The Calm Before The Storm ➳ Avengers Age Of Ultron

C H A P T E R 52

Chapter 52: Close to normal

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    My fingers picked at my nail beds as I made the trek to my living quarters. I could sense Steve in the room and I shook my head, attempting to rid the anxiousness in my system before seeing him.

   When I opened the door, Steve was standing at the kitchen table. He unloaded take-out containers from a brown paper bag. His eyes flickered up for a second, a grin appearing on his lips.

   "Hey."
   "Hi."

   Seeing him instantly brought me relief. With the door now shut, I wandered further into the room. I toed off my shoes and set them aside by the entrance.

   "I got empanada and paella," he smirked playfully, "Julissa says hi too."

   My eyes automatically rolled and laughter shook my chest. Old habits took hold and I opened the cabinets to grab some plates for serving.

   "I think she threw in something called cocada," His face quirked up as he tried to pronounce it the best he could.

   I placed the dishes down and I corrected his pronunciation, also telling him it's a basically a coconut cookie. He was quick to steal a kiss in passing. It was a soft and chaste, routine. I sighed and took a seat as he grabbed us some water.

   "How you feel? I haven't seen you since we got off the jet."

   "Yeah— yeah I'm fine," I opened the container holding the empanadas, "Nothin' too bad. Wanda got the brunt of it, but she's fine."

   Steve nodded along as his lips touched the rim of his glass. His normalcy relaxed me and I picked up my fork.

   "Also got some news."

   "Oh yeah?" Steve questioned through a mouth of food, "Good or bad?"

   "Good."

   He listened, waiting for me to continue. I tucked my hair behind my ear before taking a sip of my own water. All of a sudden my throat was as dry as a desert. Steve noticed how I've grown increasingly anxious and he gave me a confused look.

   "Helen ran a routine blood test and found some stuff," I paused and took a deep breath, "My elevated beta h.c.g levels and increase in hormones output all indicated that... I'm pregnant."

   Steve's face went blank. He blinked. I blinked.

   "Huh?"

   "Guess that premonition is happening sooner than we expected." I tried to joke.

   "Holy shit."

   "That seems to be the phrase of the day."

   Steve leaned back in his chair, the wooden legs squeaking slightly. We sat in silence for a few seconds, his shoulders rising as he took a deep breath in. He released the breath with a slight chuckle, a smile slowly breaking out along his lips.

   "This is happening. It's really happening?"

   I couldn't decipher if that last bit was a question or a statement. He was excited— nervous, anxious, and everything in between— but excited nonetheless.

   "Calliope..." he spoke steadily, his voice dripping with adoration, "We're gonna have a baby?"

   After he said it for the first time, he scoffed in disbelief. He stood and crossed the short distance between us. I had just risen to my feet when Steve enveloped me in a tender hug. My arms wrapped around his neck and he softly planted kisses on the crown of my head.

   "Thank you," he whispered, "for giving me this."

   I leaned away just enough to see his face. With my hands on either side of his face, I kissed him deeply.

   "Thank you."

   Everyone ounce of adoration I had for this man poured out of me and into him. Steve snickered against my lips before trailing them from my neck to my forehead. It was no secret that Steve held a lot of guilt. He always felt guilty, that maybe he wouldn't be a good enough partner to me, that he wouldn't be able to protect me, or everyone else, that he wouldn't be a good father, or that he wouldn't be enough. We worked on that together though, and made him feel capable and loved.

   It took him a while to feel comfortable enough for venerability to be Steve Rogers, not Cap, but Steve... to figure out who that person was outside of the mantle. Just being present and feeling— not worrying about when the next attack was.

   The feeling of his soft shirt below my chin, the way his nose was tucked into my shoulder, and the way he softly hummed in my ear grounded me— reminding me to feel and be present.

   "We're gonna be parents," he babbled, "Actually responsible for a human being."

   "I know," I huffed, "God, I didn't even notice I'd missed. With being preoccupied with the aftermath of Sokovia, my research, and the training, I've had no time to think about anything else."

   Steve ran his hands up and down my back and snickered as he thought.

   "What?" I questioned.

   "We should go to Colombia more often."

   "Geez, you get a girl knocked up once and—"

   "Shut up," Steve laughed and playfully swatted at my head.

   A shit-eating grin grew on my face at the sound of his chuckle. He looked down at me and I was quick to place a kiss on his lips.

   "Our kid's gonna be lucky." His voice was just below a whisper, his breath hot against my ear.

   "Why's that?" I matched his tone.

   "They're gonna have you as their mother."

   "And you as their father... can't get any better than that."

   Steve's eyes beamed with hope. He held my gaze for a few more seconds before lowering down again to kiss me.

   "Who in the hell entrusted us with a child," I joked against his lips

   "Who knows," he smirked, "We can't fuck them up."

   A throaty groan left my being and I buried my face in my hands before pressing myself to Steve's chest, "Oh for the love of God, please let them be normal." I pleaded in between a laugh.

   "Normal?" Steve chuckled, "Not with our track record."

   "Well as close to normal as we can get." I retorted after removing myself from my self-made cocoon.

   "That's a hell of a wish," Steve sucked a harsh breath through his teeth before placing a comforting kiss on my cheek.

   Steve hooked his arm around my shoulder before facing the table again. With his hands on both sides of my shoulders, he ushered me back to the table. He pulled out my chair and adjusted it after I sat. He walked to his spot across from me and sat down with a smile.

   "A toast," he proposed as he held up his water, "To our probably-not-so-normal-child."