Our little family (sequel to Baby Captain Widow)

Chapter 6: Hope

7 weeks later...

Nat leaned on her desk, stuck in a conference with Nebula, Rocket, Okoye, Carol, and Rhodey, Steve sitting on the wooden surface. "How're things over at your end, Carol?" Nat asked, moving around the desk beside Steve, her hand on her bump.
"I'd say unusually quiet, but quite frankly, I don't think that I should say "unusually" anymore?"
"Why would you say "quiet"?" Rocket blurted, turning around to look at her.
"There are fewer threats to deal with. It's all mainly things like mild tremors, dealing with wastelands... In short, there are fewer people to fight." Lily came running in, Nat putting a finger to her lips as she picked her up. Okoye and Rhodey raised an eyebrow, but stopped when Nat saw them. They turned their gazes away temporarily, embarrassed.
"How about you guys? What's going on?" Rhodey asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"Nothing new. People still struggling with everything, but that's to be expected, really." Steve said, looking over at Nat as she stroked Lily's head.
"Nebula, Rocket, what about you guys?" Nat enquired, facing the unusual pair.
"Some thugs on Xandar, nothing special." Rocket said, bored.
"We dealt with them accordingly." Nebula added, looking over at Lily sceptically.
"Yeah!" Rocket laughed. "We- " Nebula nudged him through the projection. "What? Oh. Yeah..." He remembered Lily was there, refraining from finishing his sentences.
"Anything we should be concerned about?" Nat asked earnestly.
"No, it's all been handled. There's nothing to worry about." Rocket assured her, eyeing Lily wearily.
"Okoye, any other potential natural disasters we should be aware about?" Steve queried, looking at the Dora Milaje general.
"A mild tremor under the Australasian plate, nothing else. It caused some disruption, but no serious damage."
"Alright. Well, if that's all, then you all know that the channel's always open." They nodded and turned away, only Rhodey stayed online.

"I've got some news on Barton." He said. Nat's eyes widen, tears beginning to form.
"Wha- what?!" She stammered, holding Lily tightly, Steve placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Um, yeah. He's headed to Tokyo, Japan in, like, 2 months."
"How'd you find this out?" She breathed, her hand on Steve's.
"Hacked into his computer. There's no way he'd find out. Only Tony would know, 'cause, you know Tony, he's the smartest guy I know."
"You know, when I first met Tony, he described himself as a "genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist"." Steve smiled.
"Yup, sounds like him. Only now, one of those statements is incorrect." Rhodey grinned. "Oh, and by the way, congrats on the baby. Tony told me."
"Oh come on, he promised us that he wouldn't tell." Nat sighed, looking up at Steve. He shook his head in annoyance.
"Oh. Ok. Forget I said anything." Rhodey stammered, looking embarrassed again.
"No, don't. It's fine. Just, don't tell anyone. We're tryna keep it under wraps at the moment." Nat reassured him.
"Oh! Is that why you've been wearing Steve's sweatshirts?" She nodded, pressing her lips together.
"Ok, cool. Well, hope everything goes ok. And again, congrats. Couldn't be happier for you guys."
"Thanks Rhodey." Steve said, smiling again.
"Right, well, I guess I'll see you at the next big meeting." He said, beginning to turn away.
"Bye Rhodey!" Lily called, waving at him.
"Bye Lily!" He replied, as he turned away and left.

Steve noticed that Nat looked angry and annoyed. "Look, I get what Tony did was wrong, but we gotta move past it."
"How do we know that he didn't tell anyone else?" Natasha fumed as she moved around the desk, sitting back down in her chair.
"So what if other people know?" Steve soothed, moving over to her, kissing her head.
"I don't know..." They were interrupted by a beeping sound from the projection over the centre of the desk. Nat investigated it.

"Oh, hi, hi!" Came a familiar voice. "Uh, is anyone home? This is, uh, Scott Lang. We met a few years ago at the airport... in Germany?" Nat sat up, shocked and confused. "I was the guy that got really big. I had a mask on. You wouldn't recognise me." Steve stood up, brows furrowed, mouth slightly open.
"Is this an old message?" He asked.
"Ant-Man? I know you know that."
"It's the front gate." Nat breathed, amazed.
"I really need to talk to you guys."

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Scott paced the room, frantically, chewing his fingernails. "Scott." Steve broke the silence. Scott looked up. Steve had his arms folded across his chest, Natasha was standing with Lily on her hip. "Are you okay?" Steve asked, looking concerned.
"Yeah." Scott muttered. "Have either of you guys ever studied quantum physics?" He asked, rather quickly.
"Only to make conversation." Nat joked. Lily giggled. Scott tried to keep himself composed.
"All right, so... five years ago, right before..." He gestured with his hands to indicate the Snap. "Thanos... I was in a place called the Quantum Realm. The Quantum Realm is like it's own microscopic universe. To get in there, you have to be incredibly small. Hope. She's my, um... She was my..."
"Ooooo!" Lily giggled, earning her a slightly stern look from Nat.
"It's fine." Scott brushed it off. "She was supposed to pull me out. And then Thanos happened... and I got stuck in there."
"I'm sorry, that must have been a very long five years." Nat said.
"Yeah, but that's just it. It wasn't. For me, it was five hours." Nat and Steve looked confused. "See, the rules of the Quantum Realm aren't like they are up here. Everything is unpredictable. Is that anybody's sandwich?" He asked, pointing at one on the desk that Steve had made previously before. "I'm starving." He ran over to it.
"Scott." Steve said. "What are you talking about?" Scott turned around after taking a bite out of the sandwich.
"So, what I'm saying is... Time works differently in the Quantum Realm. The only problem is right now we don't have a way to navigate it." He walked around the room, sandwich in hand. "But what if we did? I can't stop thinking about it. What if we could somehow control the chaos and we could navigate it? What if there was a way that we could enter the Quantum Realm at a certain point in time, but then exit the Quantum Realm at another point in time? Like- like before Thanos."
"Wait. Are you talking about a time machine?" Steve enquired.
"No. No, of course not. No, not a time machine. This is more like a... yeah like a time machine."

"You're funny!" Lily giggled, looking at Scott.
"I'm really sorry, but who's this?" Scott asked, looking at Lily.
"Scott, this is Lily. She's our daughter." Steve introduced the small girl.
"Your- your daughter?" He stuttered, baffled.
"Yeah." Nat said, moving closer beside Steve.
"Wow, ok. I just never expected you two to get together, I thought you would be with Bruce, and you would be with that blonde shield agent, what's her name... Sharon."
"No, no. We were all items, once upon a time, but clearly not anymore. It's just us two now, and we're happy to be together." Steve said, wrapping an arm around his girls.
"Ok. Right, back to time travel. I know, it's crazy. It's crazy. But I can't stop thinking about it. There's gotta be some way... It's crazy." Scott turned his head to the floor.
"Scott. I get emails from a raccoon, plus, I had Lily and I'm pregnant again when we all thought I was sterile, so nothing sounds crazy anymore." Natasha said, looking at him intently, Steve's arm still around her shoulder.
"So, who do we talk to about this? Wait! You're pregnant?!" Scott blurted.
"What does "sterile" mean?" Lily asked, looking up at her mum. Nat looked up at Steve, before answering her question.
"Sweetheart, being "sterile" means that you can't have babies." She explained, choosing her words as carefully as she could.
"Oh. Did you not want to have babies?" Lily asked.
"No, no. I did want to have babies, it's just, some nasty people made it almost impossible for me to have kids, so..."
"Wait, so how far along are you then?" Scott asked, taking another bite of his sandwich.
"About fourteen weeks, now." Nat answered his question.
"But we want to keep it all quiet, so, please don't go telling anyone." Steve voiced for her.
"Alright, I won't. But you guys aren't going to be able to keep it quiet for long, I can kinda see the bump through the sweatshirt if I look hard enough. You sure you're fourteen weeks?"
"Yes, we're sure." Nat said.
"Ok, then, a congratulations is in order." Scott said. "By the way, do you have a place I can stay, they've kinda sold my house to some strangers, and..."
"Yeah, of course. We've got a bunch of empty rooms you can stay in; don't worry about it." Steve replied.
"Thanks so much. This means a lot."
"Our pleasure." Steve smiled.