think?” “Yeah.” she smiled, and it turned out she’d had her own idea for the party too.
“Maybe, we could have the reception here, in the grounds.” she said, looking at him.
“Here?” Steve frowned, he’d assumed she’d want some kind of hotel booking downtown. But as she spoke, he soon realised that what she was saying made perfect sense, and was more them than any flash place they could hire.
“Think about it.” she said, “No security issues, no press, just us, our friends, family… we can get a marquee by the lake…” Katie paused. As a girl she’d always envisaged a huge, fairy tale wedding with hundreds of guests, in The Rainbow Rooms no less. But now, all she wanted was for those people who meant the world to them to be there to celebrate with them.
“Are you sure?” he asked. She nodded. “Never been so sure of anything in my life.”
“Then I’m fine with that.” He smiled, gently kissing her again.
“So you wanna go see this church?”  she asked.
“What now? It’s barely light…” “So?” she sat up “I’ll take you to IHOP on the way…” “Now you’re talking…”he grinned.
By the time they had showered, which Steve had suggested they do together, to save water and time (although by the time they had finished there was a lot more water and time used up than if they showered alone) and finally dressed it was gone 8, meaning they hit IHOP at just after half past. As they both stuffed their faces, excitedly talking about their clandestine wedding planning Katie was struck with just how young Steve looked. He was dressed casually in a Dodgers T-shirt, jeans, trainers and a baseball cap, his blue eyes sparkling with anticipation. He was excited.
The church was in a small neighbourhood in Brooklyn and Katie instantly fell in love with the place. St Augustine’s was an old red stone and brick built church with a tall spire. Very Gothic chic, which caught her attention instantly. As Steve climbed out of the car, a rush of memories hit him, the smells, the noises, the sights, everything. It was like he had stepped back in time as he saw his mother grasping his hand softly as she led him up the steps and through the heavy wooden doors. The last time he had set foot in this church, however, had been his mother’s funeral. But now, it was time for something happier.
Steve slipped his arm round Katie.
“What do you think?”
“It’s beautiful.” Katie said.
Before Steve had chance to reply, a voice with a faint Irish lilt spoke, causing them both to stand and turn to see the Priest walking towards them.
“Can I help you?”
“Yes, hi…” Steve smiled, shaking the priest’s hand “I’m Steve…”
“Rogers, yes I recognised you.” the Priest smiled “Pleasure to meet you Captain.”
Steve shook his hand before the Priest reached out to Katie
“So this would make you Miss Stark?”
“Hi.” she smiled, shaking his hand.
“Charmed…” The Priest smiled, his eyes twinkled as he looked at Katie and she instantly warmed to the man. He wasn’t as old as she had expected, maybe a few years older than Tony, the hair around his temples was greying and his eyes were lined but he had a kind smile.
“So what can I do for you?”
“Well, we…” Steve smiled at Katie before he looked at the Priest. “We’d like to get married here. As soon as we can.” The dark haired man smiled and beckoning for them to follow him to the back of the church “I’m sure we can manage that, let’s see what date’s we have free…”
After chatting to the priest, and settling on a date, Steve was taken by a wave of nostalgia and convinced Katie to drop into the small cemetery on the outskirts of Brooklyn. Weaving their way through the stones he finally stopped in between two well weathered ones, which contained the names of his parents. Crouching down he gently wiped away years worth of grime and he bowed his head, his eyes wet.
“Hey ma.” he said softly, “brought someone to meet you.”
Katie felt the tears springing into her eyes as she crouched next to him, laying her head on his shoulder.
“She’d be so proud of you, Stevie” she said gently, “They both would”
“I hope so.” he said softly and she reached out to turn his head so he was looking at her.
“Baby, how could they not be?”
She gently kissed him before she stood up and made her way to the car, leaving him alone with his thoughts for 10 minutes or so before he came striding out of the yard, and climbed into the driver’s side.
“Could we, maybe update the stones?” he asked after a moments pause “I mean I didn’t have much money back then and I’d like them to have something a bit more, I dunno…” “Of course we can.” she said, tangling her fingers with his, bringing his hand up to her lips so she could kiss his knuckles “Of course we can.”
******
“31st August?” Natasha frowned. She was the first person after Tony who they told they had set a date.
Katie nodded.
“Seriously?”
“Yeah…”
“That’s like…well, it’s weeks away!”
“Look, just be grateful it wasn’t sooner” she said, “The priest originally offered us a date two weeks off which Steve was all for taking until I persuaded him to give us a bit more time.”
“You know you could have set this date months ago.” Natasha rolled her eyes “Yeah, I know. I mean it’s gonna be a bitch to organise. If only I had a really good almost sister-in-law and a best friend with amazing military like planning skills that could also double up as bridesmaids…” Katie said, eyeing her as they walked. Natasha stopped and turned to face her friend. “You mean…” Katie smiled at her and nodded “If you’re up for the job…”
“I’d be honoured…” she stuttered, before pulling her into a hug, which surprised her slightly but she returned it gladly. “I’ve never been a bridesmaid before.” “There is one condition…” Katie said looking at her “Can you get Wanda involved in the organisation too? Help her with something other than training or whatever...”
Nat smiled “Sure I can handle that.” Natasha’s response was nothing to the one she got from Tony when she asked him to give her away. 
“You know you’re my dad in every way other than actually being my dad…” she said, her fingers on one hand playing with those on the other as she felt her eyes misting “There’s no other person I’d want to walk me up the aisle…” He instantly teared over and pulled her into a hug, not finding his voice for a good 30 seconds as he silently shed his tears over her shoulder.
“I’d be honoured…”he whispered softly, kissing her cheek.
Steve, however wasn’t having as much luck. Rhody, Clint and Sam all accepted his invitations to be Groomsmen (he sent one to Thor via Jane, who also accepted gleefully with a loud, booming phone call) but he was struggling really to decide who to ask as his best man.
His initial thought had been Tony, despite the fact the two of them bitched and bickered at one another, they were close, almost brotherly close. However, given that Tony was giving Katie away in his role as Father/Brother of the Bride that was out. The next obvious choice was Sam, but it all just felt wrong. He was struggling, coming to terms with the fact that his lifelong best friend wouldn’t be the one to do the job.
“I always thought it would be Buck by my side.” he said, looking out over the lawn as he was sat on the patio one evening with Katie, the pair of them with a beer in hand. “He was, is, my oldest friend.”
“Friendship isn’t about who you’ve known for the longest Steve.” Katie said, shrugging “It’s about who came into your life and never left your side.”
Those words had resonated within him, and he realised they made perfect sense. So in the end he did ask Sam, who accepted gleefully. Although when he caught him and Natasha huddled in a corner, looking at something on his phone one afternoon, the pair of them sniggering like a couple of naughty kids he started to wonder what on Earth he had started.
*****
The weeks were starting to fly by, Katie had known they would do a soon as they fixed a date. Simple things like the Marque was easy to hire, flowers, (she already knew what she wanted) table decorations, all taken care of by Pepper and her excellent organisational skills. What she hadn’t done was given any thought to what her dress would be like, or what the fuck she was going to do with her last name. The latter of these questions, however, was answered late one Thursday afternoon in the first week of August.
Katie led Steve up into the elevator selecting the right floor and once they reached it she stepped out. She passed the rooms on either side showing Steve where the rest of her editorial team were, the conference rooms and when they reached the door at the end of the short hall she swiped her badge, placing her hand to the pad at the side.
“Good afternoon Miss Stark.” FRIDAY greeted her, the door clicking open. She walked in, Steve following as she headed over to the giant mahogany desk.
"So?" she grinned, flinging her arms wide. "What do you think?"
He raised his eyebrows appraisingly as he slowly looked around the room. It was about twice the size of her last office in the tower – and the small office at the compound. It still smelt of new carpet with a hint of fresh paint.
His eyes land on a small grouping of framed photos on one of the shelves and he moved over to look at the pictures. He paused at one in particular, pulling it from the shelf. It was an old black-and-white of him pre serum, the one attached to his file. In it he’s looking at something, something off camera, dog tags hanging over the top of his white t-shirt. Katie watched as he ran his thumb over the frame, far away smile playing on his mouth. She jumped off the desk and headed towards him.
"That's one of my favourites," she said, and he started a little, turning to face her “You just look so… I dunno, cute?” “Cute?” he asked, snaking an arm round my waist.
“Yeah, cute…” she confirmed as he pulled away and set the frame back on the shelf.  "I love it."
"Now this one," he said, pointing at the next photo. "This one, I love."
Katie looked at the photo of the two of them, a selfie, taken on her 30th last year, just before he proposed. The pair of them just look ridiculously happy, normal.
“Yeah, it was a good day.” I smiled
"Yeah, didn’t I ask you a question?" He pulled her closer and nuzzled her neck
“Think you did, yeah.”
He trailed a few lazy kisses down her neck before landing at her collarbone, giving a quick nip before he frowned at another picture. It was of him, Tony and Katie stood with their arms folded looking at a screen, each of their intent, focused expressions mirroring the others. "When was that taken?" he asked, a bit bewildered.
“I dunno.” she shrugged.
“I took it.” A familiar voice said and the 2 of them spun to see Pepper. “The 3 of you just looked ridiculously alike, it made me laugh”
“I do not look like her.” Tony was behind her as he glanced at Steve, then her and then Pepper. “What you two doing here?” “Admiring my new office.” Katie shot back. “It is my office after all.” “Fair enough, you like it?” Tony asked.
Katie grinned “It’s amazing, I can’t wait to move in properly.”
“Well…” Tony said, looking round “It’s all yours Kiddo, the rest of the team move in on Monday so…” “Monday it is.” She grinned at her brother. “but there is one thing missing…” “Oh?” Tony quipped
“Yeah, where’s my pretentious name plaque for the door?” “Well, I wanted to ask you what you wanted on it?” Pepper asked. “Stark or Rogers.” Katie bit her lip and Steve side eye her. For a while she’d been wrangling over this. Keep it for work purposes, double barrel or change it. If she was honest, changing it completely made her feel a little, well odd really, like she was losing her identity, in a way. But as she stood there, thinking things over, she thought back to everything they had been through over the past 12 months, she realised suddenly that she was tying herself to Steve for the rest of her life. She was giving him her everything and vice versa. She knew it meant a lot to him, but he still hadn’t pressured her into agreeing to take his name, he had made it clear it was her choice and her choice alone. And suddenly she knew, she knew what she wanted.
“Rogers.” she said and Steve felt his head turn to hers, not quite sure he had heard right. She smiled at him, linking her fingers into his and he returned the grin stupidly because, you know, she wanted to be Mrs Rogers.
“Katie Rogers- Managing Director it is.” Pepper said, as she looked at Tony.
“Told you so.” Tony shrugged before he looked at his sister, and gave her a wink.
***** Katie sat in front of her mirror and did her hair and make-up before she shrugged on the pale pink jumpsuit she’d bought especially for that evening, slipped her feet into her heels and headed to the living room. It was now 6:30, but knowing Steve as she did, he would no doubt barrel through the door in the next 10 minutes, swearing the way he always did when no one else but she could hear him, shower and be ready to go in 15 minutes flat.
She sighed to herself, she’d had the best day today in a long time. It was the first day in ages she’d had off work and she’d managed to buy her wedding dress. Or should that be Tony had bought her wedding dress courtesy of Pepper and a black Amex.  Wanda and Nat had cruised down to Manhatten with he in the Champagne stocked limo, stopping to pick Pepper up on the way. Once in the boutique, it had taken them a while but Katie had finally settled on one, which had literally made her tear up the moment it was fastened.
It was a gorgeous, sweetheart neckline Ivory A-line with lace detailing all-over the bodice which was decorated with crystals. The skirt flared into layer upon layer of tulle decorated with the same lace detailing and beading with the skirt extending into a layered train at the back.
“I…" Katie turned to the assistant who grinned.
“It looks fantastic.”
Katie stepped out to show the girls and all 3 of them simultaneously gave their approval. Pepper’s hand flew to her mouth, Natasha arched an eyebrow and Wanda said something in Sokovian.
“Kiddo…” Pepper said, nodding.
“This is it…” Katie beamed, “Think Steve will like it?” “Sweetheart…” Pepper stood up and wrapped her into a hug “You’ll blow his mind.”
Steve had also had a reasonably productive day. Given that he, Sam and Rhodey were planning on wearing their Military Uniforms for the wedding and that Thor was going to be in his best Asgardian dress gear this only left Clint and Tony to organise for the suits. Katie had already picked them, simple charcoal pinstripes with ivory and gold waistcoats and light blue ties (light blue, pale red and gold were their colours, being a less gaudy variation of red, white and blue which they had agreed on) so this meant all he had to do was sort a fitting for Clint and Tony.
It had been a lot easier than he had imagined, the store already having Tony’s measurements, (because of course he got all his suits from there) and they also had a sister branch about 30 miles from where Clint lived who could sort it for him. So with that done and completed by lunch time his attention had turned to the meetings he had with General Ross and Rhodey about a potential collaboration programme with some of the Armed Forces Specialists. Now he had one final stop to see how the New Recruits for the support team were getting on.
“Hey," Steve said as he strode into the training facility before he smirked and nodded over Sam’s shoulder "I'm assuming you told them to take five?"
A confused frown spread over Sam’s face as he turned to look behind him. Every single one of the recruits was standing right staring wide eyed at the Captain.
“Drills!" Sam shouted “Or you’ll get another 10 laps of the compound!”
“You’ve taken to this training role far too easily.” Steve grinned at him.
“What can I say, I’m a natural born leader.” he grinned “S’up?”
“I’ve been going through the intel on the Cambodia job.” Steve said. “I know the authorities are insisting its some low times arms dealer thinking he can muscle in on someone else’s patch but something smells off.”
“That’s because it is.” Nat said, walking into the gym, tablet in her hand.
“You got something?” Steve asked and she nodded, handing him the item.
“Cross referenced the MO. Matches an attack on an Army Munitions factory in Calcutta. And one in Tayshet, Russia” she said “And this is the culprit.” Steve looked down at the photo up of a man in what looked like a White Hockey Mask.
“He’s calling himself Crossbones.” Nat said as Sam moved to look at the photo.
“Great…another rogue arms dealer.” Steve rolled his eyes.
Sam snorted “What kind of dumbass name is Crossbones?”
Steve sighed and looked at Natasha “We got any info on who he might be?”
“I contacted a few people.” Nat said vaguely. “One of my contacts came through and says he has something but will only speak in person.”
“How soon can we go?” Steve looked at her.
“I’ll talk to them, see what they say.” She said.
Steve nodded “Ok, well I don’t think it needs the full team so me and you will go, Sam you can hold the fort here. We should only be away for a day or two.”
Sam shrugged “You’re the boss.” “I’ll make a few calls, tell them to expect us.” Nat said. Steve nodded and she straightened up. “You talked to Katie?”
“Not since this morning why?” Steve looked at Nat.
“She got a wedding dress today.”
“She did?” Steve’s face softened just the way it did anytime someone referred to their wedding. “Hang on, am I allowed to know that?” “Think it’s pretty safe to know your future wife’s bought a wedding dress, you know, on account of the fact you’ll be getting married soon.” Sam snorted “You’re just not supposed to see it before hand.”
“How long did she take to pick it?” Steve looked at Natasha, a grin on his face. Natasha smirked back at him.
“Not that long, because I’d already rung and told them the type of thing she like so nothing she tried on was hideous to her. We were in there a couple of hours, then went for some lunch and did a bit more shopping.”  
“Good.” Steve nodded. “She’s been working really hard recently so she deserved a day off. I feel like I’ve hardly seen her over the past few weeks with everything that’s been going on.”
Which reminded him, he couldn’t wait to take her out that night for a well overdue evening together. They’d both been so busy with setting up the compound, her business and he was looking forward to them both escaping the hustle and bustle. Which reminded him, he needed to go.
Nodding to the pair of them, smiling as Sam barked another order, he wandered into the corridor. It seemed a lot less busy than usual. Maybe everyone had taken an early finish for some reason, although he couldn’t think why for a Tuesday. He glanced at his watch and gave a start. “Shit…”
They weren’t taking an early dart, he was taking a late finish.
Katie was sat on the couch, shoes long since abandoned along with any hope that they were actually going anywhere, and was half way through a bottle of very expensive Pinot Grigio that she had bought for them to have once they got home by the time Steve blustered into the apartment.
“Shit, shit…baby I am so sorry!” he said, as Katie looked up, not even able to bring herself to be pissed off anymore, she’d been angry about half an hour ago. Now she was just disappointed. “The meeting with Ross and Rhodey took a bit longer and then something came up on the Cambodia thing” he continued, sighing “Time just got away from me.” he stopped as he drew level with the couch “You look gorgeous.” “Shame it was for nothing” she said, rolling her eyes, turning her attention back to the TV and the re-run of Friends she’d been watching but not paying attention to.
“We can still go…”
“There’s no way we’ll make it.” she said, pointing to the clock with her eyes “Its 40 minutes into Manhatten and you need to change.” “I’ll call, push it back…” he said after a moment’s pause. “Just forget it.” she sighed “Honey…” he dropped to his knees in front of her “Don’t be like that…we can go for a drink or something.” “I’m not being like anything.” she snapped back. “You’re the one that told me to ready by 7, well I was…you on the other hand-”
“I know and I’m really sorry.” “I know.” she said, standing up “You said. Look, it doesn’t matter.”
“Katie…” he sighed as he rose to his feet too.
“I’m going to get changed and take a dip in the hot-tub with the rest of this bottle of wine and a manuscript, might as well make the most of my spare time” she said, grabbing the ice bucket as she headed to the hallway “Your presence is not required.”
*****
“Uh oh, what you done?” Natasha asked as she walked into Steve’s office the next morning, finding him browsing delivery sites for flowers.
“Last night was supposed to be Date night.” he muttered with a sigh “I was late, and we missed our reservation. First time I’ve ever done that. Katie was not happy.” “So I suppose now isn’t a good time to as if you’re up for a trip to Russia tomorrow.” Nat said, and he let out a groan. Katie had hardly spoken two words to him all evening and this morning before she had left for her office at the other end of the compound. Today was Wednesday, one of the 2 days out of 5 she worked on SIP stuff during the morning, then trained in the afternoon, a way for her to keep her toes in with the Avengers training.
“You’re right, it’s not.” he said, “But she’s pissed at me anyway so…”
“You sure it’s just about date night?” Nat asked, “Not like her to get so annoyed over something like that, especially if, as you say, you’ve never done it before.” “Well like I said yesterday, this place has been taking up a lot of my time” he said, shrugging “She’s probably feeling a bit neglected. It’s my fault completely.” 
“Well instead of wasting money on flowers…” Nat said, nodding to his screen. “Go and find her now, take her somewhere for the afternoon. I’m supposed to be sparring with her in 15 minutes, we can reschedule.”
Steve hesitated. “What about…” “I can handle the arrangements for Russia.” Nat said, “Just go.”
Katie’s bad mood hadn’t got any better by the time she finished her work for the morning and it got even worse when she reached the door of the main gym area and paused as one of the new recruits, a girl called Jenny Allen, was midway through a full on bitch rant.  
“Who the hell does she think she is anyway? I mean…” “She’s a damned good agent.” Evan’s voice cut her off “One of the best I worked with, one of the most outstanding snipers I know so…” “Yeah well she still shouldn’t just be allowed to dip into missions as and when? I mean, we all train our asses off and she just walks around, like she’s hot shit just because she was trained by some SHIELD legend when we all know the real reason she was pulled into SHIELD and the Avengers in the first place is because of her name…” “You’re out of line…” “And let’s face it, she’s only here now because she’s engaged to Cap, and owns half the gaff…”
“I mean, they are two pretty good reasons” Katie said, pushing the doors open and walking into the gym. She had to give Allen credit, she started bit but then recovered and stood tall.
“Katie, I…” Evans started but Katie cut him off. “It’s ok…she has an opinion, she’s entitled to it. Say what’s on your mind Allen.” “I just…” she took a deep breath “I don’t like the way you seemingly get to swan into missions, with little to no training like the rest of us. It’s dangerous.” “Dangerous?” Katie folded her arms over her chest.
“Yes, dangerous. You don’t know how we operate as a team, I mean are you still versed in hand to hand?” Versed? What the fuck?
Katie raised her eyebrow and smirked at Evans who instantly spotted the look on her face. Fuck this, she’d been waiting to give Allen a smack since she had caught her batting her eyelids at Steve, practically trying to climb him when he’d been running over a report with her. What better way was there to fix a bad mood?
“I tell you what.” Katie said “why don’t we find out? I’m due to spar with Widow but you’ll do.” “I err…” Allen hesitated slightly. “Nova I don’t think that’s a good idea?” Evans cut int. “I mean…” “No.” Allen said, straightening up. “It’s fine…I’m game.” Katie turned to drop her water on a bench and started to wrap her hands in the bandages she had.
“Go easy on her…” Evans whispered in Katie’s ear. She looked at him innocently.
The pair of them started to circle and Katie waited, waited like she always did for her opponent to make the first move. She watched, quickly noting that the woman favoured her right, so she was right handed. She was also a bit taller than Katie, and stockier but that wasn’t an issue, she’d floored Sam before and Evans come to think of it.
As Allen came in with a right lead, Katie ducked and aimed a harsh left jab at her mid-section, causing the woman to let out a gasp of air. She recovered fast, coming in again and Katie moved to the right so the blow glanced off her ribs and aimed a kick to her right knee, causing her to stumble slightly. As she straightened Katie was waiting and landed a hard jab straight to her face, causing her to reel as her nose began billowing crimson. There were hisses from the watching recruits and she vaguely registered Evans to tell her to take it easy but she wasn’t listening. Allen wiped at her face and came at Katie, full on, which was what she had wanted, she’d riled her enough to make her want to fight fierce but as she came Katie threw herself to the left and swept both legs from under her. She crashed to the mat and in an instant Katie had her on her front, knee in her back as she yanked her arms back.
“You’re right…” Katie bent over, lips close to her ear as she struggled, making Katie pull even more “I do own half this gaff, and my brother owns the other half. Something you need to remember when shooting your mouth off, and trying to climb my fiancée in his office…” “I wasn’t-.” she protested and Katie cut her off with another yank.
“If you so much as utter another word commenting on my fighting skills again. I will rip your arms out of your sockets, right before I have you escorted out of my compound, you got that?” “Yeah I got it.”
Steve paused at the sight in front of him. Following Natasha’s advice he’d headed to the gym, ready to take his girl out for the afternoon, only to find her pinning Allen to the floor, the woman’s arms yanked behind her back and her nose bleeding on the mat.
“I tried to stop them…” Evans looked up at Steve who made a noise in his throat and strode towards the two women. “Katie that’s enough!” his voice rang out loud across the gym.  “What the hell is going on?” “Allen had some worries I wasn’t field ready.” Katie let go and easily got to her feet, looking at him, a flash of anger in her eyes, the fact he had used his Captain’s voice on her hadn’t gone unnoticed. “So I offered to show her, put her mind at ease.”
“Yeah well I think you've made your point." he said, looking at Allen as she stood up holding tight to her nose, pressing firmly to either side to try and staunch the flow of blood from the single quick right straight Katie had hit her with before the take down.
“Do you need medical Allen?” Steve asked. She shook her head. He turned his attention to Katie, and glared at her “I don’t know what the hell is going on here…” “I just told you.” she shot back. “I was showing how field versed I was…” “By punching her in the face?” he said, his hands falling to his belt. Katie folded her arms and glared back at him.
“We were sparring.” “You were trying to rip her arms out of the sockets…”
“Don’t be so dramatic.” Katie rolled her eyes earning herself a glower, a look which would quell anyone else but not her, she wasn’t scared of him. “Maybe now she’ll think twice about making shitty comments.” “If someone punched you every time you made a shitty comment you’d never get up.” he said back, no trace of humour in his voice, because he didn’t find the issue funny at all. He eyed her again before he nodded to the door “Go.” Was he serious? One look in his eyes told Katie he was. 
“Fine.” she shrugged, picking up her water bottle before she left. Natasha, who noticed the tears in her eyes went to stop her but Katie waved her away. Steve watched her back before he turned to Evans, pointing to Allen
“Patch her up and then I’ll see both of you in my office. AND GET BACK TO WORK!” he bellowed round the room.
Evans and Allen both nodded and left.
Steve noticed Natasha was looking at him from the doorway, arms folded.
“Got something to say, Romanoff?” he asked, snappily.
“What could I possibly have say when you handled that so well?” she asked sarcastically. “FYI, you might want to take your shield back home with you later, I can’t expect Nova’s gonna take to being stripped down in front of people so well…” She levelled Steve with another look before she left and he let out a groan of frustration. Could this get any worse?
By the time he got back to his office both Evans and Allen were waiting. And when Evans explained what Allen had been saying, Steve was even more frustrated as he wasn’t surprised Katie had reacted the way she did, not that it made it right, just a little more understandable. He unloaded on the woman, gave her a verbal warning and then dismissed them both. Then, deciding it was time to face the music at home he headed to their apartment.
Katie had made it back to their quarters before she had burst into tears. She knew she was being unreasonable in a lot of ways. The Compound was still finding its feet, so of course it wasn’t going to run like clockwork and obviously Steve was going to be working long hours. She was too, she wasn’t completely innocent in that respect. The issue was him missing date night was something he had never done before and it had surprised her a lot. Was she getting less important to him as the time went on? 
Was there someone else?
The fact she had even asked that shocked her, because she knew the mere thought of it was ridiculous. Steve would never do that to her, not in a million years. Hell, he’d practically pleaded for her to understand that one night when they’d been dating for a matter of weeks even though the thought of her soldier being unfaithful was as downright ludicrous as the thought he’d ever raise a hand to her...
“Can I ask you something?” Steve turned to look at Katie, his left hand resting on the steering wheel.
“What?” 
“When you were with Grant, did he err, did he ever, you know, hit you?” Katie shook her head “No. There was one time we had a really bad row and he slammed me into a wall but he was really upset afterwards. He was a lot of things but a woman beater wasn’t one of them.” she frowned “Why do you ask that?” “I dunno…I just…” Steve took her left hand in his right “Sometimes some of the things you say, like before, your comment about how you love that I’m letting you go out with Natasha, like I wouldn’t…I guess, well…I just worried a bit that he was…”
Katie took a deep breath “He was possessive.” she said, looking down as she flipped his hand over in her lap so she could trace the lines on his palm with her fingers “Constantly accusing me of looking at other men and he wasn’t particularly keen on me going out without him, it always caused an issue.” she sighed “I don’t think he did it to be abusive as such, more likely he knew he was being a dirty bastard and fucking around behind my back, probably assumed I was doing the same thing.”
“You know I’d never do anything like that don’t you?” he said gently, his eyes locking onto hers and she gave a soft chuckle and reached up to touch his face.
“Of course I do, you’re my Stevie” she said softly. He smiled and leaned down to give her a kiss. Katie smiled and traced his jaw with her finger “Soldier, I’m already a bit late…”
“Go on. Go have some fun. Call me when you want picking up.” “I can get a cab.”
“I know but I’d like to pick you up.” he smiled and Katie nodded.
“Ok. I’ll call.” she opened the door and stood out, smoothing down her top as she stood up.
“Sweetheart?” Steve called and Katie bent to look in the car at him and he smiled “Did I tell you how good you look.” “Why thank you.” she gave a playful courtesy which made him chuckle. “Love you.” “You too doll face” he grinned, “See you later”
No, Katie knew she had nothing to worry about there, she was simply pissed at him more for calling her out in front of Evans and the recruits. Angrily she stripped off, changed into her bikini top and her denim shorts before she grabbed her book intending on heading out to the patio area to top up her tan in the August sun.
She was in the kitchen, grabbing herself a beer when Steve came back.
“You alright?” he asked.
“No.” she said her tone clipped, “But thanks for asking.”
He rolled his eyes “Katie…”
“Excuse me.” she went towards the door He didn’t move.
“Steve, move.”
He still didn’t move. “No, you’re not going anywhere until we sort this out.”
She groaned and looked up to the ceiling.
“Wanna tell me what your problem is?” he asked
“Right now, you, not letting me out of this fucking room.” she sighed, rubbing at her temples.
“Look, I know you’re pissed at me for last night and I get that, but..”
“That is not the problem!” she said loudly
“Then what is?” he said somewhat exasperatedly. “Honey, I can’t fix anything if I don’t know what I’m supposed to be fixing…”
” That!” she looked at him, her voice loud “That is the problem!. That you have no fucking idea what the matter is! You’re so wrapped up in running this place I hardly get a look in. You don’t ask for my input, you don’t involve me in anything…”
“Woah, now hang on…” he said, stepping forward, dropping his hands to his side “When we moved here you said you didn’t want to run anything…”
“And then you order me out of the fucking room in front of the damned trainees!”
“Yeah well you can’t just kick the crap out of one of my team members like that” he said, shaking his head.
"Yeah well your team member is an asshole." Katie rolled her eyes. “She deserved it for being a dick…”
She took the opportunity to dodge round him and out of the doorway he had vacated when he stepped into the kitchen and made her way to the doors at the back.
“Right now you’re being a dick” he said following her
“I’m not. I just don’t want to play second fiddle to your fucking Army Camp anymore.” “Army Camp?” he let out a sarcastic laugh.
“Yes Army Camp” she said, spinning round.
“You’re being ridiculous.” he shook his head, running his hand through his hair. “Absolutely ridiculous.” “And that doesn’t help!” she glowered at him “When I’m pissed off or upset, you telling me I’m being ridiculous…” “Well you are…” he said, a chuckle escaping his mouth and he immediately knew that was the wrong thing to do.
“Stop fucking laughing at me!” she yelled, the heat rising up her neck and to my ears. He was really, really pissing her off, her could see it on her face he took a deep breath as she continued. “Tell me I’m wrong, tell me this whole thing isn’t about reclaiming some of that time and life that was stolen from you?”
“You think…” he stopped and cocked his head to one side, trying to make sense of what she was saying “You think that this, all of this…” he waved his arms around “Is some kind of trip down memory lane?” “Well isn’t it?” He shook his head, snorting, giving her comment the contempt it deserved. “You couldn’t be further off the mark if you tried.”
“Well from what I see it looks like you’re simply trying to re-live your Howling Commando days.” she said, snapping back “And I have news for you Steve, I’m not Peggy, no matter how much you wish I was.”
The words flew out of her mouth before she could stop them and they felt like a slap to his face. But instead of it upsetting him, he found himself boiling over with anger at how fucking ridiculous she was being. They had been through this time and time again, he’d shown her and told her at Clint’s she as the most important thing in his life, hell, they were getting married in less than 3 weeks for fucks sake, what else did he need to do?
“That’s out of order and you know it…” he said, his voice low. What do I have to do to make you realise you are what I want? Not Peggy, you…”
Suddenly the shitty nature of her words began to sink in and Katie found herself unable to look at him anymore, so she turned her head to the side. So he crossed the room and grasped her chin between his thumb and forefinger forcing her to look at him. As she looked back his jaw twitched slightly, a mixture of hurt and anger in his eyes, the furious energy radiating off him and then that ridiculous part of Katie’s brain that controlled her libido piped up, this was fucking hot. Her breathing hitched slightly and he felt it too.
“Fine, if that’s what you want…” he practically growled as his lips crashed onto hers and before she could even think to kiss him back, he pulled away - leaving her wanting and moving toward him to try and catch his lips again. Her hands reached for his face, desperately trying to bring him back to her. At the motion, his hands grabbed her wrists and forced them back to her sides, clearly, but wordlessly telling her who was in charge.
There was a slight pause between them, both trying to catch their breath from the row that had just occurred and from the searing kiss he had just delivered. Then their lips found one another again, his hands moving to her waist to both pull her closer and he began to tug at her clothes. Getting the hint, she acted in tandem, hands falling to the clip on his utility belt, fumbling with it for a second in her rush before successfully releasing it and then going for the flies on his uniform pants. Steve popped the button on her denim shorts and in a quick swoop shoved them and her bikini bottoms down as they  both stumbled around the room.
He took hold of her hips again so to manoeuvre her wherever he wanted. They continued to stumble around the room for a moment before he took control and roughly picked her up. Her bare legs immediately wrapped around his still fully uniformed waist and her arms went around his neck as he slammed her up against the wall at the far side of the lounge and, using it as support he shifted his grip from under her ass. One hand went to her hip while the other pried her hands from the back of his neck. He was able to hold both of her wrists together with one of his hands, placing them up above her head and holding them there tightly.
This was angry sex, not make up sex, this was utter ‘I’m so fucking angry at you so I’m gonna show you.’ sex. Well, she was angry too so there was no way he was having this all his own way.
She rolled her hips, hard against him which was enough to get his attention but he simply used his free hand to shove her legs off of him. Katie managed to catch herself on her feet, only slightly bumping against the wall but before she had chance to think his lips found hers again, hungrily kissing her while his hand skated over her bare stomach. She arched into the touch, wanting him to move a bit south, but his hand stopped an inch away from where she wanted it to be.
"Say you're sorry." his voice was right by her ear, rougher than she could ever remember it being before. Rough enough to make a shiver go down her spine and for her to try and thrust into his hand, desperate for any sense of relief. But he pulled even further away from her, making her whine a bit. “You’re sorry and you believe me…”
"I'm sorry." she breathed out, stumbling over her words “And I believe you…”
He surged forward, kissing her desperately and she openly moaned into his mouth as two of his fingers slipped inside of her. His motions were fast and aggressive and he brought her to the brink, and then stopped.
"Do you still believe me?" he breathed out, voice ragged. “Tell me you do and you want this.” The fucker was still making a point but by now Katie really didn’t care.
"Stevie, please." she thrust her hips out toward him, gasping "I still believe you, I want you."
It was want, not need. And that didn’t escape his notice. He knew which one he would prefer to hear, to be wanted over needed any day.
He couldn’t help the soft smirk on his face as he braced one hand on the wall beside her head, the other harshly yanked one of her legs up so that it wrapped around his waist. Reaching into his pants he freed his now painfully hard erection from them and didn’t even pause before slamming into her, making her cry out sharply, one hand going to grip his bicep, the other against the wall to steady herself. He slammed into her over and over with such force that she was sure she was about to go through the wall itself and into the hall.
Desperate to be both closer to him and not to actually go through the wall, because that would be awkward to explain, not mention painful, Katie tried to lean in more to him. The motion made him go deeper inside of her, which caused her to moan at the feeling. At that point Steve quickly removed his hand from the wall and lifted her off her feet. Their chests pressed together, the bare skin of her stomach rubbing against the harsh Kevlar of his uniform, both messily kissing each other as Steve stumbled around the main area of the lounge before toppling over the arm of the couch where Katie ended up on top. Even then he continued his aggressive thrusts, his hands on her hips, pulling her down as he drove upwards.
She let out a small groan, the roughness of his pants was grinding against her clit along with the fact he was bottoming out inside her, hitting her spot again and again.
“Shit, Captain…” she hissed and the noise made him slam up even harder, fuck he loved it when she said that when he was being tough. She let out a loud scream and tightened around him and at the feel of her walls clamping down, which was fucking bliss as always, his thrusts upwards became desperate as he chased his own end,  before he gave a loud “fuck…” and he came, hard as she collapsed on top of him.
The pair of them lay, utterly spent and his hands gently ran up her spine as her face pushed into his neck.
"Still pissed at me?" he murmured.
"In a fashion." she responded as she picked her head from her shoulder and rolled to the side so she was between him and the back of the couch. He moved so they were facing each other, gently nudging her nose with his.
“Can we talk this over like adults now?” his voice was still quite stern. Katie bit her lip as she looked at him and he sighed, his voice becoming softer “I hate rowing with you. But I still don’t know what’s going on. Please talk to me.”
“You shouldn’t have ordered me out.” she said.
“You broke Allen’s nose.” Katie had to fight the smirk crossing her face. Good shot.
“it’s not funny.” “It is.” Katie said “She deserved it.”
After what Evans had told him, Steve kind of agreed to be fair and Katie saw his face soften slightly. “Evans told me what she said.” Steve brushed her hair behind her ears “For what its worth she’s had an official warning.” “Did you go all Cap on her?” Katie raised an eyebrow “Bet she loved that…” “What do you mean?” “Oh come on, don’t tell me you haven’t noticed…”she snorted before putting on an airy voice “oh Cap…that’s so funny. Hey Cap, can you show me how to do this take down. Oh Cap, you’re such a good teacher… she was practically trying to climb you the other day in your office.” “You’re jealous…” he smirked.
“I don’t like people touching my stuff.” she sighed “Especially not some 28 year old blond bombshell.” “Blond bombshell?” he snorted.
“What? She’s hot.” I shrugged “I’d do her.” His eyes flashed cheekily “Now there’s an image.” She narrowed her eyes at him and he laughed before sighing again.
“Listen to me…” he said, his hand then coming up to caress the side of her face as he looked at her, driving his words home. “You are the most important thing in the world to me and there’s no other girl that comes close, not matter what you think. Not Allen, not Peggy, no one. And as for playing second fiddle…” he gestured with his spare hand around the room. “Say the word and this all goes.”
“Yeah right. You’ll never give up being Captain America…”
“I would for you.” He said simply.
Katie looked at him, he’d shocked her, but he meant every word. If he had to give all this up, he would. He didn’t want to but, he would. The magnitude of what he had just admitted took a while to sink in, but when it did Katie was overcome with emotion, desire and she leaned in to kiss him, as he wrapped an arm around her waist while one of her legs slithered in between his.
Soft, gentle kisses were shared as Katie gently reached for the zip of his uniform top, undoing it and then guiding his undershirt over his head as he undid his pants fully, shimmying out of them before he guided her onto her back while he shifted so he was caging her in between his legs. This time the mood passion, not anger.
“You have no idea what you do to me…” he whispered gently into her ear as he undid the strings on her bikini top leaving them both completely bare. She let out a groan as she titled her hips up. He closed his eyes as her hand came to rest on his cheek and he leaned into the touch as he shifted so her legs parted and he was inside of her again.
Tilting her head back at the feeling left her neck exposed, which Steve took advantage of in pressing soft kisses up her throat. His hand snaked up her arm so he could intertwine his fingers with hers. He slowly rolled his hips against hers, instead of the frantic rhythm he had prior. The hand that wasn’t entwined with hers went to her hip, pulling her closer as he thrust deeply, gently, slowly, each roll of his hips hitting her spot as he continued over and over again, head dropping to my neck, collar bone and breasts which he had paid no attention to before.
“Stevie, you feel so good…” Katie moaned and he let out a groan of his own at her words. When her orgasm rolled over her again, this one not as ferocious as before, but no less pleasurable she melted underneath him, breathless, her hand running through his hair as he came again, collapsing on top of her
The moments after they finished were always their favourite. The quiet bliss that surrounded them like a bubble, keeping them safe from the world.
"I love you." Katie said softly. He picked his head up from where he had it buried in the crook of her neck so he could meet her eyes.
"I love you too." he responded, pushing some hair out of her face,  thumb circling her cheek. "I can’t wait to be your husband." he whispered, lips ghosting over hers.
 Tags
@the-omni-princess​
@momobaby227
@geekofmanythings16
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devlinxtaylor-blog · 7 years
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Character task 02: Relationships
Devlin and Cassandra / You and I - Pvris
The love of his life, the one that made the rowdy, ragged guy with nothing but a series of hook ups and one night stands want something more for the first time in his life. Cass is so much more than just Devlin’s wife, she is his best friend, his light in the darkness, the one he relies on for pretty much anything and everything. While they do have their ups and downs, their relationship is filled with passion, laughter and play. He constantly tries to hold onto their sweet honeymoon phase and cherishes all the time they get to spend together, but alone. Not a day goes by that Devlin doesn’t deeply appreciate her or think himself wildly lucky to have found her. Its only recently that he’s started to accept and trust in that she isn’t going to suddenly up and leave when she realizes what kind of man she’s married. In her eyes she is such a good and kindhearted person that at times, he can’t believe she’s with a man like him who has scores of blood on his hands. @cassxtaylor
Devlin and Nikolas / All Along The Watchtower - Billy Valentine & The Forest Rangers
There were times when Devlin used to take his big brother role very seriously with Nikolas, times when he’d give plenty of advice, try to be a guiding force in his brothers life without the abuse their parents tended to add. He’s often ended up parenting Nik more than he probably should, with their age difference that was just a part of the package. However, since growing up more their brotherly bond became a lot more about mutual interests in raising hell and how good of a team, near unbeatable, they were when joining forces. Dev has always admired his brother greatly, for his brains and smarts. They have arguments and fights just like any pair of siblings would have, but they tend to solve them more maturely now at their age. Devlin would do anything for his brother, die if he has to, and despite his often teasing remarks he genuinely cares a heck of a lot for Nik’s happiness and well being. @grimreapertaylor
Devlin and Reagan / Forever Young - Audra Mae & The Forest rangers
Caught between a brother and a father figure role, Devlin is navigating the waters now that Reagan is back in the city. On one side, he cares so deeply for her, having always considered her part of his family as a younger sister, on another he is doing his best to accept that she has grown up and become a strong, independent woman. Its not easy to let go of the image and perception he has of her, he isn’t likely to stop treating her like an older brother would, but he is still finding that balance between older sibling and leader, knowing she wants to be a part of the Strix. Dev has, though well concealed a lot of guilt over leaving Reagan to fend for herself for a lot of years while he and Nik were in London, building the Strix after Devlin took over, and he’s unlikely to let go of that anytime soon. He’ll do anything to make sure she can start anew in London and get the life she always wanted, and deserved. @reagan-donahue
Devlin and Nate / I won’t let go - Rascal Flatts
Some might consider Nathaniel the youngest of the Taylor clan, though his last name is still his mothers. To Devlin, Nate is like a son, but also a brother. From the second the little boy was dropped off at the Taylor’s doorstep, Devlin has cared for and looked after Nate. He’ll always be a bit overbearing and protective, when he’s not in trainer mode, teaching his cousin a trick or two. Should anyone be stupid enough to try and harm Nate, they’ll experience hell on earth, as Devlin would move mountains to protect him, but also anyone he considers family. Nothing and no one i allowed to touch them. @ofstrixbastard
Devlin and Grace / Take me there - Rascal Flatts 
Devlin doesn’t quite know what it is, but ever since he recruited Grace, he has had a great fondness for her. Whenever they speak he is at ease, increasingly curious to hear her take on situations or her opinions. He’s boiled it down to how different her story and nature is from everyone else in the gang, how sweet and soft she is in her appearance, how he knows she is still very grateful that he brought her aboard, or how she doesn’t have a great disposition for violence. In many ways Devlin looks at Grace and sees the daughter he’s never had, and he wants nothing more than for her to thrive in her role, to grow and experience the world, yet be safe and well protected. @thievingxgrace
( Should also be mentioned that I’d very much like to add a bunch such as @thestrixserpent @ofredrighthands, @newtxgarvey, @catemckenna @mirabellexvincent, @thestrixsoldier , @petalxjones and @juliettexderby but there was no room.... <3 ) 
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ralphmorgan-blog1 · 6 years
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30 Motivational Stories To Push You Forward In Life
http://bit.ly/2NImSF9
Cataloged in Self-Improvement
30 Motivational Stories To Push You Forward In Life
January Nelson Updated September 18, 2018
0
These motivational stories will encourage you to follow your dreams, treat others with kindness, and never give up on yourself.
1. Laziness won’t get you anywhere
“In ancient times, a king had his men place a boulder on a roadway. He then hid in the bushes, and watched to see if anyone would move the boulder out of the way. Some of the king’s wealthiest merchants and courtiers passed by and simply walked around it.
Many people blamed the King for not keeping the roads clear, but none of them did anything about getting the stone removed.
One day, a peasant came along carrying vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to push the stone out of the way. After much pushing and straining, he finally managed.
After the peasant went back to pick up his vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and note from the King explain that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the road.”
2. Don’t say something you regret out of anger
“There once was a little boy who had a very bad temper. His father decided to hand him a bag of nails and said that every time the boy lost his temper, he had to hammer a nail into the fence.
On the first day, the boy hammered 37 nails into that fence.
The boy gradually began to control his temper over the next few weeks, and the number of nails he was hammering into the fence slowly decreased. He discovered it was easier to control his temper than to hammer those nails into the fence.
Finally, the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. He told his father the news and the father suggested that the boy should now pull out a nail every day he kept his temper under control.
The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence.
‘You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won’t matter how many times you say I’m sorry, the wound is still there.'”
3. Stop wasting your time complaining
“People visit a wise man complaining about the same problems over and over again. One day, he decided to tell them a joke and they all roared with laughter.
After a few minutes, he told them the same joke and only a few of them smiled.
Then he told the same joke for a third time, but no one laughed or smiled anymore.
The wise man smiled and said: ‘You can’t laugh at the same joke over and over. So why are you always crying about the same problem?'”
4. Damaged souls still have worth
“A shop owner placed a sign above his door that said: ‘Puppies For Sale.’
Signs like this always have a way of attracting young children, and to no surprise, a boy saw the sign and approached the owner; ‘How much are you going to sell the puppies for?’ he asked.
The store owner replied, ‘Anywhere from $30 to $50.’
The little boy pulled out some change from his pocket. ‘I have $2.37,’ he said. ‘Can I please look at them?’
The shop owner smiled and whistled. Out of the kennel came Lady, who ran down the aisle of his shop followed by five teeny, tiny balls of fur.
One puppy was lagging considerably behind. Immediately the little boy singled out the lagging, limping puppy and said, ‘What’s wrong with that little dog?’
The shop owner explained that the veterinarian had examined the little puppy and had discovered it didn’t have a hip socket. It would always limp. It would always be lame.
The little boy became excited. ‘That is the puppy that I want to buy.’
The shop owner said, ‘No, you don’t want to buy that little dog. If you really want him, I’ll just give him to you.’
The little boy got quite upset. He looked straight into the store owner’s eyes, pointing his finger, and said;
‘I don’t want you to give him to me. That little dog is worth every bit as much as all the other dogs and I’ll pay full price. In fact, I’ll give you $2.37 now, and 50 cents a month until I have him paid for.’
The shop owner countered, ‘You really don’t want to buy this little dog. He is never going to be able to run and jump and play with you like the other puppies.’
To his surprise, the little boy reached down and rolled up his pant leg to reveal a badly twisted, crippled left leg supported by a big metal brace. He looked up at the shop owner and softly replied, ‘Well, I don’t run so well myself, and the little puppy will need someone who understands!'”
5. Never let one failure from the past hold you back in the future
“As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.
He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. ‘Well,’ trainer said, ‘when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.’
The man was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.”
6. Struggling will make you stronger
“Once upon a time, a man found a butterfly that was starting to hatch from its cocoon. He sat down and watched the butterfly for hours as it struggled to force itself through a tiny hole. Then, it suddenly stopped making progress and looked like it was stuck.
Therefore, the man decided to help the butterfly out. He took a pair of scissors and cut off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily, although it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.
The man thought nothing of it, and he sat there waiting for the wings to enlarge to support the butterfly. However, that never happened. The butterfly spent the rest of its life unable to fly, crawling around with small wings and a swollen body.
Despite the man’s kind heart, he didn’t understand that the restricting cocoon and the struggle needed by the butterfly to get itself through the small hole were God’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings to prepare itself for flying once it was free.”
7. Your reaction matters more than what happens to you
“Once upon a time a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable and that she didn’t know how she was going to make it. She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another one soon followed.
Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Once the three pots began to boil, he placed potatoes in one pot, eggs in the second pot, and ground coffee beans in the third pot.
He then let them sit and boil, without saying a word to his daughter. The daughter, moaned and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing.
After twenty minutes he turned off the burners. He took the potatoes out of the pot and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the boiled eggs out and placed them in a bowl.
He then ladled the coffee out and placed it in a cup. Turning to her he asked. ‘Daughter, what do you see?’
‘Potatoes, eggs, and coffee,’ she hastily replied.
‘Look closer,’ he said, ‘and touch the potatoes.’ She did and noted that they were soft. He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. Its rich aroma brought a smile to her face.
‘Father, what does this mean?’ she asked.
He then explained that the potatoes, the eggs and coffee beans had each faced the same adversity– the boiling water.
However, each one reacted differently.
The potato went in strong, hard, and unrelenting, but in boiling water, it became soft and weak.
The egg was fragile, with the thin outer shell protecting its liquid interior until it was put in the boiling water. Then the inside of the egg became hard.
However, the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were exposed to the boiling water, they changed the water and created something new.
‘Which are you,’ he asked his daughter. ‘When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee bean?’
8. Don’t insult the things you wish you could have
‘One afternoon, a fox was walking through the forest and spotted a bunch of grapes hanging from a lofty branch.
‘Just the thing to quench my thirst,’ he thought.
Taking a couple of steps back, the fox jumped and just missed the hanging grapes. The fox tried again but still failed to reach them.
Finally, giving up, the fox turned his nose up and said, ‘They’re probably sour anyway,’ and walked away.”
9. Be kind to others even if it hurts you
“In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10 year old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him.
‘How much is an ice cream sundae?’
’50 cents,’ replied the waitress.
The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied a number of coins in it.
‘How much is a dish of plain ice cream?’ he inquired. Some people were now waiting for a table and the waitress was a bit impatient.
’35 cents,’ she said brusquely.
The little boy again counted the coins. ‘I’ll have the plain ice cream,’ he said.
The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and departed.
When the waitress came back, she began wiping down the table and then swallowed hard at what she saw.
There, placed neatly beside the empty dish, were 15 cents – her tip.”
10. Ignore the haters
“A group of frogs were traveling through the forest when two of them fell into a deep pit. When the other frogs saw how deep the pit was, they told the two frogs that there was no hope left for them.
However, the two frogs ignored their comrades and proceeded to try to jump out of the pit. However, despite their efforts, the group of frogs at the top of the pit were still saying that they should just give up as they’d never make it out.
Eventually, one of the frogs took heed of what the others were saying and he gave up, jumping even deeper to his death. The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. Once again, the group of frogs yelled at him to stop the pain and to just die.
He ignored them, and jumped even harder and finally made it out. When he got out, the other frogs said, ‘Did you not hear us?’
The frog explained to them that he was deaf, and that he thought they were encouraging him the entire time.”
11. Even though you’re damaged, you still have value
“A popular speaker started off a seminar by holding up a $20 bill. A crowd of 200 had gathered to hear him speak. He asked, ‘Who would like this $20 bill?’
200 hands went up.
He said, ‘I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this.’ He crumpled the bill up.
He then asked, ‘Who still wants it?’
All 200 hands were still raised.
‘Well,’ he replied, ‘What if I do this?’ Then he dropped the bill on the ground and stomped on it with his shoes.
He picked it up, and showed it to the crowd. The bill was all crumpled and dirty.
‘Now who still wants it?’
All the hands still went up.
‘My friends, I have just showed you a very important lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, life crumples us and grinds us into the dirt. We make bad decisions or deal with poor circumstances. We feel worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. You are special – Don’t ever forget it!’
12. Don’t judge others before you know them
“A 24 year old boy seeing out from the train’s window shouted…
‘Dad, look the trees are going behind!’
Dad smiled and a young couple sitting nearby, looked at the 24 year old’s childish behavior with pity, suddenly he again exclaimed…
‘Dad, look the clouds are running with us!’
The couple couldn’t resist and said to the old man…
‘Why don’t you take your son to a good doctor?’
The old man smiled and said…’I did and we are just coming from the hospital, my son was blind from birth, he just got his eyes today.’
Every single person on the planet has a story. Don’t judge people before you truly know them. The truth might surprise you.”
13. Think outside of the box
“In a small Italian town, hundreds of years ago, a small business owner owed a large sum of money to a loan-shark. The loan-shark was a very old, unattractive looking guy that just so happened to fancy the business owner’s daughter.
He decided to offer the businessman a deal that would completely wipe out the debt he owed him. However, the catch was that we would only wipe out the debt if he could marry the businessman’s daughter. Needless to say, this proposal was met with a look of disgust.
The loan-shark said that he would place two pebbles into a bag, one white and one black.
The daughter would then have to reach into the bag and pick out a pebble. If it was black, the debt would be wiped, but the loan-shark would then marry her. If it was white, the debt would also be wiped, but the daughter wouldn’t have to marry the loan-shark.
Standing on a pebble-strewn path in the businessman’s garden, the loan-shark bent over and picked up two pebbles. Whilst he was picking them up, the daughter noticed that he’d picked up two black pebbles  and placed them both into the bag.
He then asked the daughter to reach into the bag and pick one.
The daughter naturally had three choices as to what she could have done:
Refuse to pick a pebble from the bag.
Take both pebbles out of the bag and expose the loan-shark for cheating.
Pick a pebble from the bag fully well knowing it was black and sacrifice herself for her father’s freedom.
She drew out a pebble from the bag, and before looking at it ‘accidentally’ dropped it into the midst of the other pebbles. She said to the loan-shark;
‘Oh, how clumsy of me. Never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked.’
The pebble left in the bag is obviously black, and seeing as the loan-shark didn’t want to be exposed, he had to play along as if the pebble the daughter dropped was white, and clear her father’s debt.”
14. Enjoy the moment
“After spending nearly every waking minute with Angel for eight straight days, I knew that I had to tell her just one thing. So late at night, just before she fell asleep, I whispered it in her ear. She smiled – the kind of smile that makes me smile back –and she said, ‘When I’m seventy-five and I think about my life and what it was like to be young, I hope that I can remember this very moment.’
A few seconds later she closed her eyes and fell asleep. The room was peaceful – almost silent. All I could hear was the soft purr of her breathing. I stayed awake thinking about the time we’d spent together and all the choices in our lives that made this moment possible. And at some point, I realized that it didn’t matter what we’d done or where we’d gone. Nor did the future hold any significance.
All that mattered was the serenity of the moment.
Just being with her and breathing with her.”
15. Stop chasing happiness
“An old man lived in the village. The whole village was tired of him; he was always gloomy, he constantly complained and was always in a bad mood. The longer he lived, the viler he became and more poisonous were his words. People did their best to avoid him because his misfortune was contagious. He created the feeling of unhappiness in others.
But one day, when he turned eighty, an incredible thing happened. Instantly everyone started hearing the rumor: ‘The old man is happy today, he doesn’t complain about anything, smiles, and even his face is freshened up.’
The whole village gathered around the man and asked him, “What happened to you?”
The old man replied, ‘Nothing special. Eighty years I’ve been chasing happiness and it was useless. And then I decided to live without happiness and just enjoy life. That’s why I’m happy now.'”
16. Learn from your problems
“A man’s favorite donkey falls into a deep precipice. He can’t pull it out no matter how hard he tries. He therefore decides to bury it alive.
Soil is poured onto the donkey from above. The donkey feels the load, shakes it off, and steps on it. More soil is poured.
It shakes it off and steps up. The more the load was poured, the higher it rose. By noon, the donkey was grazing in green pastures.”
17. Don’t assume you are going to fail
“During a research experiment a marine biologist placed a shark into a large holding tank and then released several small bait fish into the tank.
As you would expect, the shark quickly swam around the tank, attacked and ate the smaller fish.
The marine biologist then inserted a strong piece of clear fiberglass into the tank, creating two separate partitions. She then put the shark on one side of the fiberglass and a new set of bait fish on the other.
Again, the shark quickly attacked. This time, however, the shark slammed into the fiberglass divider and bounced off. Undeterred, the shark kept repeating this behavior every few minutes to no avail.  Meanwhile, the bait fish swam around unharmed in the second partition. Eventually, about an hour into the experiment, the shark gave up.
This experiment was repeated several dozen times over the next few weeks. Each time, the shark got less aggressive and made fewer attempts to attack the bait fish, until eventually the shark got tired of hitting the fiberglass divider and simply stopped attacking altogether.
The marine biologist then removed the fiberglass divider, but the shark didn’t attack. The shark was trained to believe a barrier existed between it and the bait fish, so the bait fish swam wherever they wished, free from harm.”
18. You get what you give
“Once, there was a farmer who regularly sold butter to a baker. One day, the baker decided to weigh the butter to see if he was getting the exact amount that he asked for. He found out that he wasn’t, so he took the farmer to court.
The judge asked the farmer if he uses any measure to weigh the butter. The farmer replied, ‘Your Honor, I’m primitive. I don’t have a proper measure, but I do have a scale.’
The judge replied, “Then how do you weigh the butter?”
The farmer replied; “Your Honor, long before the baker started buying butter from me, I have been buying a pound loaf of bread from him. Every day, when the baker brings the bread, I put it on the scale and give him the same weight in butter. If anyone is to be blamed, it’s the baker.’
Moral of the story:In life, you get what you give. Don’t try to cheat others.“
19. Stop stressing so much
“Once upon a time a psychology professor walked around on a stage while teaching stress management principles to an auditorium filled with students. As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they’d be asked the typical ‘glass half empty or glass half full’ question. Instead, with a smile on her face, the professor asked, ‘How heavy is this glass of water I’m holding?’
Students shouted out answers ranging from eight ounces to a couple pounds.
She replied, ‘From my perspective, the absolute weight of this glass doesn’t matter.  It all depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute or two, it’s fairly light. If I hold it for an hour straight, its weight might make my arm ache a little. If I hold it for a day straight, my arm will likely cramp up and feel completely numb and paralyzed, forcing me to drop the glass to the floor. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn’t change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it feels to me.’
As the class shook their heads in agreement, she continued, ‘Your stresses and worries in life are very much like this glass of water. Think about them for a while and nothing happens. Think about them a bit longer and you begin to ache a little. Think about them all day long, and you will feel completely numb and paralyzed – incapable of doing anything else until you drop them.'”
20. Don’t screw over your friends
“Vijay and Raju were friends. One day while on holiday, exploring a forest, they saw a bear coming towards them.
Naturally, they were both frightened, so Raju, who knew how to climb trees, climbed one quickly. He didn’t spare a thought for his friend who had no idea how to climb.
Vijay thought for a moment. He had heard that animals don’t attack dead bodies, so he fell to the ground and held his breath. The bear sniffed him, thought he was dead, and went on its way.
Raju, after he had climbed down from the tree asked Vijay, ‘What did the bear whisper in your ears?’
Vijay replied, ‘The bear asked me to keep away from friends like you.'”
21. Your good deeds could change the world
“Every Sunday morning I take a light jog around a park near my home.  There’s a lake located in one corner of the park. Each time I jog by this lake, I see the same elderly woman sitting at the water’s edge with a small metal cage sitting beside her.
This past Sunday my curiosity got the best of me, so I stopped jogging and walked over to her. As I got closer, I realized that the metal cage was in fact a small trap. There were three turtles, unharmed, slowly walking around the base of the trap. She had a fourth turtle in her lap that she was carefully scrubbing with a spongy brush.
‘Hello,’ I said. ‘I see you here every Sunday morning.  If you don’t mind my nosiness, I’d love to know what you’re doing with these turtles.’
She smiled. ‘I’m cleaning off their shells,” she replied. “Anything on a turtle’s shell, like algae or scum, reduces the turtle’s ability to absorb heat and impedes its ability to swim. It can also corrode and weaken the shell over time.’
‘Wow! That’s really nice of you!’ I exclaimed.
She went on: ‘I spend a couple of hours each Sunday morning, relaxing by this lake and helping these little guys out. It’s my own strange way of making a difference.’
‘But don’t most freshwater turtles live their whole lives with algae and scum hanging from their shells?’ I asked.
‘Yep, sadly, they do,’ she replied.
I scratched my head. ‘Well then, don’t you think your time could be better spent? I mean, I think your efforts are kind and all, but there are fresh water turtles living in lakes all around the world. And 99% of these turtles don’t have kind people like you to help them clean off their shells.  So, no offense… but how exactly are your localized efforts here truly making a difference?’
The woman giggled aloud. She then looked down at the turtle in her lap, scrubbed off the last piece of algae from its shell, and said, ‘Sweetie, if this little guy could talk, he’d tell you I just made all the difference in the world.'”
22. Don’t let your circumstances change you
“There once was a blind woman who hated herself purely because she could not see. The only person she loved was her boyfriend, as he was always there for her. She said that if she could only see the world, then she would marry him.
One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her – now she could see everything, including her boyfriend. Her loving boyfriend asked her, ‘Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?’
The woman was shocked when she saw that her boyfriend was blind  too, and refused to marry him. Her boyfriend walked away in tears, and wrote a short note to her saying: ‘Just take care of my eyes, dear.'”
23. You are not going to get anything handed to you
“A man walked to the top of a hill to talk to God.
The man asked, ‘God, what’s a million years to you?’ and God said, ‘A minute.’
Then the man asked, ‘Well, what’s a million dollars to you?’ and God said, ‘A penny.’
Then the man asked, ‘God…..can I have a penny?’ and God said, ‘Sure… in a minute.’
24. Do not get too greedy
“It was an incredibly hot day and a lion was feeling very hungry.
He crawled out of his den and searched here and there, but he could only find a small hare. He caught the hare, but with some hesitation as he knew the hare wouldn’t fill him up.
As the lion was about to kill the hare, he spotted a deer coming his way and thought, ‘Instead of eating this small hare, let me eat that big deer.’
So he let the hare go and went after the deer, but it vanished in the forest. The lion now had nothing to eat as the hare was also long gone.”
25. Your talent only matters if you are somewhere it can be used
“A mother and a baby camel were lying around under a tree.
Then the baby camel asked, ‘Why do camels have humps?’
The mother camel considered this and said, ‘We are desert animals so we have the humps to store water so we can survive with very little water.’
The baby camel thought for a moment then said, ‘Ok…why are our legs long and our feet rounded?’
The mama replied, ‘They are meant for walking in the desert.’
The baby paused. After a beat, the camel asked, ‘Why are our eyelashes long? Sometimes they get in my way.’
The mama responded, ‘Those long thick eyelashes protect your eyes from the desert sand when it blows in the wind.’
The baby thought and thought. Then he said, ‘I see. So the hump is to store water when we are in the desert, the legs are for walking through the desert and these eye lashes protect my eyes from the desert then why in the Zoo?'”
26. Always tell the truth
“One night four college kids stayed out late, partying and having a good time. They paid no mind to the test they had scheduled for the next day and didn’t study. In the morning, they hatched a plan to get out of taking their test. They covered themselves with grease and dirt and went to the Dean’s office. Once there, they said they had been to a wedding the previous night and on the way back they got a flat tire and had to push the car back to campus.
The Dean listened to their tale of woe and thought. He offered them a retest three days later. They thanked him and accepted his offer that time.
When the test day arrived, they went to the Dean. The Dean put them all in separate rooms for the test. They were fine with this since they had all studied hard. Then they saw the test. It had 2 questions.
1) Your Name __________ (1 Points)
2) Which tire burst? __________ (99 Points).”
27. Love matters more than material items
“Some time ago, a man punished his young daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and he became angry when the child tried to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree.
Nevertheless, the girl brought the gift to her father on Christmas day and said, ‘This is for you, daddy.’
The man became embarrassed by his overreaction a few days before, but his rage continued when he saw that the box was empty. He yelled at her, ‘Don’t you know, when you give someone a gift, there’s supposed to be something inside?’
The little girl looked up at her dad with tears in her eyes and cried; ‘Oh, daddy, it’s not empty at all. I blew kisses into the box. They’re all for you, daddy.’
The father was devastated. He put his arms around his daughter, and begged for her forgiveness.
A little while later, the girl died in an accident. Her father kept the gold box by his bed for many years and, whenever he was feeling down, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.”
28. Your priorities matter
“Imagine you had a bank account that deposited $86,400 each morning. The account carries over no balance from day to day, allows you to keep no cash balance, and every evening cancels whatever part of the amount you had failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw out every dollar each day!
We all have such a bank. Its name is Time. Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever time you have failed to use wisely. It carries over no balance from day to day. It allows no overdraft so you can’t borrow against yourself or use more time than you have. Each day, the account starts fresh. Each night, it destroys an unused time. If you fail to use the day’s deposits, it’s your loss and you can’t appeal to get it back.
There is never any borrowing time. You can’t take a loan out on your time or against someone else’s. The time you have is the time you have and that is that. Time management is yours to decide how you spend the time, just as with money you decide how you spend the money. It is never the case of us not having enough time to do things, but the case of whether we want to do them and where they fall in our priorities.”
29. Never give up on your dreams
“Once, there was an older man, who was broke, living in a tiny house and owned a beat up car. He was living off of $99 social security checks. At 65 years of age, he decide things had to change. So he thought about what he had to offer. His friends raved about his chicken recipe. He decided that this was his best shot at making a change.
He left Kentucky and traveled to different states to try to sell his recipe. He told restaurant owners that he had a mouthwatering chicken recipe. He offered the recipe to them for free, just asking for a small percentage on the items sold. Sounds like a good deal, right?
Unfortunately, not to most of the restaurants. He heard NO over 1000 times. Even after all of those rejections, he didn’t give up. He believed his chicken recipe was something special. He got rejected 1009 times before he heard his first yes.
With that one success Colonel Hartland Sanders changed the way Americans eat chicken. Kentucky Fried Chicken, popularly known as KFC, was born.
Remember, never give up and always believe in yourself in spite of rejection.”
30. Focus on the good things in life
“Two friends were walking through the desert. At one stage in their journey, they had an argument and one friend slapped the other one in the face.
The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything he wrote in the sand, ‘Today my best friend slapped me in the face.’
They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to have a wash. The one who had been slapped got stuck in a mire and started drowning, but his friend saved him. After he had recovered from his shock, he wrote on a stone, ‘Today my best friend saved my life.’
The friend who slapped and saved his best friend asked him, ‘After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now, you write in stone, why?’
The other friend replied, ‘When someone hurts us we should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it.'” 
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