Saving Grace Extras

The First Addition

The tiles are cool underneath Grace, on her hands. It helps, but only barely, her stomach still churning, her head still aching. Her back is against the wall, the toilet facing her like some taunting, necessary evil. Beckoning her back to puke up her guts again. Hot tears run down her cheeks, and her arms cross over her stomach, not much changed yet. She does not want to throw up again.

"Here," Peter says, entering the bathroom again with a glass of water. He sits down next to her, putting the cup to her lips as if she couldn't do that herself. When he turns to put the cup on the sink, she rests her head against his shoulder, her own shaking a bit as she cries.

"I'm such a baby," she sobs. "I'm about to have a baby and I'm a baby."

She can hear Peter trying not to laugh. "You're not a baby."

"Look at me!" she shouts, sitting up. "I'm in tears!"

"Your hormone levels are all out of wack right now," he points out, his expression softening a bit.

"I'd be crying even if they weren't," she huffs.

"Well, you're sick. Some people cry when they're sick."

"Yeah, babies."

He chuckles. "You're not a baby. Promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep," she mumbles, leaning her head back against the wall and closing her eyes.

"I learned that lesson a long time ago, and I can definitely keep this one." He rests his hand on one of hers, knowing she won't move either of them just to hold his hand right now. "I promise I mean it."

"That doesn't make it true," she argues.

He chuckles again. "I mean, from my perspective, this just gives me the perfect opportunity to be there for you and dry your tears."

"My baby tears?" Grace asks, irritated. "The tears of the baby that I am?"

Peter sighs, but he's clearly still amused. "Fine, then. You're a baby." Then, he nudges her with his shoulder. "But I know you're gonna be a great mom, too."

She turns to him, irritation melting away into a sort of softness — that feeling she felt when she looked at that positive test for the first time. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," Peter replies, the feeling coming back to him, too. "And this kid is gonna have it made."

"Yeah they will," Grace says with laugh. Then, her eyes widen, and Peter hurriedly grabs her hair as she leans over the toilet once again. He looks away, scrunching up his nose.

~~~~

Grace sits on the couch, watching Pepper, May, and Morgan running back and forth, making sure everything's ready. She was helping before, but they ushered her to the living room, and her feet were already tired, anyways. Peter is somewhere in the backyard with Happy and Rhodey.

Not five minutes later, their first guests arrive. Grace is happy to see them, especially because she knows she doesn't have to stand to greet them.

"Oh, my gosh!" Bucky exclaims, walking over to her as Sam hands Pepper their gifts. "You swallowed a mountain!"

Grace laughs, playfully rolling her eyes. "Yeah, that's what happens when you're pregnant."

"I think she looks more like a hot air balloon," Sam says.

"A giant hamster ball."

"A giant beach ball."

"But hamster balls have living things in them. That's a much better analogy."