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The next morning.
Hawk woke to the scent of his girlfriend Gwen's hair as she lay on top of him, playfully tickling his nose. He opened his eyes, his consciousness slowly returning from the depths of his Cosmo.
Wait... not his girlfriend anymore. His fiancée!
He had proposed last night. And she had said YES.
Technically, he should have asked George and Helen for their permission first.
But the moment had felt right. And they had been there, so it wasn't a complete breach of protocol.
Besides, everyone had been happy.
The moment he had pulled out the ring, Gwen's eyes had filled with tears, and she had thrown her arms around him.
Helen, after her initial shock, had just covered her mouth, her eyes shining with a mixture of surprise and genuine approval.
And his future brothers-in-law, Howard and Simon? They had been dreaming of getting their hands on Gwen's room for years. Not to mention Howard had scored a pretty sweet gift from the arrangement. Simon was just pumped, immediately asking if he could claim his sister's room now.
As for George…
Well…
Let's not talk about George.
Hawk thought back to the previous night, his arms wrapped around Gwen. "So, how's your dad?"
Gwen propped herself up, a strange, almost guilty look on her face.
"He took the day off today."
"Uh…"
"Said he has a headache."
"...Right. My bad."
Hawk shook his head with a small, knowing smile.
'Okay. A headache is manageable. At least he didn't try to take me to the precinct for a "talk" or out to the city limits for some target practice.'
But then a thought struck him. He looked into Gwen's emerald-green eyes. "But he didn't say no, did he?"
Gwen was silent for a moment.
Then, her face broke into a brilliant smile. "Of course not. The fact that he said yes is why he has a headache."
A wave of relief washed over Hawk, and he laughed.
It wasn't that George's approval was a deal-breaker.
But he knew it meant the world to Gwen.
And besides, someone had to pay for the wedding.
...
An hour later, in the kitchen, a glowing Gwen was making Hawk a special breakfast.
Hawk had offered to help, but she told him to sit on one of the barstools at the kitchen table and wait. He watched her move about the kitchen, a quiet contentment settling over him. With every motion, she seemed more than ever the lady of the house.
From the moment he had proposed, from the moment he had slipped the ring on her finger, she truly was.
With her parents as witnesses, it was official.
Hawk had to admit, his proposal had been a bit impulsive.
But he had no regrets. He had never planned on playing the field in the Marvel Universe anyway. His original plan was to wait until after college and do things the right way.
But last night, the timing had been perfect.
Gwen had chosen him so decisively. He couldn't let that go unanswered.
And thank God for that NASA scientist. Otherwise, he wouldn't have had a clue where to find a one-of-a-kind diamond on such short notice.
Wait a minute.
The ring.
He looked at Gwen as she turned from the stove.
"Gwen, where's the ring?"
"You mean this?"
She pulled the massive, purplish-red diamond from her pocket. It was so large it looked almost comical in her hand. "I'm going to put it in the safe in my parents' room."
Hawk raised an eyebrow.
"Why?"
"It's too big."
She looked at the ring, watching how the light caught its facets, noticing the tiny, almost invisible 'G.S.' he'd etched into its core. She resisted the urge to slip it back on.
"Do you have any idea what kind of look my mom gave me last night when she saw this thing?"
Hawk understood.
He had been so focused on finding something unique that he hadn't thought about practicality. A fifty-carat ring wasn't something you could wear every day. Even if she wasn't afraid of being robbed, it would just get in the way.
He smiled, slid off the barstool, and, as Gwen watched, dropped to one knee again.
In his hand was another ring. The same purplish-red diamond, but this one was a much more manageable six carats.
Gwen's eyes went wide. She covered her mouth with her hands.
Hawk just smiled up at her.
"Gwen Stacy, once again, will you marry m—"
"YES! YES, OF COURSE, I WILL!"
Before he could even finish, she was holding out her hand, joy lighting up her face.
He smiled, slid the ring onto her finger, and stood. The moment he was on his feet, she threw herself into his arms, her lips finding his.
...
Three minutes later, they pulled apart.
He looked down at her hand, at the new ring sparkling on her finger. "So, you're not going to lock this one in a safe?"
Gwen looked him straight in the eye, her expression dead serious. "No one is ever taking this ring off my finger."
With that, she ran for the stairs.
She was going to put the fifty-carat ring in the safe and then immediately send a picture of the new one to her mom.
"..."
Hawk watched his fiancée leave, a fond smile on his face. He thought about George upstairs, nursing his headache.
When Gwen sent that picture to her mom, his headache was about to get a whole lot worse.
Just then, the doorbell rang.
Hawk looked at the breakfast Gwen had made for him, then at the front door. He walked over and opened it.
A familiar face was standing on the other side.
The woman who had flown back with him from Quantico—Peggy Carter's niece. Sharon Carter.
She gave him a professional smile. "Good morning, Mr. Hawk."
"Morning."
Hawk stepped aside. Sharon thanked him and walked inside.
...
In the living room, Hawk handed her a glass of ice water.
Sharon took it and thanked him again.
Hawk sat down on the sofa across from her.
Sharon placed the glass on the table and looked at him.
"Mr. Haw—"
"Just Hawk." he said.
He'd gotten a good impression on her during the flight back from Quantico. She was straightforward, no-nonsense.
Sharon nodded. "Hawk. I'm here about last night... You gave a lot of people a pretty big scare."
"A scare? Why? Did they do something to feel guilty about? Worried I might come after them?"
He considered himself a reasonable person. And he had never liked hiding in the shadows or pretending to be weak.
Except for that first time at Quantico. But he'd been in his infancy then—still figuring things out. Since then, everything he'd done had been completely transparent.
Most people only respect strength, not virtue—
The more of it he showed, the less likely they were to mess with him.
The still-rebuilding Quantico base and the grass now growing on Thaddeus Ross's grave were good examples of that.
But still, he understood why she was here.
He smiled. "Don't worry. As long as no one bothers me, I'm happy to be a law-abiding citizen. I just took a quick trip to the moon last night."
Sharon's brow furrowed.
"The moon?"
"That's right."
"May I ask why?"
She saw the look on his face and quickly added, "Of course, if it's inconvenient, I can just… make something up for the report."
She was supposed to be on vacation.
But the list of S.H.I.E.L.D agents who had ever had direct contact with Hawk was ridiculously short.
Maria Hill was still in Africa, dealing with the Wakanda situation.
Natasha and Clint had flown out a few days ago to join her, part of a task force assigned to hunt down the rogue Wakandan tribesmen who were harassing the UN's new Vibranium regulation teams.
Which meant that the only agent who had any real connection to Hawk was Sharon.
So, here she was.
"It's no secret." Hawk listened to her careful words and smiled.
Just as he was about to explain, he heard footsteps on the stairs. Gwen was coming down.
Hawk stood up, as did Sharon, and made the introductions.
"Gwen, this is Sharon. Sharon Carter. She's a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent."
"Sharon, this is Gwen Stacy. My fiancée."
"..."
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If you're interested, you can read advanced chapters:
https://p-atreon.com/dragonnx
~# Bonus Chapter every 300PS