Till the End of the Line Vol. 6

Chapter 5 - The Power Broker Has Returned

The following day at the Doctor's office, Bucky and Sofia are waiting for their Doctor to come in to give them their results. Bucky notices that Sofia is anxious. "You okay?" He asks.

"Yeah, just nervous," Sofia replied. "But not like -"

"I know." He takes her hand and holds it. "It'll be okay."

At that moment, they turn their heads as they see Doctor Hoffman, early forties, African American, intelligent, opening the door. He enters, closes the door, and says, "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Barnes. It's good to see you again.

"You too," said Sofia. "Thank you for seeing us."

"Of course. How's your son?"

"He's good, thank you," Bucky replied.

"Good," the Doctor replied. He pulls out the chart and looks over it. "So, I went over the file after the nurse examined you. And you are about nine weeks." Bucky and Sofia smile with excitement. Now I want to take a look, so let's take a look at the ultrasound. Okay?"

"Okay," Sofia replied. She sits on the bed, lies down, and lifts her shirt. She then takes a deep breath and shuts her eyes. Bucky continues to hold her hand.

Doctor Hoffman turns on the ultrasound, grabs the gel, and says, "Okay, it's going to be a little cold." he squeezes the gel on her stomach, making Sofia move a little. Bucky gently takes Sofia's hand and strokes it as they wait to see their baby on the monitor. The Doctor uses the transducer to look inside the womb and finds it after a few seconds of scanning. "Okay. And so the baby is about the size of a green olive. So you are definitely nine weeks."

Bucky and Sofia turn their heads as they see their baby on the sonogram. Sofia whispers, "Oh wow, look at that."

Bucky has tears in his eyes and says, "Oh my God. So beautiful."

They both shed tears as they see their baby on the sonogram. Sofia turns to the Doctor and asks, "Doctor Hoffman, is the baby going to be okay? The only concern I have about it is that I had a glass of Champagne about a week and a half ago when I went to a friend's wedding. And we had a mission before we went out for our anniversary week."

"How many glasses did you have?" The Doctor asked.

"Four."

"And you found out how long after?"

"Five days after the mission," Bucky replied. "Is the baby going to be okay?"

"Yes, the baby will be fine," Doctor Hoffman replied. "The fetus usually has no effects if you had a few drinks. But I recommend you do not go on any more missions and come back in about two weeks to ensure no damage."

"Okay, great," Sofia replied.

"Thank you," Bucky replied as he shook the Doctor's hand.

As the Doctor turns off the monitor, Sofia asks, "Oh, could we get pictures, please?"

Doctor Hoffman cleans up the gel off Sofia's stomach, makes prints, and replies, "No problem, just go ahead and schedule the next appointment by the front desk. And I'll give you the pictures in a few minutes."

"Okay."

The Doctor stands up and heads to the door. "Have a nice day, you two."

"You too," said Bucky. The Doctor leaves. Bucky helps Sofia get off the examining chair. "Well, that wasn't so bad."

"Yep," Sofia replied. "But now there's one thing I gotta do."

"And what's that?"

"Call my boss and tell him I'm pregnant."

"Yes, but first, let's get something to eat."

"You totally read my mind."

An hour later, Bucky, Little Steven, and Sofia are having dinner at a restaurant. Suddenly a phone call is going off. Sofia answers, "Hi Sam, what's up?" She puts her fork down and listens to Sam. "Really? How come?" Bucky looks up at her. Curious about what Sam is talking about. "No. I can't." She looks at Bucky and then glances down at the table. "Because I'm not feeling well. Yeah, no, I'm fine. Have you talked to Becca about it?" Bucky stares at her. "Okay, well, maybe ask Bucky."

"Tell him to come around seven," said Bucky.

"You can come over tonight and talk to him about it. How about seven?" She listens for Sam's answer. "All right. I let him know. Thanks. Bye." She hangs up and continues eating.

"What was that about?"

"Something about another case. But the problem is that the Power Broker is back."

Bucky leans back and nods. "Huh. Wonder why?"

"Don't know. Sam said he would bring the info he and Becca went over not too long ago."

"Barnes," said a familiar voice. They turn their heads and see John Walker and his wife approaching. Bucky gets a little tense. Sofia smiles as she knows that despite how she feels, she has to be polite.

"John," said Bucky. "What brings you out here?"

"Just celebrating our wedding anniversary." Walker grabs his wife by the waist, and they smile.

"Oh, how nice," said Sofia. She raises her arm to shake his wife's hand. "You must be Mrs. Walker. I'm Sofia."

"Oh, hi, nice to meet you," said Mrs. Walker as she took Sofia's hand and shook it.

Walker turns, notices their son, and asks, "Who's this little guy?"

Sofia lets go of Walker's wife's hand and turns to her son. Sofia replies, "This is our son Steven. Steve, can you say hi to Mr. and Mrs. Walker?"

"Hello," Little Steven replied shyly.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you," said Mrs. Walker.

They all smile at each other in a moment of silence. Then Walker turns and says, "Well, we better go. It was nice to see you guys."

Bucky nods with a glare in his eye. Walker nods, takes his wife's hand, and they leave. As they leave, Bucky and Little Steven continue to eat. Sofia looks at Bucky. He looks up at her and stops eating. "What?"

"It's been two years. You got to give him a little slack."

"Coming from you, who almost killed him?"

"But I didn't." Bucky looks down at the table. Sofia sighs and takes his hand. "I get it, I really do, but you need to accept that he's trying to move on."

"Yeah, I'll remind you that next time he acts out and kills someone." They roll their eyes, annoyed at the moment.

Later that night, Sam and Bucky go through a file in the living room. Meanwhile, Sofia is cleaning the kitchen when she hears a knock on the door. "I got it," she shouts. However, after Sofia opens the door, she finds no one is there. "Hello?" She looks down and sees a folder on the ground. Curious, she picks it up and sees that it is addressed to her. She peaks around again to see if anyone is around but doesn't see anyone. Then closes the door.

After taking a few steps in the hallway, Sofia looks at the file. Little Steve approaches her and asks, "Who was it, mommy?"

"I don't know," Sofia replied.

Her son notices something in her hand and tries to see it. "Whatcha got, mommy?"

Sofia stops to look at him and smiles. "I don't know. But hey, it's getting close to bedtime. Go, kiss daddy, goodnight and I'll come up and read you a story, okay?"

"Okay Mama." He runs upstairs.

Once he is gone, Sofia opens the file and gasps as she looks inside. She then looks around and puts the file in a box next to the stairs. She then takes her phone and makes a call. "Hey, Becca, something weird happened. Can you come over tomorrow?" She listens to Becca's answer. "Yeah, no, I'm fine, but uh...something weird happened." She speaks softly. "You're gonna think I'm crazy if I do. I got a folder with pictures of me. Listen, I would talk more about it, but Sam's here. So can we please talk tomorrow?"

BECCA AND LOKI'S APARTMENT

"Yeah, sure," said Becca. "No problem. See you later." Becca hangs up and looks at a folder with pictures of her in it.