Marble Statues ⏃ Captain America [4]

seven

07. | THE UNEXPECTED

CHRISTINA WALKED DOWN the staircase, her head hurting badly and her legs feeling heavy. There was an empty feeling in her heart, gently seeping out into her chest and throughout the rest of her body; making her feel cold and far off at the same time. Her feelings were out of control; one second she wanted to collapse to the floor and cry, and the next she wanted to hit something so bad until her knuckles bled. From time to time, she felt nothing at all and the cold in her chest would physically hurt her.

Though there was something oddly comforting about this feeling. It seemed, while she was around Steve, she'd been able to forget about this hard choices she had had to make in her life and the pain they had caused her; forgetting about previous heartbreaks and her struggles through life. Now, with the innocent child growing inside her—they were all coming back.

She had brought this upon herself, she supposed. Had she reacted to the pregnancy differently, not tried to so hard to keep it hidden, she might've been able to keep these images at bay.

Natasha and Laura were the ones down in the kitchen. Christina had no idea of what the time was, seeing as she had just awoken at some point during the day, still sitting in the chair in the bedroom where she had decided to take a nap after her talk with Steve. It had taken her a while to gather the strength to get out of the chair, feeling as though that very room shielded her from the reality that lied beyond the door. Though she knew she had to get out, back to reality to face everyone and the problems they needed to solve.

"I shouldn't be saying it, but I will; Good morning," said Natasha, leaning back in the kitchen chair she was seated in. "Did you tell Steve?"

There it was, that bit of reality Christina had been hiding from in the bedroom. How could see tell anyone? It felt as if it were already too late to say anything.

"No."

"But you will. Once this is all over," concluded Natasha. "And you'll realize that there was nothing to be scared of in the first place."

Christina rolled her eyes at the optimism of the redhead. It was the last thing she needed and Laura seemed to understand that better than Natasha did.

"I'm about to make some dinner," Laura interrupted, walking over to the table, her pregnant belly seeming to make even that movement a little difficult. "Do you wanna help? Get your mind off things?"

Christina nodded and got to work beside Laura.

Dinner was ready and Laura had walked outside to gather everyone. Natasha and Christina were busy preparing the table and seeing as there were quite a lot of Avengers staying in the house, they needed to put two tables next to each other, as close together as possible—to make enough space for both the Barton family and the Avengers.

Everyone sat down around the two tables, Christina and Steve strangely sitting on opposite sides, while they waited for Tony to arrive. Apparently, a while ago, he had left to take a look at the Barton's tractor which didn't want to start anymore. He hadn't returned since then.

Although the Avengers were all talking while they waited for Tony, Christina couldn't help but just sit quietly in-between Liam and Bruce, her hand constantly moving to brush across her lower belly. She knew things were going to be difficult for quite some time, though she didn't want them to be.

It wasn't until Tony walked inside of the house with a surprise guest that Christina finally managed to pull the hand from her stomach for a while.

"Guess who's back?" called Tony, raising his hands ever so slightly as he strode over to the table with Nick Fury following him.

"Nick?" Bruce questioned from beside her.