Work Text
"So, today I heard same-sex marriage is legal in Canada..." Monica's voice dragged on, and the regular sound of Maria's wrench barely hitched before finding its rhythm again. Maria herself remained silent. Monica leaned against the nose of the small plane her mother was fixing, arms crossed. She'd returned home for a week of holiday before going back to the Academy, but with both her mothers working she hadn't had the time to talk to either one of them much. "I mean, it's legal in one of their states." Maria placed the wrench down and pushed herself away from the plane to grab a rag and clean her oil-matted fingers. "What are you getting out, young lady?" she said, clearly seeing through her daughter's innocent look. Monica shrugged. "Nothing, just making small talks." Maria placed the wrench back in her toolbox. She closed the plane's motor to look at Monica straight in the eyes. "Unfortunately for you, you have Carol's subtlety. You're asking whether we could get married, aren't you?" Monica shrugged again. "You're the one who's talking about marriage." Maria sighed and shook her head. She was glad to see military life hadn't ridden her daughter of her attitude, though really she knew who she had to thank for that. Carol was the reason she had an attitude, to begin with. She stood up and moved to one of the wings, which she knew was a bit stiff. She picked up a screwdriver and started taking the movable parts out. "Well, since you're asking, first, it's legal in Canada and we are not Canadians." Monica followed her mother to stand by the wing and replied: "Yeah, but it could become legal here soon." Maria snored. "Here? I don't think so. Unfortunately, baby, we'll never be as open-minded as Canada. Here, take this." Monica picked up the part of the wing her mother had detached and took it out carefully, revealing the hydraulic system underneath. She placed it on the nearest workshop table, pushing aside a box of screws. "But hypothetically?" she insisted. "If you could get married, would you do it?" "I don't know," Maria replied, still focused on her repairs. "I don't think it would be a good idea. I think we could get fired from SHIELD." "What? Don't ask don't tell applies?" Maria vaguely shrugged. "I never bothered to ask." Monica made a mental note to ask Fury next chance she got. He was the new director of SHIELD, he had to know. "Why the sudden interest in weddings?" Maria asked, cleaning up the small pieces of the mechanism quickly. Monica sat down on a nearby stool. "Well, I kind of want to go to a wedding. I've never been to one before." "It wouldn't be much of a wedding. Who would we even invite?" "Everyone we know," Monica replied with a smile. "That's not a lot of people. And even fewer of them know about us. Trust me, it would be a waste of money." Monica sighed and dropped the subject. "Did you know same-sex marriage is legal in Canada?" Carol stopped shoving laundry in the machine, her entire body frozen in place. Why was Monica talking about marriage suddenly? "So?" "So, would you get married to mom, if you could?" Monica asked. Panic flashed through Carol's brown eyes. "Why would we get married? Marriage sucks. Marriage is for dumb people who are afraid to get stuck alone forever, so they'd rather be stuck with another idiot." Monica frowned. That really wasn't the reaction she'd imagined coming from Carol at the mention of marriage. "Wow." "What? It's true. Marriage sucks." Monica jumped off the dryer as Carol started the machine. "And here I thought between you and mom you were the romantic one." "I am romantic! I can be!" Carol defended herself. "But weddings are not romantic." "If you say so." Monica walked out, dejected. The family wedding she'd been dreaming about would have to wait. Heck, at this rate, she would be married before them! "Wait." She turned around, hand on the handle of the small laundry room. "Why are you talking about marriage all of a sudden?" Carol asked, panic still tainting her voice. "Doesn't matter." "Did your mother send you?" Monica frowned in confusion. "Why would mom send me to talk to you about marriage?" "I don't know, to test the water or something. Does she..." She paused, bit her lower lip as if to prevent herself from continuing further then continued: "Does she want to get married?" "No, she doesn't." Carol looked at her longly, probably trying to detect in her voice or facial expression if she was lying. Monica sighed and opened the door. "Just forget it." She walked out of the room and walked down the stairs. She just had to come to terms with the fact that she'd never get to see her moms get married. What she didn't notice was Carol, who stayed in the laundry room for another ten minutes, pondering over what Monica had just told her. "So, apparently, same-sex marriage is legal in Canada..." Maria sighed and closed her book. "Not you too..." Beside her, Carol fell silent, unsure of what to add. Apparently, Monica had talked about it with her mother. She shifted on the couch slightly, pursing her lips. "I'm assuming Monica told you about it." Carol nodded. "What did you tell her?" "What did you tell her?" Carol asked back, obviously defensive. Maria placed her book beside her and shifted a bit to look into Carol's apprehensive eyes. "I told her even if it was legal here, I don't think we could get married, what with us being federal agents." "Yeah, I told her no too," Carol replied quickly before turning toward the TV once again. Maria, however, continued to stare at her. Carol shifted uncomfortably, crossing her arms then uncrossing them quickly. "What?" "So we agree? Right?" "Agree on?" "Marriage. You don't want to get married. I don't want to get married." Carol nodded curtly. "Yeah, we agree." Maria, however, continued to stare at her. It was driving Carol nuts. "What?" "There's something you're not telling me." "I don't know what you're talking about." "We've been together for almost twenty years, I can tell something's wrong, Danvers. Come on, say it." "Doesn't matter." "Yes, it does. What? Do you want to get married?" "No, of course not! Marriage is dumb! It's a trap! People get stuck together and then they can never get away. I don't want to get married. At all." She crossed her arms again and purposefully stared at the TV scree, leaning back in the couch. Maria was silent for a moment. She knew Carol was not okay with marriage, she had not imagined her hatred for the institution ran so deep. But then again, when the only example of a married couple she had in her life was her parents... Maria was about to drop the subject completely, when Carol, like a balloon, burst into a long rambling: "It's so stupid! We can't even get married! Why would we start arguing over something we can't even do! Neither of us even want to get married! We can't, but we don't want to, so it's fine. It's fine. I don't have to spend hours thinking about a ring, or whether I should wear my suit or a dress, or whether you should wear your suit or a dress, or how we would tell your parents. It's not a problem at all! Because we can't. I don't even know why we're even talking about it anymore!" Carol's rant was stopped by Maria's cold hand on her arm. It seemed to anchor her back into reality. "Carol, breathe, okay?" Carol let out a long, drawn-out breath. "Better?" Carol nodded. "So, it's obvious you have a lot of feelings about this marriage problem. But it's not happening right now, okay? So just relax. We'll think about it if and when we are allowed to get married, okay?" Carol sighed again, then side-hugged Maria, placing her head on her shoulder. "Thank you for being so understanding." "And thank you for not having a panic attack over a none-existing wedding." Carol chuckled and nuzzled closer to her girlfriend. "But really, though, suit or dress?" "Suit, obviously," Maria replied without hesitation. "See, I had a doubt, but now that you mention it, suit is the better option."