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The racing of Scott’s heart was drown out by the sound of the bells in the tower chiming a loud, boisterous music meant for celebration. It was all around him from the expensive decorations to the sounds of the laughter and eagerness of those in the church preparing for the wedding of the century. After all it wasn’t every day that Tony Stark decided to take on a bride, but this time around everyone was ready to take notice of his queen. After all it was to be the wedding of the century.
“Slim…” Logan’s voice pulled Scott from his turmoiled thoughts as Scott felt Logan’s large hand upon his shoulder. His companion offered up a small squeeze of thick fingers over Scott’s muscled arm reminding Scott of the reason for his morning arrival. He hadn’t been on the guest list, but he knew the bride quite well indeed. Now with the church filling up around him with those awaiting a glimpse of the beautiful bride-to-be and her handsome he found himself frozen by fear. His mouth had gone dry, his body rendered motionless as he had to admit that this was everything she had ever hoped for. Everything was perfect on her special day and with Logan impatiently waiting with him near the entrance, Scott found himself on the verge of taking a chance—of risking it all in the name of…
Well, that part he hadn’t quite figured out. Was it love or a sense of duty knowing full well that someone like Tony Stark would never be good enough for Emma? Sure, Tony could offer her the world in ways that Scott couldn’t, but he couldn’t give her love—not the kind that Scott had shared with her. Tony might have it all, but Scott had…
“No time,” Logan’s voice roused Scott from his thoughts again. He nodded to the double doors hoping to give Scott the encouragement to follow through on his intentions after the two had spent a drunken night at the bar commiserating over Scott and Emma’s failed romance. In his misery Scott had confessed his love for Emma to Logan. He’d revealed how lost he’d been without her and how the very thought of losing her to someone like Tony Stark had simply enraged him making him realize all he’d lost in setting her free after everything was said and done. After that, the rest of the night was a blur filled with far more alcohol than Scott could take until the point when Logan had suggested they show up at the wedding uninvited to rescue Emma from a life of the mundane with a man who couldn’t love her nearly as much as Scott had.
“You can do this,” Logan spoke up encouragingly giving Scott the courage he needed to slip around the back of the building, sneaking past the guards on duty—to the place where he knew he would find Emma getting ready for the biggest day of her life.
“I’m not going to lose you,” Scott decided refusing to let his inability to open his heart keep him from the woman he loved. Today was about new beginnings and if all went well, Scott would lay it out on the line telling Emma that she was the only one for him. He would proclaim his love and offer her the world…maybe not in ways that Tony could, but he would give her all the things that she’d ever truly wanted from him. No more was he blinded by the past memory of a woman who paled in comparison to the strength and love that Emma had provided in his life. Before her he’d been lost, but with her at his side he’d become something more—someone that the world had always fought against him being. Now with time running against him, Scott found he was speeding up hoping like hell that he could find the courage to just say what he’d denied her for so very long.
“I love you Emma,” he could almost hear himself proclaiming in his mind as he envisioned the scene before him. She would naturally be angry with him when she saw him. She would probably make him pay for his intrusion a little bit before he would get down on one knee and reveal the diamond ring he’d always been too nervous to offer her. It was nowhere near the size of the one that Tony had undoubtedly given her, but he’d spent months picking it out for her before everything fell apart on Utopia. It had to be perfect for her just like she was to him. It had to express just how wonderful and unique he felt she was even if the idea of marriage terrified the hell out of him. Now, as it practically burned a hole in his pocket, he found the courage that had always evaded him in revealing his heart.
“Just a few more steps,” Scott mouthed to himself walking past the fountain in the lavish gardens. He was so close that he could almost take in the scent of her perfume. His heart was racing, his mind filled with hope and the promise of a life they could share with one another once again. They’d both made mistakes, but their love was still alive between them. It had always been there serving as a painful reminder of what they once had and lost on the road to destruction when Scott had hit rock bottom. Before he’d given it all to save the others—to bring back his people, he had wanted to offer her something more. Now, without the burden of the future of his people hanging on his shoulders, he was ready to give her something more. They could finally find the time to be happy—to get away from it all for a while if only he could reach her in time. If he simply found the strength to say what he felt, then all their misery could come to an end. Together they could find their way to all the dreams that they’d discarded after their world fell apart. Everything would finally fall into place for them…except…
“She’s not alone,” Scott realized moving at a slower pace when he could see clearly through the oversized glass window before him. Standing in front of the mirror Emma was a vision in white looking more beautiful than he could’ve imagined. Her blue eyes were filled with pure joy and bubbling excitement…her mouth upturned in a wide smirk indicating the one thing that Scott hadn’t anticipated in this farce of a wedding. She was happy. Despite the rumors Scott had heard that had prompted him to intrude upon her special day, Tony hadn’t just been a business proposition for her as most had speculated. This was something she truly wanted—something that had finally erased the shadow of the pain he’d put her through.
Standing still Scott watched her slowly rotate in front of the mirror taking in the lines of the designer, hand-made silk gown she was wearing. Everything about her took his breath away, but as he watched Tony Stark move in beside her, placing his fingers on her hip, his heart sank. Watching helplessly Scott witnessed the way she leaned into him—how her laughter spilled from her lips when she reached out to touch the side of Tony’s face. Whatever he’d said to her, she was amused by his words, caught up in whatever moment they were sharing as Scott took a step back.
“I’m too late,” Scott’s heart sank as the weight of the world came crashing down around him. Seeing Emma so happy in love only further proved that his time for redemption had passed. He’d screwed up. Tony might not have been the man for her before, but in those quiet moments before the ceremony with Emma turning to face him with a smile on her face, it was clear he gave her that joy she’d always needed now. When he leaned down to press a soft kiss over her cheek, she rose on her feet to whisper in his ear. They embraced tightly and Scott turned away knowing that he had lost the one woman who had forced him to face his true self after years of repression. With a heavy heart he turned away realizing that his moment had passed. Emma was no longer his and he had no one to blame for it, but himself.
“I swear Anthony if you step on the dress during the ceremony and tear the silk, you will suffer greatly for it,” Emma whispered in warning to her handsome fiancé. Of course, she could’ve done far worse than the sexy man beside her, but now the idea of their wedding felt hollow—almost empty as it had never been about love for her and Tony. Granted, they’d come together in the past on a sexual level and connected in wonderful ways, but it had never been about love. Given the lack of romance in their latest union, she feared it would never be as her heart would forever belong to one man even if he was too stupid to realize that he was her everything.
“I wouldn’t dream of tarnishing a thing of such beauty after the small fortune I paid for it,” Tony teased kissing her cheek in a playful gesture.
“You’re the one who talked me into this arrangement. It was the least you could do,” Emma reminded him with a small swat on his chest.
“You look beautiful my dear,” Tony’s warm words whispered in her ear. He pulled her into an encouraging embrace knowing that the world was waiting to watch their story unfold. The spectacle that they were about to bring to the world would be one that people would be talking about for years on end, but they both knew better than to believe that their fairy tale romance was destined to be anything more than the arrangement they’d agreed upon. Instead they were about to enter the world as the latest power couple without the one thing that Emma’s broken heart was convinced that she could do without.
“Of course, I do darling,” Emma pulled away from Tony’s embrace preparing to throw out another witty retort, but for a brief, fleeting moment she felt…him.
“I guess I’ll see you in a few minutes,” Tony had smiled brightly looking more than pleased with himself at his genius suggestion. It was something that they both had agreed to, yet there was something inside of Emma that caused the first moment of warmth to carry over her.
Scott. He’s here.
There was no mistaking the way his mind had invaded the moment with her and Tony. It was then that she abruptly pulled away from her fiancé turning her attention to the mirror once again.
“No, he can’t be here,” she thought to herself that it had been a very long time since she’d crossed paths with the mind of Scott Summers. Now that Jean was alive again and constantly in his orbit, he’d finally had his teenage dream come true. He had his perfect little princess with him, and Emma was over mourning the loss of a man who didn’t see just how good he had it with her. No more would she play second fiddle to a woman who couldn’t come close to what she was. If that was what Scott had decided for him, then it was truly his loss. She would no longer cry tears over a man who hadn’t deserved her.
Tony walked out the door and Emma resolved to ignore the thoughts that consumed her. It was undoubtedly nerves, and memories of a life that could never be making her lose focus on her big day. No more would she be caught up in the idea of Scott Summers. He was her past and her future was with Tony taking the world by storm.
“No more tears,” she spoke to herself. She observed herself in the mirror taking in her reflection as she smoothed out her dress only to catch the rushing movement of the man who’d consumed her thoughts. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see him moving through the courtyard and away from the one place she’d least expected him. Turning around, she realized Scott had been there watching her from the shadows. With the strong pull of his pain upon her, she realized that she hadn’t imagined it and without thinking she found herself moving towards the back door preparing to turn away from the security that she and Tony had offered to one another. With a racing heart, she pulled open the heavy oak door wishing like hell that she could just call for Scott telepathically and coax him to return. With everything inside of her, she wanted to scream and shout begging for him to return. She wanted him to beg and grovel and tell her how wrong he was, but as she looked into the empty courtyard she realized that was merely a fantasy that would go unfulfilled like so many other’s she’d learned to live without.
“Goodbye Scott,” she sighed wondering if her mind was simply set on torturing her. Turning towards the back room of the chapel once again, she prepared to focus on the day before her putting her everything into being Mrs. Tony Stark. It could work. It would work and soon she would learn to embrace that title giving it the proper time and devotion that it deserved.
“No more distractions,” she decided moving to the door again when she caught a faint glimmer in the distance. Turning to look at the stone path before her she noticed something sparkling on the ground.
“What in the…?” she questioned approaching the object. Curiously she bent down and pulled it up to discover it was a diamond ring. Granted the diamond itself was a quarter of the size smaller of the one on her finger, but it was beautiful and unique stunning in ways that she hadn’t anticipated to find discarded in a courtyard. Now as she held it within her fingers, she could almost feel warmth upon the band as if its owner had discarded it merely seconds earlier.
“I imagine you have a story to tell,” Emma sighed holding the ring up in the sunlight preparing to see what sad sob story the ring carried with it, but as she read the words on the inscription, she found that she was the one in tears.
You’ll forever hold my heart, Em. Love Always, Scott.
“Scott,” Emma read his name aloud as her heart sank. Tipping her head up she looked across the courtyard to the space where she’d witnessed the man rushing out of the gardens in a haste. Now as she held the cooling ring in her hand, she realized she hadn’t been wrong. He’d been there. He’d come for her and now as she held the proof in her hand, she found herself taking a step forward as tears filled in her eyes.
“Emma?” Tony’s voice caused her to take pause. She hesitated to look down at the ring in her palm, thinking about the weight of it’s meaning when her life with Scott Summers passed through her mind. It was the one time in her life when she was really, truly happy. Being with him was the one place where she’d felt safe and loved, but now as she thought about all the times that her joy had been stolen from her by the memory of a woman she’d never felt she could compete with, she felt her heart harden. Instinctively she shifted into diamond form fighting like hell not to feel when a single tear slipped down her cheek. She could hear Tony approaching her, moving in from behind to undoubtedly alert her that it was time for their big display in pulling off the ultimate charade.
“Emma, darling,” Tony’s voice was troubled as she felt the weight of his palm upon her shoulder. He offered up a gentle squeeze as his voice softened with concern, “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” Emma lied curling her fingers around the engagement ring within her grasp now that it was clear with the weight of what she lost that nothing would ever be fine for her ever again.