14

Captain America, Rob, and Bishop Oh My!

I sat behind my desk running my hands through my blonde curls in frustration. Being Elder of the west was not all it was cracked up to be; not only did I have to deal with problems in my own territory but now I had to come up with a way to dethrone Audrey, a vampire who had killed the previous Elder in a lust for power, which according to Jakob was how the sadistic vampire council ran. I hoped to change this among other things but there was only so much little old me could do.

I was interrupted from my inner turmoil by a knock on the door, followed by Rob's accented voice; "are you decent luv? Second thought I'm coming in whether or not you are." The door swung open and Rob strolled in and the sight of him caused my heart to lift. Next to my political drama my love life was also pretty crazy lately, as I was juggling my old feelings for Bishop and my new growing feelings for Rob.

Not to mention Jakob who I had to pretend to love to please society, but inside I really couldn't care less. I shoved my problems to the back burner; "so what's up, did you come to chat about the latest vampire drama or are you here to do something more interesting?" I shot him a suggestive smile which, he shook his head at, "the things you say." He straightened his head and gave me a small smile, "I actually came to see how your Elder duties are treating you but I can tell by the way you're grinning at me that that isn't going to happen. " In response to his prediction I stood up on my toes and placed a kiss on his mouth, he gave a growl of pleasure and kissed back harder and shoved me up against the wall and I felt my fangs descend as his overwhelming smell took over me.

"Code red, I repeat code red!" Maggie's voice blared over the speaker and Rob startled pulled away. "Again are you bloody serious? For a guy who is as old as time his timing is awful!" Rob sauntered over to the window and began looking out it as if interested in the view. He knew the drill as well as I so I plastered on a fake smile and prepared myself to act like I was actually happy that Jakob was here. He walked in several minutes later and stood in his usual attire of jeans and a t-shirt that hugged his muscled frame. "Petal I have missed you."

He held out his arms and I reluctantly stepped into his embrace and he hugged me hard and pressed a kiss to my head before releasing me. "Is there something I can help you with?" I asked. I felt a strange sense of deja' vu as I had basically just asked Rob that; I almost expected Bishop to show up unexpectedly as well." Jakob shook his head at this, "no, I have come with gifts and I must commend myself for my creativity on this." I wondered what Jakob was praising himself about, when he held out a badge and I had to suppress a squeal despite myself for I recognized it as a Comic Con badge. "How on earth did you get this? The deadline to get in was months ago." He smiled wide amused by my apparent excitement. "I have my ways petal, I also managed to procure one for myself as well."

My smile wavered, but what had I been expecting, him to just hand me a badge to Comic Con without accompanying me there as well. He noticed my sudden drop in excitement, "does this not please you?" I quickly covered from my blunder, "I was just thinking how unfortunate it is that Rob can't come because there is going to be a Marvel section and he's obsessed with superheros aren't you Rob?"

He scratched his head, "uh yeah Batman is my favorite Marvel superhero." I screamed inside at Rob's superhero stupidity and watched as Jacob stood there as if considering the matter. "And of course he would stay with me the entire time to guard me and all that junk if we split up." I added as an afterthought to help plead my case. When he still didn't respond I feared he had seen through my lie and was going to kill us all. Finally he nodded and I breathed a sigh of relief, "that is fine I suppose but I must now go acquire another badge.

We will leave in the morning so be ready when I come to call. He gave me a deep kiss and I saw out of the corner of my eyes Rob's gaze hardening before he looked away. I felt bad but this was all just an act and I feared that sometimes Rob forgot that. "I will you see you on the morrow petal," Jakob said before he slipped out the door. I turned to Rob your lucky Jakob obviously doesn't know anything about superheros either or he would have called me out on my lie. Batman is D.C. Universe not Marvel!" He held up his hands in innocence "hey it's hardly my fault I was thrown under the bus there, but I guess if I have go to this Comic… what's it called I had better study up on my superheros."

"It's called Comic Con and it's like nerd heaven for people like me." Rob walked over and pulled me towards him, "there is no nerd like you." He kissed my lips lightly and I responded for just a moment before pushing him away playfully. "Now go pack and while you're at it study up on the history of Marvel, you have to be convincing if you're coming with us. Rob gave a mock bow, "as the lady Elder wishes," before he bent out the door and headed to his own room. I smiled, life was great but life with Rob was even better.

Part 2

The next morning I was ready and packed even before Rob, which surprised me as I'm a woman and we are notorious for taking forever. I set my bag by the door and went off in search of Rob; and found him giving instructions to Gunnar on how to run the house while we were gone. "Do I not get to go with?" Gunnar asked and his bottom lip was out in disappointment. Rob sighed, "don't worry about guard duty Gunnar I'm on it, you just need to stay here and keep up with the things I told you, okay?" Gunnar looked away embarrassed, "while I do care for Ms. Anja I was actually disappointed because I too wanted to see the superheros."

I walked up to Gunnar and put my hand on his shoulder and gave it a slight squeeze, "how about I bring you back something?" Gunnar nodded smiling, "that would be most kind but you needn't do that." I waved him off, "it's fine I'm willing to break the bank if it's Avenger's related." Gunnar gave a small smile at that before strolling away to what I assumed to be his new household duties. After he was gone I turned to Rob, "so where is your bag?"

"Don't got one, I'm just going with the clothes on my back and a toothbrush in my pocket;" he replied.

"As long as you have a toothbrush I won't complain, because that way I can still do this." I turned my face up and placed a teasing kiss on his mouth before pulling back. Rob put an arm around my shoulder and we started heading for the front door to wait for Jakob, when he leaned down and whispered in my ear; "that's exactly why I packed it."

Jakob arrived about five minutes later and Rob dropped into the back while I took the passenger seat. I had wanted to sit in the back by Rob but that would look suspicious so I just sat in the front and took it like the vampire Elder I was. We drove to the airport while Jakob ranted about his "knowledge" of all things superhero, which was so off, I was longed for Captain America to take him down just for the villainy of his lack of knowledge. I just nodded like I was actually interested in what he was saying while stealing glances at Rob from the rearview mirror; who just sat and stared out the window in silence.

We soon reached the airport, and I almost laughed at loud of the irony of going through security searching for weapons, when each of us were deadly weapons alone. We boarded the plane and since it was two people to a seat I yet again sat by Jakob while Rob took a seat behind us and started popping peanuts in his mouth, crunching down a lot harder than necessary. My rigid posture must have been obvious because Jakob looked at me with a look of concern on his face. "Are you not comfortable petal?" Yes because I want to be by Rob not you I thought to myself but merely replied; "sorry I just don't like planes, I'm terrified of heights." He put an arm out and pulled me closer, "there is nothing to fear when I am with you." I wondered what he would do if I told him it was he that scared me, but I didn't and I just closed my eyes and went to sleep until we reached Comic Con.

Part 3

How do I describe the line to get into Comic Con? It was like a long withering snake of sweaty nerds and the people they forced to come with them. I was losing my patience and I guess Jakob was too because he started compelling people to let us cut in front of them, until we were at almost the front of the line. "Okay that's enough," I whispered when he moved in to compel what looked like a kid no older than twelve. Jakob scowled but let it go and Rob hid his laughter under a hand at his mouth and pretended to cough.

Ten minutes later, we were inside and I turned my heels in a full circle so I could fully grasp the awesomeness around me. "Impressed?" Jacob asked. I nodded "very, this is amazing. Hey would you mind if we split up just for a few so I can go at my own pace and see everything?" His brows furrowed, "I suppose that is fine but I would not have you alone and unguarded so have Rob shadow you." I grinned this was working out better than expected. "Will do; come on Rob to the Marvel section!" Rob put his hands in his pockets and followed after me as I weaved my way through the crowd. I made it to my destination and was disappointed when there was no cast of the Avengers but some random producers and directors answering questions about the sequel.

Some overweight geek in an Iron Man mask raised his hand and was waving it frantically desperate for the producers to see him, and they finally did and pointed to him. "Umm I have a question that has been bugging me since the last movie; and I was wondering who would win in a fight Iron Man or Captain America?" The producer shook his head, "I don't see what that has to do with Avengers 2, but my guess would be Iron Man because he can fly." He then turned away "next question please!"

I was at a loss for words and my mouth hung open like a gaping fish. Captain America could so take down some pretty guy in a suit. What further enraged me was when I looked over and saw the nerd give a high five to his friend. Rob placed a halting hand on my arm, "don't get upset over what a producer thought, none of those things are real anyways and don't matter." I shrugged him off, "it matters to me; that was the worst argument I've ever heard, I'm going to go tell that nerd the right answer to his question." I pushed my way through the crowd until I was to the guy and politely tapped his shoulder until he turned around. "Hi, I heard your question and just thought I should tell you that the producer got it wrong; Captain America would totally win that fight since, he has an indestructible shield and is a super soldier." He squinted at me through his mask, "who the heck are you?"

"Just another loyal fan," I replied.

"Well if you were loyal, you would accept the producer's word, plus Iron Man has an awesome suit jam- packed with weapons." I held up a finger as if to make a point, "none of those weapons can penetrate his shield, so he would have no effective attack against Cap."

"Umm lady have you ever heard of attack from behind? The shield can't cover all of him!" I opened my mouth to argue when I was interrupted by a familiar voice, that even now sent tingles through me. "You're both wrong; The Human Torch from Fantastic Four could take down both those guys. Stunned I whirled my head around to see Bishop, dressed in a tight fitting Marvel shirt that accented his muscular figure, with his arms crossed and a smile on his face. "Bishop what the heck are you doing here?" I asked.

"I always go to Comic Con; I was even going to bring you here until…" He trailed off and I felt extremely awkward as I knew how he would have finished that sentence. "Anyway," he continued "Human Torch could just melt the flesh of both of them so there's the answer to your guy's debate." Rob stepped closer, "even I know Human Torch isn't an Avenger but nice try though." I tensed, from the angry look on Bishop's face I could tell this was going to get ugly pretty darn fast, and I didn't have to wait long before the two men started arguing. The nerd looked uncomfortable with the situation and took that as his cue to escape into the crowd."

I hugged myself while the men argued, gaze flitting across the room to see if anyone was watching, and was pleased to see that no one had noticed this. "What is Ulrik doing here; and why is he arguing with Rob?" Jakob asked as he came to stand beside me out of nowhere. I sighed, "Rob told Bishop that Human Torch isn't an Avenger and now they are arguing over whether he is or not. This whole thing started because I was telling this guy that Captain America would win in a fight with Iron Man." Jakob nodded accepting this, and I was happy to know that he at least agreed with me when he continued; "of course Thor would crush both of them as he is a Viking God." Of course the son of a God himself would like Thor the best. "I'm not getting into another debate today, but I'll leave it at that you're wrong." Jakob shook his head, "I am not, and I will prove it to you by getting Ulrik and Rob to agree with me." He headed towards the ongoing spat between the two men and got absorbed into their debate.

I was beyond annoyed at this point because these guys were twice as bad as me and I realized just how bad a moment later when Bishop threw a punch at Jakob and Rob moved to intervene, and was pulled into the fight. I stared in horror as the three men fought right there on the middle of the floor and how the crowd was making a circle around them to watch. I heard a smack and winced as Rob's hand slapped against Bishop's face. This continued for another minute before a team of security pulled them all apart and started marching them towards the exit. The crowd turned their eyes to me as I was obviously associated with those people, so I hurriedly followed the guards to the exit wanting an escape from the drama seeking gazes.

Part Four

We returned home a few days later and the guys avoided speaking to me as they could tell I was beyond furious that they had gotten us kicked out of Comic Con. I had been locked in my office all day, returning to my work as if I had never left. The only person who had come to see me so far was Gunnar asking for his surprise gift and I was sad to tell him I hadn't been able to get it. A light tap came on the door before it hesitantly opened and Rob urged in with tickets on his hands. "I know I messed up and I'm sorry so I got what I hope can lessen your anger even a little." He set down two tickets to the new Captain America movie and I fought a smile. "This is great and all, but I think I'm gonna need a little more than that I mean that was the one and only Comic Con you guys got us kicked out of. Rob gave me a knowing grin before taking my mouth in his and taking away all the stress and drama in my life, if only for a moment.

The end