Tess (A Dark!SteveRogers AU)

Chapter 27

Tess sat out on the porch on the rocking chair early one morning, baby attached to her breast who was now content in comparison to a short while ago.

Slowly she pulled the shawl around her to warm them both a little more, now feeling more confident when it came to feeding. Sarah had shown her to let him latch on, how to bring up any wind. She had been a great support and now with their boy at just a week old, Tess was slowly learning new things and becoming a little more comfortable.

"Just like your daddy, you greedy little thing". She smirked at the baby and watched him suckle away.

"I'm still pissed I have to share". Steve's voice came as he walked out of the house and set himself beside his wife, giving her a kiss and admiring their son.

The last week had been a complete daze to him, as well as sleepless. He enjoyed nothing more than coming in from the workshop and cradling his boy.

He was his pride.

Never before had he felt anything like it.

Sure he had come to realise the love for his wife, but this? This was a different kind.

Tess sat the baby up and rubbed his back, before he burped his satisfaction and settled on his fathers chest in a post milky haze. "That's my boy, good morning". He said, stroking his head.

Tess watched as the baby gurgled, his blue eyes staring. Sarah had insisted that he wouldn't be losing those, adamant they'd stay as they were instead of changing. She shifted slightly in her chair, the discomfort of post birth having now faded. She still felt tender though, but it had been worth it just to lay eyes on their boy.

And Beau Rogers was very much loved.

"You go back to bed, get some more sleep, I'll sit out here with him for a while". Steve said. How his wife was still awake when she'd been up feeding at all hours was beyond him. He admired her more for it. She had stamina and he knew that, but even his Tessie had her limits.

"Or you could come back to bed with me and put him in his cradle?" She smiled.

Steve heaved himself up and carried Beau inside, gently settling him in the crib by their bed and covering him with a baby blanket that Sarah had knitted. They watched him for a moment, which had become the norm as their son had them transfixed, and then slipped back into bed, drifting off in one another's arms.

**

"Ah good morning, and to you too strong boy". Sarah said to Tess and cooed over her grandson, taking him from her daughter in law while she had some breakfast. "You look just like your daddy did when he was born, gonna be like looking in a mirror when you grow up". Setting herself in the chair opposite, she cradled Beau and spoke softly to him.

"Did you ever picture it?" Tess asked.

"Picture what?"

"What Steve would look like when he was older? I look at Beau and I try to imagine what kinda man he'll turn into. A darn handsome one for sure, but I try to picture the little things he'll do, what he'll say - whether I'll be around long enough to see him reach my age".

Sarah nodded. "I did, and sweetie when you take over from me once I'm long gone, you're gonna be the matriarch that this family has needed for a long time".

"You've done a good job keeping it together".

"But you'll do better". Sarah told her seriously.

The two women ventured out into the porch a while later, seeing Steve now emerge from the workshop with another man, both talking before the customer made back in the direction of town, glancing back at them all as he did.

"Who was that?"  Tess asked as her husband came to join them, getting a familiar wave of suspicion cross her. She'd not felt like this since before she married Steve, and if she was honest? She probably wasn't going to like what she was about to hear.

Steve stared after the man, his expression a little dark. "Anthony Stark..."

"Is he gonna be a problem?

"It depends on whether he chooses to stick his nose in".  He said and looked at his mother and wife. "He's the new Mayor..."

Tess looked back at Tony as he disappeared into town and knew what it meant. He was here to assert his authority, and it was clear that things would be shaken up.

Coalstone didn't need someone like him.

She smirked to herself, holding Beau close to her chest. "Well then, guess we'd best see how long he lasts..."

Steve looked at his wife and kissed her head, the three of them now looking out over town.

Their territory.

One man couldn't change that even if he tried.

The Rogers family had laid their foundations here and Steve and Tess were not about to let some outsider come in and rip them all up. Everything that they'd fought hard to keep steady.

No.

The Rogers were here to stay.

And for generations to come...