Give Life Meaning...

First Christmas

Steve had spent all night long preparing for the first Christmas. The days leading up to it had been full of activity, they created paper snowflakes that decorated the windows and had Christmas movie marathons with hot chocolate. They went sledding, and James actually enjoyed doing that. Steve fought through his discomfort of being cold to be there for all the kids' new experiences. That also led to long shopping days because he simply couldn't find the perfect gift for Natasha. She wasn't into jewelry, and clothes, well... He couldn't even begin to fathom how to shop for that. He got her some jewelry, of course, and through the season they had family photos done. 

The twins got photos with the entire Avengers group at Tony's insistence. That had been great fun but that did not get rid of the nerves he was dealing with the night before Christmas. They watched The Grinch, all different versions, and had eggnog. They tucked the twins into bed, and it was quickly approaching three am. Steve was still awake fussing with the Christmas tree in the corner of the room. He had stuffed it in his increasingly crowded room. It was the tree that he stood in front of with Natasha and talked. It would have seemed like nothing to anyone passing by but he couldn't remember a time when he let himself be so open and vulnerable. Not to mention he was rearranging the presents for the thousandth time. The rest claimed they would leave their gifts for the kids in the shared areas tree for them to see. Steve wanted them to wake up to gifts from just himself and Natasha under the tree in their room. 

It was the first Christmas since waking up that he was actually trying to celebrate. While the twins had certainly progressed in showing joy, interest, and dislike he wasn't sure any of the gifts he picked were good enough. He had researched gifts and asked Clint for advice on what to get. First, he was reassured that they were so young that piles of gifts weren't going to really do anything but maybe excite them. That hadn't stopped him from going potentially overboard with the gift-giving. It was painfully obvious he wouldn't be sleeping. Steve got up quietly and looked over at the bed that was completely full of people. Natasha slept on one side, the twins cuddled together and against her, as they sought comfort in each other's presence. He walked over to the bed and tucked all three in more tightly, only a sigh escaping Natasha as she slept on. It used to be hard to slip out of bed without waking the assassin, but she was relaxing more. It was nice to see. He left the room, gently closing the door, and moved to the shared area. The tree that was there was way bigger than it had to be, glitzy, and bright in the middle of the dark room. 

Steve almost hated how showy the tree was for the common area. It took away the intimacy of the holiday they were about to share together. In fact, it almost felt like it was eclipsing what the holiday meant for all of them. For the kids, it was another month of safety, for Natasha and himself it was their first family Christmas. A soft laugh of disbelief escaped him, it was their first family Christmas. He never once thought he'd ever have those thoughts crossing his mind. Something glittered off the tree, several somethings, they were like photo frames. He moved closer to inspect it and inhaled sharply at the unexpected painful thump. Tony had added pictures of the team onto the tree, most of them including the twins. Some of them were caught unaware that they were being taken. This meant that for months team members had spotted what was going on and taking pictures. Steve felt tears burn his eyes unexpectedly at the thought that went into it. This was something he would treasure for the oncoming years... A way to keep track of how much they had grown. With the sudden feeling that everything was well, Steve walked quietly back to his room and went to sleep. 

Natasha woke first. She slid off the bottom of the bed to avoid waking the twins and Steve. It was obvious that he had been up during the night. The presents had been rearranged, again. He had brought out the iLearn Bouncy Pals and set it up for the twins to see first thing. A zebra and a yellow horse were blown up and waiting for two little beings to ride them. Alina and James did very well with their fine motor skills but she knew that this could only help them improve and not hinder them. She knew that Steve was looking out for how to hone their agility abilities that were enhanced by the serum in their blood. The earlier they could figure out how their bodies work the less damage in the long run. They had even discussed what they could do with the acres of land they owned, something for the kids to run and play on was a definite. Natasha just hadn't felt comfortable planning anything until they were officially in the home. That they had the finished house. 

She moved to the shared common area to start some rudimentary breakfast. It was a skill she was still working on but she no longer burnt eggs, and sausage. Steve was becoming quite the pro at cooking steak for them, but they still experimented now and again with different foods. Leaving the tower meant that they would have to rely more on themselves and eating out wasn't always going to be a feasible solution. Especially not after the news that would inevitably get out that they have children together. Natasha only felt mildly reassured that Tony had a PR team ready to handle the falling out. Hiding the twins for the months that they had was plain luck on their part. The media would love the twisted story, and some would devour the pain they both had gone through to get to the point they had. 

"Morning Romanoff," she heard Tony greet, causing her to look over her shoulder at the older man. He was leaning casually against the doorframe assessing her. "Decide to get up before the twins?" 

"I'm an early riser in general," she said with a shrug before taking a deep breath as she moved the scrambled eggs off the burner. "I also wanted to cook breakfast for everyone. What about you? I thought you'd be with Pepper today of all days." Clint had gone back to his home to spend the holidays with his family. Natasha almost wished she had taken him up on his offer and spent Christmas there. They knew how to make holidays warm and fuzzy, Clint had worked hard for that. She was still learning how to look after two beings that depended wholly on her for their survival. 

"Pepper will actually be coming here for the first part and then we'll take off," Tony told her, clearly he was going to watch the twins open their presents. "Besides someone's got to take the pictures of your guys' first Christmas together." Natasha didn't respond to that as she put a lid over the pan to trap the heat of the scrambled eggs, moving on the sausages. The kids were showing signs of needing more protein as Steve did. His increased metabolism meant that a lot of his food was amped up, and he ate more. Though he had trained himself to go through long periods of not eating, either. 

"Once breakfast is done I'll get the others up," she was loathed to do so but admittedly even she was excited to see the twins open the presents under the community tree. "We're lucky Alina hadn't decided to get into the presents. You've added some especially shiny wrapping paper." 

"Yeah, I know," Tony said with a shrug of his own. "I wanted to see if one of them would. They're still afraid of doing anything wrong so they didn't even get close to tearing the paper. Oh well, there's always next year." Natasha only laughed as she moved the sausage around before pulling it off the burner and covering it. 

"I'll be back. The coffee is done," she told the man who merely waved his thanks as she traveled the hallways to her shared room. One day, Natasha thought, they'd use her old room and put the twins there. Natasha guessed that both she and Steve were still too afraid of something happening to have them too far. She pressed her hand against the wood of the door and gently pressed it open. Steve was already sitting up, rubbing the backs of the twins to gently rouse them. "Breakfast is done." She whispered into the room, seeing Steve meet her gaze with a small smile of his own nodding. Natasha moved across the room only softly lit by the Christmas lights from the tree. It let made it all feel very relaxing and she almost went and made them a plate. They could eat in the room before heading out but the twins were already stirring. 

Steve chuckled as Alina let out an irritated grumble as she stretched out her body. "Come on Princess, it's time to get up," he cooed softly, picking her up as she yawned and placed her against his shoulder. That did not help matters because she merely snuggled in and let her eyes drift shut. "Hey now... You're not supposed to go back to sleep. Don't you want presents?" That made her pop one eye open. Her head came back up+ blinking as Steve moved the hair from her face. 

"There's my pretty girl, let's go eat breakfast first, hm?" Steve stood up, his sweat pants rustling quietly as he shuffled towards the door as Alina relaxed against his shoulder again. Natasha followed behind with James who was more awake than his sister. 

Natasha held James close while they made their way to the common area kitchen. "There we go," she sat him down by Alina as Steve settled the two, and Natasha went and got two plates for them. She cut up the food and brought the plates over. 

Steve chuckled as both Alina and James gasped in delight at the breakfast. "Excited?" He looked over as Tony reentered the kitchen with a grin. "Merry Christmas Tony." He noted that the twins paused with eating to look over at Tony and clap in delight. 

"How are my two favorite troublemakers?" Tony asked, making his way across the room and rubbing the heads of the two. "Still in your pajamas, that seems right for Christmas morning. Come on kids. Eat up, we've got presents to open." That was all the encouragement the two needed. Uncle Tony had sufficiently hyped them up enough to have them shoving food into their mouth, making Steve clean them up and following them to the common area. 

Alina gasped with delight at the glittering tree that now held her pictures on it. "Mama!" She pointed with delight at a picture of Natasha laughing with her. The room grew still, the echo of Alina's voice reverberating in everyone else's ears. 

"Did she?" Steve gaped, staring at the green-eyed little girl who was enthralled with the picture ornaments. 

"She did," Natasha responded thickly, quickly going over to her and bending down on one knee to see which ornament she was pointing at. "Yes baby, that's you and me." She licked her lips to try and stem the amount of tears falling down her cheeks. 

"Daddy and Mommy?" Alina asked, pointing to another ornament that showed a picture of Steve and Natasha wrapped up in each other. Alina seemed unaware of the emotional rollercoaster she was sending the adults on. 

"Yeah... Yeah, that is both Daddy and Mommy," Steve responded, looking at Alina with watery eyes as he kneels down with the kids.  "That's so good sweetheart." He reached out and touched the back of her head. This was the first time either of the twins had verbally acknowledged what they were. He heard a distinct throat clearing from Tony who had apparently been caught up in the moment. Alina delivered a blinding smile as she was praised. 

"Aren't you four precious," came a softer voice off to the right causing Natasha and Steve to look over. Pepper had arrived holding a wrapped package. Steve's lips twitched upwards as Tony walked over and kissed her. "Sorry. It turns out there's still traffic." Pepper chuckled softly as she sat on the couch. Alina and James both moved to sit down to stare up at the tree and enjoy the blinking lights. 

Tony moved forward and went behind the tree and pushed out two steer and stroll ride-on trike. "Here you go! They might not be able to peddle yet but you can push them," Tony grinned as the kids stood up as quickly as they could and hurried over to it. James ran his hand over the seat and looked over at his parents slightly impatient. 

Steve walked over and picked up his son and placed him on the seat. Grinning as James looked around the room with eager eyes. "Now put your feet here," he bent over and placed his little feet on the peddles. A laugh escaped him as James managed to push the peddles moving the trike an inch. "This is great Tony, thank you." Natasha was busy helping Alina who was smaller than James and just barely touched the peddles. 

"Of course, only the best for these two," Tony responded, sitting back on the couch with Pepper to watch as the two kids explored their new gifts. "We also have a gift for the two of you." He gestured to Steve and Natasha causing them both to pause. 

"You do?" Steve asked, turning his full body towards the two on the couch. They had been so enraptured by the twins. Tony moved forward on the couch again, taking the wrapped package from Pepper. 

"Here. This is for you and Romanoff," Steve took the package that felt moderately heavy and brought it over to Natasha who gently touched it. He looked over the package that was looking more like a giant book. He glanced over at the eager man before making the first tear. His breath caught when he saw a picture of an outside of a house. 

"Tony?" Steve would never admit how breathless the gift made him at first glance. 

"Is this our house?" Natasha asked as she quickly helped finish the wrapping paper off the binder. "What is this?" Steve opened the binder and gaped seeing the deed of the house, the final payment had been made. 

"Your house is done. You just need to explore and make it your own. It's been painted to your specifications and designed with your super children in mind," he told them, grinning as both Steve and Natasha struggled for words. 

"This... Is the best gift you could have given us," Steve spoke, breathless as he looked at Natasha who stared at him with tears in her eyes.